Rush announces Las Vegas Sphere residency for May 2027
The Canadian rock band will perform five shows at the high-tech venue shortly after its current world tour ends.
LAS VEGAS · Rush will perform a five-night residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas in May 2027. The Canadian rock band announced the series of concerts, titled Raise from the Norm, on Thursday. The shows are scheduled for May 21, 23, 26, 28 and 30, just weeks after the group's Fifty Something world tour is set to conclude in mid-April. Band members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson will be joined by drummer Anika Nilles and keyboardist Loren Gold for the performances. Lee said the high-tech, immersive venue is a perfect fit for the band's signature visual style. "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 in a statement. "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 setlist will include greatest hits and fan favourites, celebrating the band's musical legacy and the life of late drummer and lyricist Neil Peart, who died in 2020. Lee said the band is working to expand its touring concepts for the unique venue. "We are presently working hard to expand our touring concepts and concoct some new madness to suit this incredible venue and musically perform the kind of show we’ve been doing in some of our 'one off' cities," Lee said. "Meaning playing all of 2112 and all of Moving Pictures along with an array of other songs."
The residency name, Raise from the Norm, is a lyric from the song "Vital Signs" on the band's 1981 album Moving Pictures. VIP and travel packages for the shows went on sale Friday, according to the band's announcement. An artist presale begins on Nov. 11, and tickets for the general public go on sale on Nov. 13. The Sphere, which opened in fall 2023, has hosted residencies by artists including U2, Phish and the Backstreet Boys, with Metallica, The Eagles and John Mayer also scheduled to perform.
The announcement comes as Rush is in the midst of its Fifty Something reunion tour, which launched in June 2026. The tour features Lee and Lifeson performing with Nilles and Gold, transforming the traditional power trio into a four-piece. The tour is currently scheduled to wrap up on April 10, 2027, in Helsinki, Finland, giving the band a short break before the Las Vegas shows begin. In an interview before the tour, Lee explained the decision to continue using the Rush name without Peart. "We were twisting ourselves into a pretzel to try to avoid using the name that we have had for fifty years," Lee said. "It just seems silly to go on as 'Lee and Lifeson Present The Music Of...' Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Let’s just be who we are and have been for over fifty years."
With files from CBC News, A Journal of Musical ThIngs and Loudwire