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Rush Plays Every Song on Classic 'Moving Pictures' Album in Emotional Toronto Reunion Concert
Lee and his bandmate Alex Lifeson have struggled for years over the decision to tour again. Peart wasn't just the drummer of Rush. He was the power trio's primary lyricist and in many ways its driving engine. As much for their double-necked guitars, intricate basslines and high-pitched Lee vocals, the band is known for Peart and his comically gigantic drum kit — a shorthand not just for Rush, but in many ways for a whole era of prog rock.
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"That was the main stumbling block. How do we replace the irreplaceable, so to speak,” Lee pondered in a recent interview.
The answer is not to replace him, but to pay "a long overdue tribute to Neil" as Lee put it onstage. German drummer Anika Nilles fills his spot behind the drums and does a more than serviceable job of the near-impossible task. Videos of her intricate drumming have been traded across the internet, showing her immense technical ability. She's fallen into lockstep with Lee and Lifeson, gamely adding Rush's literal bells and whistles while also bringing her own fluid style. She earned a few well-deserved ovations of her own throughout the night after solos in songs like the hit "Tom Sawyer."
Keyboardist Loren Gold has also joined the band on this tour, turning them from a power trio into a quartet and freeing Lee up to focus on bass and vocals without as much multitasking as he did in Rush's heyday.
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The result is a different flavour of Rush, one that pays tribute to every era of their existence — from the hard-rock '70s to their sci-fi prog epics to their janglier '80s and '90s janglier pop-rock sound — giving fans a chance to revel in their glory for what they were then and are now.
Alex Lifeson of Rush at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Aug. 11, 2026.Gabriel Di Sante
Tributes are interwoven throughout the show. Comedic video interstitials from South Park and Jason Segel and Paul Rudd — reprising their roles from I Love You, Man as two best friend Rush fanatics now forced to jam for all eternity — play off the band's pop culture influence with self-deprecating humour that matches Lifeson and Lee's perpetually-adolescent stage banter. Video footage of Peart from different eras of his life bring a more plaintive tone, letting him speak for himself about his philosophies on life, music and art, while ensuring he is a constant presence.
In many ways, these Toronto shows are extra-special — not just because it is where the band is from and where they wrote and recorded many of the songs they're now performing, but because the shows are being filmed for an upcoming concert film. That meant their performances were extra tight, well-rehearsed and technically impressive. The onstage screens were perfectly placed, showing Lifeson and Lee's lightning-fast fingerings and Nilles' every drum hit from multiple angles that once captured Peart behind the kit.
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But though this is a victory lap and a chance to go out on their own terms, it's hard to classify it as a nostalgia-fest. Rush have cemented themselves as one of Canada's biggest rock bands and one that can draw in fans from far and wide, but they also have a dedicated fanbase of diehards.
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Anika Nilles of Rush at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Aug. 11, 2026.Gabriel Di Sante
The setlist satisfies that, giving fans a different set of songs each night. Some undeniable classics remain night to night, including multi-part epics like "Xanadu" and "2112," and hits like "Closer to the Heart" and the poppy "Time Stand Still" (with special guest Aimee Mann appearing onstage alongside her guest vocals). But they also switch it up, especially in the period after intermission.
Toronto's Tuesday night setlist was the Moving Pictures set. That meant the band played every song from the hit 1981 album, which reached No. 1 on the RPM Canada Top Albums chart (which predates the Billboard Canadian Albums chart) and No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard 200. It spawned some of their best-known songs, like the aforementioned "Tom Sawyer" and "YYZ" with its heavily pummelling opening riff. But it's the deep cuts that many fans were most excited to hear as rarities here, including all of side two performed in sequence: the multi-part "The Camera Eye," "Witch Hunt" and "Vital Signs," the latter of which Lee explained was written late because they had four minutes of space left on the vinyl.
They finished with another fan favourite rarity, "By-Tor & the Snow Dog," and one of their earliest tunes, "Working Man," the hard rock song that closed their debut 1974 self-titled album.
That felt like a fitting end of the reunion chapter that started with the opening track of that album, "Finding My Way," at this year's Junos. But it doesn't quite feel like this is the end for Rush. Peart will be celebrated in the upcoming documentary Neil Peart: No One's Disciple, and Lee and Lifeson are sure to be there for the occasion at this year's TIFF. The members of Rush still have an undeniable bond and a clear love of the music they made together. Whether or not they return to the stage again, this tour is Rush reclaiming their legacy and ensuring it continues into future generations.
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Rush play one more Toronto show on August 13 at Scotiabank Arena.
Rush Aug. 11 2026 Setlist
- Xanadu
- Dreamline
- Subdivisions
- Headlong Flight
- Bravado
- Red Sector A
- La Villa Strangiato
- Anthem
- New World Man
- The Spirit Of Radio
Intermission
- Tom Sawyer
- Red Barchetta
- YYZ
- Limelight
- The Camera Eye
- Witch Hunt
- Vital Signs
- Time Stand Still
- Closer To The Heart
- 2112 ("Overture", "Temples of Syrinx," "The Grand Finale")
Encore
- By-Tor & the Snow Dog
- Working Man
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