Late Rush drummer Neil Peart will be honored by some big names next month at Modern Drummer Festival 2020. Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, former Smashing Pumpkins touring drummer Kenny Aranoff, Carmine Appice, Charlie Benante, Greg Bissonette, Jason Bittner, Cindy Blackman-Santana, Keith Carlock, Dom Famularo, Alex Gonzalez, Gavin Harrison, Thomas Lang, Ray Luzier, Mike Portnoy, Jim Riley, 66 Samus, Kristina Schiano, Danny Seraphine, Wyatt Stav, Todd Sucherman, and Brian Tichy are set to perform.
The show will be a tribute to Neil Peart, and will take place on September 12, 2020 at 8PM EST. The festival will stream on Live X Live, with proceeds benefiting brain tumor research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Peart died from brain cancer after battling it for a few years back in January. He was survived by his wife and daughter. Foo Fighters were set to tour this year to celebrate their 25th anniversary, with the worldwide pandemic forcing them to postpone those plans, and to shelve their new album.
Red Hot Chili Peppers reunited with John Frusciante last year, with Frusciante reuniting to perform with Anthony Kiedis and Flea at a private memorial earlier this year. Their touring plans were also pushed back to 2021, though the band is currently recording a new album, their first with Frusciante since 2006’s Stadium Arcadium.
Kenny Aranoff toured with The Smashing Pumpkins in 1998 for their Adore tour, replacing Jimmy Chamberlin. Chamberlin and bandmates Billy Corgan and James Iha just released a new Smashing Pumpkins track that sounds like a Maynard James Keenan song.
