Rufus Du Sol Look Back On Rose Bowl, Lollapalooza, Ahead At 2026

INDIO, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 19: (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) James Hunt and Jon George of Rüfüs Du Sol perform at the Quasar stage at the 2024 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival weekend 2 day 1 at Empire Polo Club on April 19, 2024 in Indio, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Coachella)

Getty Images for Coachella

Following the release of their fifth studio album Inhale / Exhale this past October, Australian alternative dance group Rüfüs Du Sol would soon embark upon a massive 2025.

Moving in excess of 700,000 tickets during their Inhale / Exhale outing, the group leveraged arguably the strongest global brand in the festival sphere, performing this year at Lollapalooza in Chile, Argentina and Brazil.

Headlining Lollapalooza in Chicago earlier this month, Rüfüs wrapped up the immense run on stage in Los Angeles, where their story in America really began, taking to the Rose Bowl stage in front of about 60,000 fans last week as the first electronic act to perform at the legendary football stadium, a National Historic Landmark and still the world’s 20th largest stadium.

The Rose Bowl show is the culmination of years of work, with the group taking in a Coldplay performance at the iconic venue as they worked to put together a show which would provide fans a uniquely immersive experience that celebrates their history in the City of Angels.

Much deserving of a break, Rufus is readying a staggering run of 12 sold out arena concerts at home in Australia this November with an eye on even bigger things in 2026, with a return to South America for six performances set for February and March 2026 marking their biggest headlining South American shows yet.

While the band has charted hits in America on Billboard’s dance charts, they’ve yet to crack the “Hot 100” pop chart, continually forging a unique path driven by connection and authenticity while casting a keen eye on the business side.

I spoke with keyboard player Jon George and drummer James Hunt about their momentous 2025, the value of authenticity and what lies ahead. A transcript of our video call, conducted two days prior to the Rose Bowl performance, lightly edited for length and clarity, follows below.

Jim Ryan: Obviously, you guys incorporate elements of house music. And Chicago is the birthplace of that artform. What was it like being back on stage at Lollapalooza?

Jon George: That was a really cool, pivotal moment of this tour – and something that we were looking forward to for a while. It was pretty surreal to headline such a big stage. And, like I said on stage at the time, it was cool to be up there representing some form of electronic music – and Australian music as well – in America. Plus, the birthplace of house music. So, yeah, I think that was a cool combination of a lot of things for us.

I think we’re still trying to take it all in – all of these huge moments that we’re having on this tour.

Ryan: And the Rose Bowl is a whole different beast. How do you prepare mentally for these huge shows and larger audiences?

James Hunt: I guess it’s cool the way we’ve routed this tour that the Rose Bowl is right at the end. So, in a way, we’ve been able to get match fit ahead of these monumental shows. Even Lollapalooza. Because we’ve been touring for six months pretty consistently with this live show that we’ve built and developed. So, we’ve had a chance to get well-oiled in the way we’re transitioning and learning our parts and it being second nature.

And then, on top of that, we do have little rituals that we incorporate into touring. Especially the last five years. Rituals like breath work before every show. Which is, honestly, really instrumental. At Lollapalooza, we had a really good session of breath work beforehand. And I felt like we went on stage very zen and ready to embrace that moment. I know, in the past, dealing with some degree of nerves, we’d deal with that in other ways. So, it’s a really healthy way to come into your body.

It’s a combination of just practicing a lot ahead of the Rose Bowl as well as ice baths and breath work, working out on show day. It’s a lot of small things that help us get into a really good headspace.

Ryan: Jon, I know your brother works as Creative Director. What can you highlight that makes this Rose Bowl production unique?

George: We’ve been having some really good discussions. We’ve been saying it’s something we’re looking forward to and it really is the peak of this whole touring period so far. And we wanted to pull out some tricks. We have things like fireworks. We’ve added a bunch of production. And we’re really trying to bring in the architecture of the Rose Bowl itself – which is historical and has a lot of weight to it. And the city of Los Angeles in general.

That was the first place we moved to when we moved to America. It’s a place that’s been so good to us in our career. And we have a lot of memories there. As these shows are sort of evident of the following that we’ve been gathering in America, this is pretty cool to show that it all started there and this is our largest show in L.A.

And we’re definitely trying to make that evident with how much we’re putting into the production and trying to surprise people and have it be a really big celebration of Rüfüs Du Sol and what it means to L.A.

