Rush's long-anticipated Fifty Something tour kicked off this past Sunday night at the Kia Forum in LA, where the band has now performed 3 epic shows, with one more to go tomorrow night. Over the first 3 shows, the band has performed a total of 34 different songs (35 if you count 2112 truncated vs. full) spanning over a dozen Rush albums. This means that of the 37 songs they rehearsed (according to the leaked rehearsal list), there are now only 3 songs that haven't been heard yet, and which we should be hearing Saturday night. Some of the highlights from the past 3 shows include the band performing 2112 (the song) in its entirety (first time since the Test for Echo tour), Moving Pictures in its entirety, and the inclusion of Aimee Mann performing backing vocals on Time Stand Still. The band has also been mixing up the order of songs played significantly with little continuity from night-to-night, with the only commonality being the Xanadu opener and the Neil Peart tribute songs in each of the 2 sets. The Neil Peart tributes were Bravado in the first set and Time Stand Still in the second, where they'd play a video with a Neil Peart voice-over prior to the song. But even those 2 tributes songs have been played in a few different positions in each set on all 3 nights. Tomorrow night's set will likely be different as well, and likely include the final 3 songs that have been rehearsed. You can check out all the setlists from each night in the tour section.

The band has a new intro video called Xanadudes (according to the tourbook) which features an eclectic trio (a man, a woman and a short blond guy) visiting The Villas of Strangiato retirement community looking for Rush so they can jam with them. It features appearances from several characters from previous Rush tour videos, including Gershon, Harry Satchel (and The Bag), Paul Rudd and Jason Segal, Lil' Rush (performing By-tor), and more. The vid also introduced a couple of new cartoon representations of Ged/Al as pot-smoking birds that also show up later in the show. They've been introducing Tom Sawyer with the old Lil' Rush South Park clip, and closing out the show with Paul Rudd and Jason Segal bantering back-n-forth as their I Love You Man characters. One other thing of note regarding the shows was the introduction of some new imagery featuring The Triple Horn of Odin from Norse mythology, a symbol of wisdom and poetry. The symbol appears on several of the Fifty Something merch and was featured in much of the in-concert backdrop imagery. After tomorrow night, the band will take a 5-day break before firing things back up down in Mexico City for a pair of shows later next week. Then it's a 4-day break before coming back to the US for their 4-night stint in Fort Worth at the end of the month. They'll take a long break at the beginning of July before a marathon stretch of shows across the eastern US/Canada over the rest of the summer. If you haven't gotten tickets yet but need some, there are plenty of reasonably-priced (relatively speaking!) tix available both via Ticketmaster and 3rd party brokers.

Back in January at the 2026 NAMM show, Gibson unveiled a new batch of Epiphone guitars including a new ICG (Inspired by Gibson Custom Guitars) Alex Lifeson 1976 ES-355 Whitey reissue, and Epiphone announced earlier this week that the reissues are now available to purchase. From the press release:

... "The ES-355 has always been a really special guitar for me-it's got this incredible balance of elegance and power," says Alex Lifeson. "What I love about this Epiphone "Whitey" recreation is how faithfully it captures that original spirit while still feeling fresh and alive in your hands. It's a guitar that invites you to explore, to take chances, and to find your own voice. I'm genuinely thrilled that players everywhere will have the chance to experience it and make it part of their own musical journey."

The Alex Lifeson 1976 ES-355 Reissue features a five-ply semi-hollow body constructed from layers of maple and poplar, with multi-ply binding on the top and back. It delivers the visual and tactile refinement expected of an ES-355. A solid maple centerblock enhances sustain and significantly reduces unwanted feedback, delivering the wide-ranging, expressive sound that ESTM models are known for. ...

The guitars retail for $1499 and are available to purchase at authorized Epiphone dealers, at Gibson Garage locations, and via www.epiphone.com.

Artovision is a Wisconsin-based company that creates 3-dimensional collectable artwork inspired by popular culture, video games, food and Americana. Over the past several years, they've released a number of officially-licensed pieces based on Rush album art including Moving Pictures, Roll the Bones, Hold Your Fire, A Show of Hands, Signals (this desktop art piece too), Hemispheres, Clockwork Angels and Counterparts, Rush's debut album, Grace Under Pressure, Vapor Trails/Snakes & Arrows, Caress of Steel/Fly by Night, Permanent Waves/Presto/Power Windows, and 2112. There's also this desktop piece depicting the iconic Le Studio logo that they released last summer. In celebration of Rush returning to the road, the subjects of their latest batch of offerings are Rush's first 2 live albums - All the World's a Stage and Exit...Stage Left. The All the World's a Stage piece depicts the album's iconic cover printed on 3/4" thick optical-grade acrylic with vibrant UV cured inks and measures 6" x 6". The Exit...Stage Left piece showcases a 3-D interpretation of the album art printed on 3/4" thick optical-grade acrylic with vibrant UV-cured inks and measures 12¾" x 6". For more information on Artovision, and to see their complete line of officially-licensed Rush pieces, visit their website at artovision3d.com. You can also follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and watch a YouTube video demonstrating the 3-D effect of their Shadowbox art here.

Greg Prato wrote a piece for Ultimate-Guitar.com this past week titled How Neil Peart's Arrival Turned Rush From a Led Zeppelin Clone Into Something All Their Own, where he breaks down Rush's early history and the arrival of Neil Peart in Rush:

Listening back to Rush's 1974 self-titled debut, the similarities are impossible to ignore. Geddy Lee's high-pitched vocal delivery often drew comparisons to Robert Plant, while Alex Lifeson's bluesy, riff-heavy guitar work echoed Jimmy Page's approach. At the time, critics were quick to dismiss the group as little more than Zeppelin imitators. Yet Rush never shied away from acknowledging where those influences came from. Unlike many bands who later downplay obvious inspirations, Lee, Lifeson, and original drummer John Rutsey openly admitted that discovering Led Zeppelin fundamentally changed how they viewed rock music. The remarkable part of the story isn't that Rush started out sounding like Zeppelin - it's how they eventually transformed those influences into something entirely their own....

This past week's episode of the Something for Nothing podcast featured bassist Billy Sheehan, who chats about opening for Rush in the '90s, jamming with Neil and Alex during soundcheck, and his latest band, The Fell. You can listen to the show below or wherever you get your podcasts:

Over the last few weeks, Rick Beato has posted interviews with both Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, along with former Rush producer Terry Brown, that he conducted in Toronto during rehearsals back in April. Now it's new drummer Anika Nilles turn; Beato posted a 20-minute interview with Nilles to YouTube earlier this week, conducted in front of her Fifty Something kit. The pair discuss how she became a drummer, her drum setup, her drumming style, how she became Rush's touring drummer, and the challenge of learning close to 40 Rush songs. You can watch the interview below or on YouTube:

Here are a few video highlights from the first 3 shows:

Have a great weekend everybody!!