Rush opened the Fifty Something tour Sunday night at the Kia Forum. First show in 11 years, with Anika Nilles behind the kit, and the Forum is the same building where Neil Peart played his final show with the band in 2015. So the room already carried weight before a note was played.

Then came “Tom Sawyer.” The fill after Lifeson’s solo, the one every Rush fan has played on a steering wheel at a red light. Nilles nailed it, and 18,000 people cheered a drum fill in the middle of a song. Watch the video. Watch her face at 2:53 when she comes out the other side of it on the second night. She knows. The crowd knows. Geddy and Alex know. That’s what a victory lap should be. Not two guys protecting a legacy, but two guys trusting somebody new to carry it.

I loved every second.