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9 Years Ago: Rush Play Their Final Show – See Setlist + Video

On Aug. 1, 2015, Rush played their final show at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The setlist consisted of 26 songs [via Setlist.fm ], so keep reading to see which tracks were played and some footage from the night.

Unlike many other legendary acts, Rush never embarked on a "farewell tour." In January of 2015, they announced a 40th anniversary run instead , which ended up being their last batch of performances together before drummer Neil Peart died in early 2020 .

In a statement on their website , they subtly warned fans that the tour may be their last, writing, "After 40 years together and 20 gold and platinum studio albums — Rush is ready to celebrate with the most loyal fans in the world by embarking on their 21st tour, one which will most likely be their last major tour of this magnitude."

The trek concluded with a grand performance at The Forum, which consisted of two different sets and an encore, for a total of 26 songs. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson apparently wanted to carry on a bit longer, but Peart was content with the finale.

"That tour started out in a very good mood. We’d put a lot of effort into designing this theatrical retrospective in reverse. It was a lot of fun, but as the tour wound down, the mood started to change and it split into two camps," Lee told The Guardian of the tour in November of 2023.

"Neil was getting happier and Alex and I were getting sadder, because we really wanted to bring the tour to fans around the world, but Neil had agreed to do 30 shows. He felt as if he was approaching liberation, so we were quite divided by the end."

READ MORE: The Setlist for 20 Big Rock + Metal Bands' Final Show

The drummer was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, about a year after Rush's final show. Thus, his feelings about doing one-off performances with the band were "not as enthusiastic," according to Lee [via The Strombo Show ].

Both Lee and Lifeson were aware of Peart's diagnosis at the time, and helped him keep it a secret for over three years. His illness wasn't disclosed to the public until after he died on Jan. 7, 2020.

To commemorate the final performance of Rush, we listed the songs they played and included some clips from the night below.

Rush Final Concert Setlist - Aug. 1, 2015 [via Setlist.fm]

1. The Anarchist 2. Headlong Flight 3. Far Cry 4. The Main Monkey Business 5. One Little Victory 6. Animate 7. Roll the Bones 8. Distant Early Warning 9. Losing It 10. Subdivisions 11. Tom Sawyer 12. Red Barchetta 13. The Spirit of Radio 14. Jacob's Ladder 15. Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Part I: Prelude 16. Cygnus X-1 17. Closer to the Heart 18. Xanadu 19. 2112 Part I: Overture 20. 2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx 21. 2112 Part IV: Presentation 22. 2112 Part VII: Grand Finale 23. Lakeside Park 24. Anthem 25. What You're Doing 26. Working Man

Rush, 'Tom Sawyer' (Aug. 1, 2015 - Last Show)

Rush, 'lakeside park' + 'anthem' (aug. 1, 2015 - last show), rush, 'working man' (aug. 1, 2015 - last show), the best late career albums by 15 classic prog rock + metal bands.

Gallery Credit: Jordan Blum

RIP Neil Peart! Rush Played 26 Songs at Final Show in 2015

General News
Last updated: 12 Jan 2020, 1:07:10
Published: 12 Jan 2020, 1:06:00
Written by: Hannah Cotter
Photography by: Mat Hayward
Categories: General News Tagged: Rush Neil Peart Rush at The Forum

The music community is mourning the loss of legendary drummer Neil Peart, who passed away Tuesday after a private, three and a half year battle with brain cancer.

Peart was the drummer and lyrical mastermind behind Canadian rock band Rush, who spawned classics "Tom Sawyer" and "Limelight." Peart completed the Rush trifecta in 1974, six year's after the band's original formation, joining founding member Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee. For years, he served as the band's heartbeat, offering new techniques and perfecting the art of the in-concert drum solo.

Aside from his masterful drumming technique, Peart was also an accomplished wordsmith. He cited literature as a heavy influence in his lyrics, with themes ranging from the philosophical to the mythological. He also penned several books – both fiction and nonfiction – documenting stories from the road and from his personal life.

Peart dealt with many layers of grief in his personal life, after his wife and daughter tragically died just 10 months apart. He transferred his pain into his 2002 memoir "Ghost Rider," which documented his remedial motorcycle journey across the United States.

In 2015, Rush performed their last show together. They were on the road celebrating Peart's 40th anniversary in the band, on a trek dubbed the R40 Live Tour. They took the stage at The Forum in Inglewood on August 1st and performed a 26-song set, stacked with a variety of songs spanning their entire career as well as some sweet, sweet drum solos.

They opened with a pair of songs off their nineteenth and final album, Clockwork Angels: "The Anarchist" and "Headlong Flight" (the latter featuring a mini "Drumbastica" drum solo).

The rest of the first set included songs like "Far Cry," "One Little Victory" and "Animate," as well as a special guest appearance by violinist Jonathan Dinklage (yes, actor Peter Dinklage's brother!) during "Losing It."

The second set commenced with fan-favorites "Tom Sawyer" and "Red Barchetta" before getting into cosmic tracks from 1976's 2112 and 1977's A Farewell to Kings like "2112 Parts I-VII" and "Xanadu."

They returned for an encore of "Lakeside Park," "Anthem" and "What You're Doing," before performing their last song together, "Working Man."

Check out the full setlist below:

In a statement, Lee and Lifeson wrote, in part, "It is with broken hearts and the deepest sadness that we must share the terrible news that our friend, soul brother and bandmate of over 45 years has lost his incredibly brave battle with brain cancer."

Neil Peart will be remembered as one of the most inventive drummers of our time and will be truly missed.

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Most played songs.

