All-Star Tribute For Neil Peart Set For Modern Drummer Festival

An all-star tribute for the late prog-rock legend of Rush, Neil Peart, is set to take place this weekend as a part of the livestream event for the Modern Drummer Festival.

All-start indeed, as the performers include Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters, Rick Allen from Def Leppard, Thomas Lang, Alex Gonzalez, Jim Riley, Danny Seraphine, Dom Famularo, Carmine Appice, Cindy Blackman-Santana, Keith Carlock, Todd Sucherman of Styx, Kenny Aronoff, Gregg Bissonette, Ray Luzier, and Kristina Schiano among others.

Moreover, the festival will feature appearances from Carl Palmer, Eric Singer, Mike Portnoy, Eric Leiderman, Les DeMerle, Brian Tichy, Jason Bittner, Don Lombardi, Charlie Benante, Jonathan Moffett, Wyatt Stav, and 66 Samus.

LiveXLive will be hosting the Modern Drummer Festival livestream on Saturday, September 12 at 8 PM EDT. Tickets come at $12.99 with proceeds that will benefit brain tumor research Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in memory of Peart, who passed away from brain cancer on January 7.

In a statement, CEO and Publisher David Frangioni said: “Modern Drummer turns 45 next year and through more than 40 of them, we formed a close and unique collaboration with the one and only, Neil Peart. Neil even gave away his iconic candy apple red kit to a Modern Drummer reader in the 80’s via mail-in letters chosen personally by Peart himself! It was without question that as Modern Drummer celebrates our twentieth festival, we are honoring Neil with a fitting tribute from some of his closest friends as well as world-class drummers that he inspired.”

He added, “The Modern Drummer Festival is a celebration of drums, drumming and drummers worldwide. This year will be the first year that everyone can attend as our capacity just went into the Hemispheres!”