We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again - What a time to be a Rush fan!

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With Ray deep into his stint with the Fifty Something Tour, and Jeff preparing for his first date with the 2026 edition of Rush - on August 7, as the band kicks off a 4-night run in Toronto - we spend some time with Steve Himel, co-founder and General Manager of Toronto’s Henderson Brewing Company, and creator of the Rush line of brews. 

Steve tells us about his plans for the 4th annual Rush Day, which welcomes an international community of Rush freaks to Henderson’s Toronto brewery on Saturday, August 8th; Jeff tells Steve that he’s his personal hero for combining the two things he loves the most - Rush and beer; and Steve tells us about the roots of the partnership with Alex and Geddy that led to the creation of Rush beer. 

For the next hour, let time stand still! 

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As the 2026 edition of Rush continues to roll across the country, claiming one (not so) little victory at a time, Jeff & Ray dig through decades of intense fandom, personal experiences, and close listening, to defend their Rush top 10 lists. Interesting and sometimes intense discussion ensued! Before you listen and wonder why your own favorites ranked low or didn’t make the cut, remember that, as Neil once wrote, our differences make us interesting to each other, and “The spaces in between leave room for you and I to grow.” We look forward to you sharing your own ‘best of’ lists with us!

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As the Fifty Something tour rolls on, and Geddy, Alex, Anika and Loren navigate a bump in the road or two, Jeff & Ray look back on the Rush concerts from years past that formed and fostered their love for the band, reflect on”spontaneous relations and the long enduring kind,” and highlight through-lines in the trio’s illustrious tenure as a premier live band.

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With the Rush Fifty Something tour officially underway and the accolades rolling in, Jeff and Ray discuss the first run of shows, Ray’s first-person recollections of nights 1 and 2 in Los Angeles, the incredible grace under pressure exhibited by Anika Nilles, the Xanadu Lounge (honeydew and milk of paradise for all!), and the abundant surprises in the tour’s setlists so far. Welcome to Episode 2 of our shared journey. The road unwinds before us…

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Hey there, music lovers. Welcome to Why Rush Matters, a podcast dedicated to the music, legacy, and enduring power of the Canadian trio that changed the game and changed a lot of lives in the process. I'm your host, Jeff Miers, musician, music journalist, and since a January evening in 1980 at the Palace Theater in Albany, a devoted Rush fan who has never once looked back.

Joining me, as always, is my friend and collaborator Ray Wawrzyniak, educator, collector, historian, and one of the most passionate Rush scholars on the planet. Ray and I met through our shared love of this band, and the kinship was immediate. If you've ever encountered Rush liner notes, tour books, or the documentary record of the band's history, there's a real chance you've already encountered Ray's work without knowing it.

So: why does Rush matter? That's the question we set out to answer in Episode 1, and it turns out, for Ray and me, the answer runs pretty deep. We talk about our origin stories with the band, the albums that hit us hardest, and what it means, decades later, to still feel the music the way we did the first time. We also dig into the recent deluxe reissue of Grace Under Pressure, and we discuss Rush's landmark performance at the Juno Awards, the first public appearance of the new lineup featuring drummer Annika Niles, which left both of us, frankly, a little undone.

It's Episode 1. We're just getting started.

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This is the dedicated Rush podcast for fans who know this music was never just about dazzling time signatures, thunderous bass pedals, or impossible drum fills. It was about curiosity, friendship, ambition, imagination, grief, humor, and the strange, lifelong bond between a band and the people who found themselves inside its songs.

Hosted by Buffalo music journalist and critic Jeff Miers and Rush historian, archivist, musicologist, and lifelong devotee Ray Wawrzyniak, the show grew out of a standout Rush conversation on Why Music Matters with Jeff Miers. That episode became one of the podcast’s biggest moments, proving what Rush fans already understood: there is always more to say, more to hear, and more to discover.

Launching in Spring 2026, Why Rush Matters arrives as Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson bring Rush music back to the stage with drummer Anika Nilles on the Fifty Something tour. Jeff and Ray will explore the songs, albums, lyrics, live legacy, creative evolution, and cultural force of Rush with the care of scholars and the excitement of fans who still get chills when the needle drops.

Expect smart conversation, deep research, rare perspective, special guests, stories from inside and around the Rush universe, and a guide through one of the most emotional chapters in the band’s history. For lifelong fans, newer listeners, musicians, collectors, and anyone asking why Rush still matters, this is the place to begin again.

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