Geddy Lee has expressed enthusiasm about Rush’s Elevate From The Norm residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, describing how the venue’s capabilities align with the band’s visual design approach. Lee shared his thoughts on the residency on the band’s official website.
Lee reflected on his initial reaction to learning about the Sphere venue and how it connects to Rush’s long-standing design philosophy for their shows.
“When I first heard of Sphere, I thought to myself, ‘wow, what a shame that Rush is no longer touring, because this venue sounds tailor made for the kind of visual attitude with which we have always designed our shows,'” Lee said.
He explained how the Sphere’s capabilities exceeded what the band typically achieves in their show design process. “Normally we spend months designing the visual effects for our shows and this scenario seemed like the cherry on top of the ice cream for our design team,” Lee continued. “But life is nothing if not surprising and now, here we are, living and touring in the present tense and we are able to make that particular dream come true.”
The residency now includes ten total dates, with five new shows added for June 2027 alongside five previously announced May performances.
Rush’s return to touring marks a significant moment for the legendary Canadian rock band. Surviving members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson reunited for the “Fifty Something” tour, which began on June 7, 2026 in Inglewood, California and is set to continue through April 10, 2027 in Helsinki, Finland. The band’s last live concert was on August 1, 2015 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Neil Peart, Rush’s drummer, died on January 7, 2020 from brain cancer.
For the tour and the Sphere dates, Lee and Lifeson are accompanied by drummer Anika Nilles and keyboardist Loren Gold. Nilles, a German drummer, composer and producer, is sitting in for Peart during performances. Each show at the Sphere will feature two sets drawn from a pool of 35 songs, including hits, fan favorites, and full-album performances of Rush’s landmark albums 2112 and Moving Pictures.
The Sphere venue seats about 17,600 people with capacity up to 20,000 and was built around immersive video, spatial audio and physical effects. The space functions as an experience machine rather than a conventional arena or theater. Productions at the venue are built from scratch specifically for this environment rather than adapted from other formats, making it an ideal fit for Rush’s visual design ambitions.
