9/12: Neil Peart Tribute Live Stream Event ft. Stewart Copeland, Chad Smith, Taylor Hawkins, Cindy Blackman-Santana & More

This weekend, a star-studded live stream tribute honoring the late, great Neil Peart of Rush will take place, bringing together several drum legends as they all pay their respects to the famed Peart, who passed away in January 2020 after a battle with brain cancer.

Proceeds from ticket sales for Modern Drummer Festival 2020: A Tribute to Neil Peart, scheduled for this Saturday, Sept. 12, will benefit brain tumor research at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center.

Honored to be asked to contribute to this online tribute to Neil Peart ⁦@rushtheband⁩ being done by ⁦@modern_drummer⁩ . Some amazing players on this roster. All proceeds to brain cancer charity. Don’t miss it! Grab a ticket for a great cause! pic.twitter.com/Fs1GdVYAlO

— Eddie Trunk (@EddieTrunk) September 4, 2020

The list of participating drummers is quite impressive, as you’d expect given the legacy of Neil Peart:

Rick Allen (Def Leppard)
Kenny Aronoff
Carmine Appice
Charlie Benente (Anthrax)
Gregg Bissonette (Ringo Starr)
Jason Bittner
Cindy Blackman-Santana
Keith Carlock
Stewart Copeland
Dom Famularo
Alex Gonzalez (Mana)
Gavin Harrison
Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters)
Thomas Lang
Ray Luzier (Korn)
Mike Portnoy
Jim Riley (Rascal Flatts)
66 Samus
Kristina Schiano
Danny Seraphine
Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Steve Smith
Wyatt Stav
Todd Sucherman (STYX)
Brian Tichy
Narada Michael Walden

In addition to all of the above, the event will also feature appearances from John Good, Ari Gold, Eric Leiderman (Late Night with Seth Meyers), Don Lombardi, Jonathan Moffett, Carl Palmer, Eric Singer of KISS, Chris Stankee, Eddie Trunk and Rob Wallis.

Tickets to access the live stream cost $12.99 and can be purchased by clicking here.

News of Peart’s passing impacted the music community immensely, and his family had been working on a star-studded benefit event of its own, A Night For Neil — The Neil Peart Memorial Celebration 2020, for May 2020 — only to see that pushed back to April 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stay tuned for more on that rescheduled event, as it has yet to be fully announced.

Peart’s Rush band mates, guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee, premiered a video for “The Spirit of Radio” paying homage to their fallen colleague and friend, and it was especially moving:

In related Rush news, guitarist Lifeson recently opened up in a podcast interview about how he’s struggling to find the focus or inspiration to play guitar since Peart’s passing:

“It’s been difficult. After Neil passed in January, I’ve played very little guitar. I just don’t feel inspired and motivated.”