Drum Solo ( 1548 )
2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx ( 1394 )
2112 Part I: Overture ( 1378 )
Closer to the Heart ( 1308 )
The Spirit of Radio ( 1295 )

More Rush statistics

Gigs seen live by

13,878 people have seen Rush live.

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Rush’s Last Show 5 Years Later: The Performance and the Aftermath

Throughout four decades of touring with Rush , Neil Peart had never crossed the "back-line meridian" to greet the crowd onstage. "I stay behind my drums and cymbals for 40 years and never go out front, never," he recalled in the 2016 band documentary Time Stand Still . "It’s not my territory."

But the drummer and lyricist changed his policy just once: to close out the prog-rock power trio's final concert on Aug. 1, 2015. "Eventually, I talked myself into it," he said. "It was totally the right thing to do."

That gig, staged at Los Angeles venue the Forum during the 35-date R40 tour, effectively ended the Rush story. The career-spanning set worked backward, opening with songs from 2012's Clockwork Angels and wrapping with a medley of tunes that pre-dated Peart's era with the band: "What You're Doing" and "Working Man" from 1974's Rush , along with the unreleased wah-wah rocker "Garden Road." (You can see the set list for the show below.)

After the final chords rang out, singer and bassist Geddy Lee shouted to the crowd , "Thank you so much, Los Angeles! On behalf of the greatest crew and organization in the world ... " At that point, a beaming Peart emerged from his kit, wedging between Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson , to his bandmates' surprise. "On behalf of our whole organization, thank you, United States of America, for 40 awesome years," Lee continued. "And I do hope we'll meet again some time. Bye-bye."

After their emotional exit, the crew cued up one of the band's reliably quirky tour videos, which showed Rush trying to barge into their own dressing room, which is populated by characters from their album artwork. Denied access, Lifeson asks, "Now what?"

Good question. And for several years, Rush didn't appear certain of the answer. They hadn't promoted R40 as their final tour — partly because their future remained unclear, partly because they objected to the cash-grab branding. ("It just didn't sit right for me to do a farewell tour and try to capitalize on that word. It just didn't work for me," Lee told SiriusXM's Trunk Nation in 2018. "It wasn't the easiest thing to pull off, but I feel good about our body of work, and I feel good about the way it ended.")

Peart quietly announced his retirement from drumming only a few months after their final show. "He was struggling throughout that tour to play at his peak, because of physical ailments and other things that were going on with him," Lee added. "He’s a perfectionist, and he didn’t want to go out and do anything less than what people expected of him. That's what drove him his whole career, and that's the way he wanted to go out, and I totally respect that."

The trio had always formally agreed that Rush couldn't exist without all three members. "There have been other decisions in our career where the three of us weren’t on board and we didn’t do it," Lee recalled in Time Stand Still . "Nothing as profound as ending our touring life, but fair enough. So one guy doesn’t want to do that thing anymore that I love to do. That hurts. But there’s nothing I can do about it, and that’s part of the agreement."

But Rush die-hards, the kind of fans who enjoy 20-minute songs, are nothing if not patient. Maybe, after some rest, Peart would change his mind and pick up the sticks? Sadly, his retirement became permanent: The beloved drummer died on Jan. 7, 2020, from brain cancer after a three-and-a-half-year battle with the illness.

Somehow, in an era where celebrity secrets rarely remain private, Peart managed to keep the diagnosis among his closest friends and family. The worldwide mourning after his death was only amplified by the stabbing surprise of the reveal. But as the wordsmith once wrote in Rush's 1981 anthem "Limelight," "One must put up barriers / To keep oneself intact."

Rush continue to exist as a catalog act: In May, they reissued their 1980 LP, Permanent Waves , in a deluxe format — the latest in an ongoing series of 40th-anniversary projects. And it's not like the surviving members have retired: In 2018, Lee released his Big Beautiful Book of Bass ; and Lifeson contributed forewords to both that tome and Greg Prato's 2017 book, Shredders!: The Oral History of Speed Guitar (And More) . But it's unclear when they might record new music — or in what format. (Lee issued his lone solo LP, My Favourite Headache , in 2000; Lifeson released his only offering, Victor , in 1996.)

In June, Lifeson admitted that he's played little guitar — and doesn't "feel inspired and motivated" — since Peart's death. "Every time I pick up a guitar, I just aimlessly kind of mess around with it and put it down after 10 minutes," he told WFAN . "Normally, I would pick up a guitar and I would play for a couple of hours without even being aware that I'm spending that much time. So, I know it'll come back.” But four years earlier, he told Guitar Connoisseur that he has "hours of material" ready for a record.

Lee has repeatedly expressed interest in another solo album, utilizing the numerous bass guitars he's accumulated in his home studio. "I have bits and bobs, but I don’t have any finished material in the can, so to speak," he told Rolling Stone in 2018. "If I pick up a bass, I just start playing something, and sooner or later I start writing a riff or this or that. So for my own peace of mind, I stash it somewhere. Chances are I’ll come back to it, and it’s crap, so I just trash it. But at least it makes me feel good for the moment."

Looking back at Rush's final gig is painful but powerful: the full-circle feeling of the set list, the ridiculously high skill level of the players, the look of satisfaction on Peart's face. He only crossed the back-line once, but he made it count.

Rush, The Forum, Inglewood, California, August 1, 2015 Set 1 The Anarchist Headlong Flight Far Cry The Main Monkey Business One Little Victory Animate Roll the Bones Distant Early Warning Losing It Subdivisions

Set 2 Tom Sawyer Red Barchetta The Spirit of Radio Jacob's Ladder Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Part I: Prelude Cygnus X-1 Closer to the Heart Xanadu 2112 Part I: Overture 2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx 2112 Part IV: Presentation 2112 Part VII: Grand Finale

Encore Lakeside Park Anthem What You're Doing Working Man