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ANIKA NILLES
+ Sleepmakeswaves
+ Brekky Boy
@ Manning Bar, Sydney
2nd December 2025
(Live Review)

Review by Glen Morgan

Photos by Glen Morgan (@glenmorganphotography)

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ANIKA NILLES / Photo – @glenmorganphotography

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Sydney Uni’s Manning Bar was packed tight on Tuesday night, buzzing with a particular kind of anticipation—the kind that belongs to drummers, prog die-hards, and lifelong Rush devotees. The crowd skewed heavily toward the latter, drawn not only by Anika Nilles’ formidable reputation but also by the halo of her newest accolade: the recently announced role as drummer for Rush’s 2026 reunion tour. It’s a staggering appointment for any musician, but for Nilles—German drummer, composer, educator, and longtime rhythm innovator—it felt less like an unexpected leap and more like the universe finally catching up.

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Sleepmakeswaves / Photo – @glenmorganphotography

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Before Nilles and her band Nevell took the stage, the room was primed by two standout local supports. Opening the night, Sleepmakeswaves delivered a heady dose of progressive post-rock that swelled with cinematic ambition. Their trademark crescendos, textural guitar lines, and synesthetic energy filled the space with a sense of scale that belied their early slot. They played like a band making a statement—grand, emotive, pulsing with tension and release—and their set worked beautifully as a tonal bridge between the mathy intensities to come.

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Brekky Boy / Photo – @glenmorganphotography

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Second support Brekky Boy shifted the night into sharper rhythmic territory. The Sydney jazz-prog trio brought their signature mix of playful keys, serpentine bass runs, and groove-heavy drumming. Their music often feels like a conversation occurring at high speed, full of left turns and quick winks, and Manning Bar responded warmly. It was crisp, intricate, and full of momentum—a perfect rhythmic aperitif before the main event.

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ANIKA NILLES / Photo – @glenmorganphotography

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When the lights dimmed again and Anika Nilles strode to the kit, the room’s energy snapped into focus. She’s a physical performer—precise but joyful, athletic but never showy—and from the moment she counted in, it was clear we were in for a masterclass. Backed by her current Nevell lineup—Joachim Schneiss on guitar, Patrick Rugebregt on synths and keys, and Jonathan Ihlenfeld Cuñado on bass—she launched into a set drawn largely from her new album False Truth (2025), but peppered with earlier favourites.

Nilles’ sound has always balanced melody and complexity, pairing intricate time signatures with hooks that linger, and live, this duality is even more apparent. Tracks like “Rocket” arrived with fierce propulsion: drums tumbling through syncopated bursts while synths and guitar carved out bright, agile counter-melodies. “Glassy”, by contrast, shimmered with a kind of translucent finesse—an exploration of groove that shifted subtly with each phrase, as Cuñado’s bass foundation and Rugebregt’s keyboard textures rippled under Nilles’ playful rhythmic twists.

Schneiss brought a particularly strong voice to the performance, weaving melodic lines that expanded and contracted around Nilles’ polyrhythmic framework. The band played with the ease of long-term collaborators but also with the alertness of musicians living inside their material, reinventing moments in real time.

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ANIKA NILLES / Photo – @glenmorganphotography

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One of the night’s most affecting sections came as Nilles introduced the piece she wrote in tribute to Jeff Beck. In 2022, she toured Europe as part of Beck’s live band—an extraordinary appointment that became bittersweet when Beck passed away just three weeks after the tour concluded. The composition she penned for him, performed here with quiet sincerity, moved the room into stillness. It wasn’t somber so much as reflective: a celebration of Beck’s influence and a gesture of gratitude expressed through shifting, searching motifs. Schneiss handled the guitar refrains with reverence but avoided imitation, allowing the piece to inhabit its own emotional logic rather than leaning on nostalgia.

Throughout the night, Nilles’ drumming remained the gravitational centre—grooving, erupting, and dancing around the music with astonishing clarity. Her fills were less about flash than architecture: shapes built deliberately, phrases that resolved with elegance. Watching her perform, it’s easy to understand how a musician who began her career on YouTube in the early 2010s—posting meticulously crafted playthroughs and original compositions—has grown into one of the most respected drummers of her generation. Three full-length albums with Nevell—Pikalar (2017), For a Colorful Soul (2020), and now False Truth—have each charted artistic leaps, and her live show crystallises all of those progressions.

As the set closed, the audience erupted—not just in admiration, but in recognition. This was a musician at the cusp of a new chapter, yet fully in command of the artistry that brought her here. If her performance at Manning Bar is any indication, the Rush tour in 2026 won’t just be a reunion; it will be a reinvention, powered by a drummer who has spent her life pushing rhythm forward.

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ANIKA NILLES / Photo – @glenmorganphotography

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Check out Glen Morgan’s (@glenmorganphotography) full gallery of this event HERE

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ANIKA NILLES / Photo – @glenmorganphotography

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Follow ANIKA NILLES
Website – Instagram – Facebook
X – Spotify

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ANIKA NILLES / Photo – @glenmorganphotography

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Press Release 10th November 2025 (below) HERE

ANIKA NILLES
announced as new drummer for
RUSH
+ Australian tour supports
announced

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AMNPLIFY – DB