Rüfüs Du Sol Sells Out Rose Bowl, 600K Tickets At Onsale, Dominates World (Cover)

Australian-born-and-bred musicians Tyrone Lindqvist, Jon George and James Hunt of Rüfüs Du Sol seem to defy Aussie stereotypes. Take for example the fact that before stepping on stage the three gather around and practice breathwork exercises designed to improve their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. They’ll take a deep inhale together, get their heads in the zone and then proceed to melt the faces of their legions of fans around the globe who rabidly gather for live performances of their transportive alternative warm dance music and poignant melodies.

“Over the last few years, we’ve started introducing more wellness routines into our touring, which has made it more sustainable,” Hunt says. “We’ll have a bit of a boot camp element where we’re coming off fitter than we started. We’re working out together in different cities, and one of the rituals pre-show is doing breathwork. That’s been a game changer in getting us in the right state of mind. It’s this natural way of having yourself, and for us to bond before the set. There’s something very ritualistic in doing that, the rhythmic breathing.” 

Their breathwork practices is a theme on their most recent album, Inhale/Exhale, released Oct. 11 via their own record label, Rose Ave Records (licensed by Reprise Records). The trio provided fans a sneak peek of the album and their new live show at Portola in San Francisco on Sept. 28, the festival marking their only live North American show of the year (the other being a DJ set at Coachella’s new Quasar stage). While Rüfüs Du Sol creates electronic dance music, they consider themselves more band than DJs, performing sets live with Lindqvist on vocals, guitar and keyboards, George on keyboards and Hunt on drums. 

“We fell into this electronic niche we really love,” George says. “Part of what we were excited about was making music that incorporated drums and lots of live elements and that was the direction of the band from the beginning. But part of the realm we live in is us having the ability to have others remix our songs, or for us to remix other people for us to lean into dance music—and that can be achieved by a DJ set. We dance within those worlds… For the first few years we made sure we were playing the majority of our shows as a live act and really setting ourselves apart.” 

Setting themselves apart in the touring space, too, is coming to fruition with their “Inhale / Exhale World Tour 2025,” which sold some 600,000 tickets at onsale, including a massive Rose Bowl play (89,000-cap) with legs North America, South America, Europe and Australia. The tour features stops at amphitheaters and Stadiums across the globe, wrapping up with multi-night arena runs in their homeland.

Their proof of concept for the upcoming trek was 2022 “Surrender Tour,” which found a rapt fanbase and and included two sold-out nights at the 5,000-capacity MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston on Aug. 1-2, 2023, grossing $687,297, and a $1.3 million gross at Palacio De Los Deportes in Mexico City on April 30, 2023. That tour frequently landed them on Pollstar’s LIVE75 chart throughout its run. By its end the group wanted to take some time off and recenter themselves while they crafted Inhale/Exhale. However, when Goldenvoice’s Danny Bell offered them the opportunity to headline Portola, they reconsidered.

“When that offer first came across our desks, we turned it down because we weren’t planning on touring at all in ‘24,” says the band’s manager Danny Robson of Los Angeles-based Leisurely. “But we sat and considered and thought, ‘Actually, perhaps this is the perfect opportunity for us to capture some live content of what these songs will be and share that with the world.’ It felt like a great opportunity, and the team was really accommodating.” 

Rüfüs Du Sol curshed the first day of the festival in what was an uncharacteristically chilly weekend for San Francisco debuting their new songs live as the fog rolled in. 

“They really took advantage of it,” Goldenvoice’s Bell says. “From the beginning, I told them, ‘I’m down to be a partner. Let’s get creative and do whatever you guys need to do.’ Their team was so great to work with, and they really went the extra mile. We did a tease campaign where we put up Portola signs with the festival logo and a phone number. If you called the number, an answering machine picked up with a snippet of their new single. It was a really awesome creative effort.” 