Ryan: I was looking at photos of that building this morning. I think what I really love about it is how old school it is. Suites don’t really take over the viewing experience like they do in newer buildings. The seating bowl is a little different there. Anything that struck you guys as particularly unique about it?

Hunt: We do enjoy the concept of playing a live show in a space, whether that’s related to nature, or a park that we put our own show on in, or if it’s a specific amphitheatre with history like the Gorge or Red Rocks. We do love that experience from our end, and also for the fans, of the show taking place in a space that has some kind of archaeological or aesthetic significance.

And we went to a show at the Rose Bowl two years ago when we were trying to make the decision on what place we wanted to play and really loved the architecture of it. We went and saw Coldplay actually. It was just a really cool experience to see how a show operated in that space. And also just the way it was set up – the angle of the stands wasn’t too vertical but it was vertical enough.

With some of these stadiums, it feels like the fans are on top of you and the visibility might not be as good. Or the way sound carries, it isn’t as great. So, we were pleased with the sound. And just loved the vibe of it, the aesthetic of it. It’s just a historic venue. Visually, it looks sick.

Ryan: With each new album, your music seems to connect with a bigger, wider audience, finding new fans in new countries. How important is that idea of connection and how do you go about ensuring your music connects the way it does with fans across so many different cultures?

George: I think that the one thing we’ve done well is stay true to ourselves. And I think, in turn, that creates this connection.

The way that we write music, we don’t try to think about much else other than the three of us in the studio right then and there. Whether we’re going through something at the moment, and we’re trying to get that off our chest, or we’re celebrating or just trying to create a cool vibe in the studio, we’re trying to block out everything else. And I think that has rewarded us with that authenticity that really connects with the audience. And I think that that’s something that we’re proud of: along our whole journey, we’ve been very true to ourselves. And just trying to pave a pathway forward.

I think that from the moment we first made “Innerbloom,” for example, a song that is definitely not made for radio – it was actually made with the intention of being the antithesis of a radio song and it ended up being one of our biggest songs. But I remember the first time that we played it genuinely – the first time that people would’ve heard it during a concert in Australia – and just watching people cry listening to it for the first time. That authentic moment of us making something for ourselves and it now being the audience’s – and it being an emotional moment for them. I think that we’ve been able to stay true to those ideals.

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Ryan: Your live set avoids a lot of the EDM festival trappings. It’s very musical. There is a lot of live instrumentation. And it felt like those elements allowed the Lollapalooza set to live a little more in the moment as a result. How important is it to you guys to focus on the music in that way?

George: That’s been one of the values that we highlighted very early on: we wanted to be working within electronic music but doing it live. And we try and keep our hands as full as possible creating these moments, whether it’s for improvisation or moments between songs jamming other elements. But, also, if there’s mistakes it’s authentic and it sort of shows the liveness of it all.

But we’ve always loved that. We love electronic music and we love these sorts of acoustic textures and us playing between those two worlds. So, we wouldn’t have it any other way than being able to represent some form of that on stage.

One of the reasons Tyrone was really able to get into electronic music was him seeing some Australian acts like Cut Copy and the Presets, where he could sort of now open up the gateway for him to like electronic music – because he was into rock music and stuff like that before.

I think it’s just been trying to fly that flag ever since. And help people get into all forms of music. And create our own blend.

Ryan: Listening to Inhale / Exhale this morning, I was struck by the way in which there is sort of a narrative thread – beginning and ending the album the way you do with those two songs, it does tell a story. How important is that idea of storytelling to you?

Hunt: I guess when we get together and start writing a record, we are really in a generative stage. We’re just generating and throwing references in. Because we are operating in a more classic album cycle model compared to some other electronic artists. So, we’ll be on tour touring a record for like a year and a half, two years. And, in that time, we’re absorbing new inspirations, finding new tunes.

Me and Jon are always hunting for club tunes, DJing and trying to find inspiration elsewhere. So, when we get back in the studio, we are really kind of just generating and seeing what comes, seeing what sticks – throwing paint on the canvas.

And, then, as we start to get into the writing process, the themes or the threads that are feeling resonant to us emerge – and it starts to coalesce. So, it’s like later on in the piece, we start to really have ideas that we have been sitting on for a few months and really love. And then it’s starting to piece them together.