Throughout their 60 reported dates to Pollstar’s Boxoffice, they’ve sold 263,224 tickets grossing a total of $14.4 million. Over the last several years, Rüfüs Du Sol have had practice in scaling their shows up and down in production, performing in larger-sized venues such as three nights at the 22k-cap BMO (then Banc of California) Stadium in Los Angeles from Nov. 12-14, 2021 to then playing at 713 Music Hall in Houston with 5k-cap days later on Nov. 18. As they hop between continents, the disparity in venue sizes feels more apparent for the band. 

“For us it’s interesting, because we’re varying in size in different territories,” Lindqvist says. “In Australia, we had a lot of success in our first two albums. Then, when we came to the U.S., where we were just starting out with those first two albums. It wasn’t until our third album that we were able to play larger venues. And the same goes for Europe. We’ve been going to Europe a lot and it’s been very gradual, steady growth.”

That’s meant a different production based on venue type.

“It’s doing well now, but five years ago, the venues were a lot smaller than what we were playing in Australia, so we had to have almost three types of shows for each tour where it’s more than just size,” Lindqvist says. “You’d have a varying light show in terms of the set and how it’s portrayed, but the actual set list and musical aspect of our shows were pretty consistent. Which is cool for us, it keeps it a bit fresh. Sometimes we’ll play a giant venue and then go to Europe and do a smaller venue. It’s a nice reminder of where we came from and how we started. There’s different energy with smaller crowds. We’re lucky, we get to experience both ends of the spectrum at the same time.”

 For Rufus’ “Inhale / Exhale World Tour 2025,” they’ll bring different size crews depending on where they’re playing with between 40 to 50 crew members on tour in the Americas and Australia, and around 25 or so in Europe. The tour officially begins on March 12 at Estadio 3 de Marzo (19K-cap) in Guadalajara, Mexico, along with appearances in Mexico City, Peru and Lollapalooza Chile, Argentina and Brazil as part of their Latin American run. They’ll then begin to run through the United States with dates at Dallas’ Dos Equis Pavilion, Houston’s Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, Shoreline Amphitheater and Rose Bowl Stadium.

Live Nation is promoting the tour in full with promoter Rich Best (Global Tour Promoter at Live Nation Concerts) once again as he did during their Banc of California Stadium shows back in 2021, but things have changed since then.

“In South America, we’re playing huge shows, but they’re all fly shows,” Robson says. “You are limited in what you can fly because of the cost of freight – it’s gone up astronomically since COVID. So, that’s a challenge live touring artists are still having to navigate. What we’ve worked out is Europe and South America will have one set of production and our North American shows will have another set of production. In 2026, we’re looking like we’ll be in a place where that won’t be the case. When we’re at that level, our hope is we’ll be running the same production everywhere and that will be a problem of the past for us.” 

The band’s agent, CAA’s Alex Becket, began plotting this year’s tour in June of 2023 – six months before the trio wrapped their last touring cycle supporting 2021’s Surrender. The team knew to expect Inhale/Exhale by the final quarter of 2024, allowing them time to plot out a full global tour.

“Generally, we tour in two-year cycles around a record,” Becket says. “For 2025, our focus was mostly on outdoor venues. So, for that reason, we have to be sensitive to the weather, and that guided a lot of our choices. We also wanted to do a couple of key tentpole festival plays, like Lollapalooza, Miami F1 Weekend for the first U.S. leg was something we tried to target – Jon and James moved to Miami a couple years ago and have become such fixtures in the scene there that it felt good to have the guys in town for such a big weekend there.”

Before they’ve even hit the road, ticket sales are through the roof. The tickets were rolled out over a three-day period as they went on sale across the globe, Robson, Becket and Best sat together in a “War Room” watching it play out. While none got much sleep as the onsale took place, they were ecstatic with the results. In addition to the Aug. 16 Rose Bowl Stadium sell-out, the band also sold out several smaller MLS Stadiums including Q2 in Austin (April 26), Sports Illustrated Stadium in New Jersey (July 25 and 26) and Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Denver (Aug. 9). 