The way we structured Inhale / Exhale came a bit later – maybe toward the end of the writing process – when we were starting to see which ideas we wanted to put together. And we had the most amount of ideas we’ve ever had. So, we were considering doing a two part album, like a part a, part b – like a dual sense of that. But then we decided that we wanted to do a longer form record – 15 tracks. Traditionally, we’d done 10 or 11 tracks max. So, it felt fresh for us to do something that had a duality to it. A dual arc in a way. And the song in the middle, “New York,” kind of resets it.

But these conversations took place later when we were starting to sequence things and see what could flow well in terms of the storytelling of the music and the mood and the journey of the album. That all kind of comes towards the end when we have the material there and we’re feeling really good about the macro sort of choices.

Ryan: Self-releasing that album via your own Rose Avenue Records – does putting your hands on it in that way kind of help you to maintain a little more control?

George: For sure. Yeah. I think that’s something that excited us as we were in and out of record deals in the first third of our career, and finding different homes for ourselves and what really resonates with us – or what type of A&R we want.

I think that what has worked best for us is when we’re left to our own devices. We like that autonomy. In fact, everyone at Warner, who’s the parent company of our label, they’ve been really good in letting us do our own thing. So, we’ve also liked that idea when we’ve gone to mentor and help other bands and bring up other acts – trying to figure out what is special about that act and what we can do in terms of feeding back and giving A&R advice ourselves.

Working with artists, I think we’ve tried to be super fair with the business model we’ve given to them as the structure – and what we want to do to be able to push music in general and keep people inspired and show there’s a way forward. We’ve particularly helped some Australian acts where I think it was tougher as parts of the live industry in Australia were getting shut down over the past ten years. We’ve been able to sort of mentor and help those acts out.

I think it’s important to give back and also keep our music thriving. That’s something that really excites us.

Ryan: We’ve heard these stories for decades of what can kind of happen when an artist isn’t keeping a close eye on the business side. I imagine your approach to that has to be different today than it was for artists in the 80s or 90s at the height of that major label system business model. What is your approach today?

Hunt: I feel like Jon is very across the business side of things. He’s very savvy with business. And we have an amazing manager as well, Danny Robson. I feel like Jon and Danny are very good at keeping the reins on how the business is running.

George: I think all three of us are super interested – but I appreciate that. I think that was, from the very beginning, something that really interested me was the business side of the music industry.

Danny was my best friend. We lived together and started going to college together at the same time. As the band started, he took a path with us, quitting his media job to go down this path with us. And it was something that we both learned together.

I think that the industry has changed a lot over that time. But we’ve been able to rewrite what the business model is. I think that it’s more relevant than ever for us right now to keep on our toes about what AI is going to do to the industry or whether the major record labels are going to be as relevant in the future. Things like that. And not putting all our eggs in one basket but staying informed about what is possible. And I think that we’re all pretty switched on about just trying to be informed about the industry and make smart choices.

I think this live tour is a great example of that. We haven’t had the major radio hit that it might require in the past to be able to sell such a large tour – even from the electronic music perspective, we’ve created our own path in so many ways. And I think we’ve taken big risks – but we’ve been well-informed along the way.

Ryan: I was thinking earlier about the 2022 beverage line. You did your own festival a year later. I imagine as things continue to progress, you’re presented with more and more opportunities like that. How do you approach branding when it comes to that kind of stuff and ensure the authenticity that we’ve talked about is in place and that you’re not just slapping your name on something disposable?

Hunt: We definitely have a lot of discussions about what we’re aligned on. We have an investment fund now. We’re investing in different start-ups or things that excite us. But we make sure we see who in the group is aligned on those things. So, in the same way, we have that same process in terms of what we’re attaching our name to and what feels like it connects to the world of Rüfüs Du Sol. There are a lot of ongoing discussions.

Ryan: It’s been quite a year. Are you ready for a break?

George: I think we’re always ready for a break (laughs) – but I think we’re always very hungry to get back into whatever we’re doing. So, it’s a funny thing.

I think that it’s been a long tour and we’re running on adrenaline. We’re having some amazing moments – but I’m definitely looking forward to a little bit of time to take it all in actually. To sort of slow down and think about that Lolla show or take in this Rose Bowl show.

I don’t think we’ll ever stop being excited to continue with Rüfüs Du Sol music. But, yeah – looking forward to a little break.