“Ticket sales are phenomenal,” Becket says. “We sold out 90% of our shows worldwide on the first day, including selling out Rose Bowl. That’s a lifelong goal, right? It totally exceeded expectations.”

Best expanded, “With nearly 600,000 tickets sold worldwide, the response has been incredible across the board,. Europe is fully sold out, including Crystal Palace Park (25K-cap), their biggest headlining show in the U.K. Their hometown shows in Australia were just as strong, selling out multiple nights and adding more to meet demand. In North America, Miami’s massive 30,000 sellout during Formula 1 weekend, their Sports Illustrated Stadium (25K-cap) shows in New York/New Jersey (which sold out immediately and marked the venue’s first concerts in 14 years), and markets like Indianapolis drawing over 15,000 fans on a Sunday night further prove the strength of their global fanbase. Lima, Peru, was a brand-new market on this run, and based on trends, we expect their audience to grow significantly when they return.”

The band is strategic in their choice of venues wanting to ensure fans as much GA space as possible; but, as their touring has scaled, that’s proved more difficult. Becket’s solution was to seek out as many outdoor venues as possible, timing the tour to markets during their warmer – but not overheated – months. 

“On the last album cycle, we had to move into venues where there were seats, but we try to push the GA section as much as possible,” Becket says. “Being in large outdoor amphitheaters has proven to be a great fit for the band and a good fit for the fans because most of them will allow you to do GA by section, at the pavilions you have a big GA lawn. That’s why the majority of venues we’re playing in 2025 are largely the big amphitheaters. Some of our larger markets we’ve gone into stadiums, the double Sports Illustrated Stadiums in New York/New Jersey, Q2 in Austin, which are soccer stadiums. But, interestingly enough, in Australia we’re doing our first full arena run. That was exciting because we didn’t see hesitancy in the fans. This includes three nights at Rod Laver Arena (44,460 tickets total), three nights at Qudos Bank Arena (63,000 tickets total) and other Aussie arenas. They were buying up tickets as quick as ever. I think that represents a big change for the band.”

On the promoter side, Best says this run marks a new level for the band. Tickets sold faster than ever, and across the globe Rüfüs Du Sol is gaining more recognition and drawing larger audiences. Already, the team is plotting out their 2026 run and hitting larger venues is likely.  

“What sets this band apart is that their fanbase doesn’t just grow in small percentages – when they enter a new market, their business doesn’t just increase, it doubles or triples the next time around,” Best says. “I’ve never seen anything like it. That’s why we knew global demand would be strong, and the onsale confirmed it, with tickets moving incredibly fast and many shows selling out. Multi-night runs in Europe and Australia blew out, along with stadium and amphitheater dates in North America and key performances in South America around their festival plays. The fans have made it clear – they want more, and we’ve already identified multiple cities where we plan to make a return visit.” 

Dance music, as a whole, has evolved drastically over the last few years, with fans wanting more connection and bigger production. The genre entered Sphere with Anyma’s residency dates, and continues to have a large hold at Coachella with the Quasar Stage and Do LaB. EDC Las Vegas remains the highest-ticketed event in all of North America, attracting over 150,000 fans per day, and each tour aims to outdo its last on production. And acts like Illenium and ODESZA regularly play arenas.

“What started with DJs in nightclubs and residencies has transformed into full-scale global productions, with artists selling out venues of all sizes worldwide,” Best says. “This band is a perfect example of that evolution, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for live electronic music.” 

For the band itself, they’re gearing up to hit the road for the “Inhale/Exhale World Tour.” They played a one-off DJ set at Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles last night (March 6) to get their feet wet and raise funds for L.A. wildfire relief. They’ve been hard at work rehearsing for the last seven weeks. They had a good test case with their Portola performance, and before they kick off their first shows in Mexico next week they’ll tweak the show until they feel they’ve gotten the formula just right.

“The way it’s mapped out is we’re going to Central and South America first, which is feeling really exciting and the crowds are responding well and buying more tickets,” says Lindqvist. “It’s just slightly smaller than where we’re at in the U.S. or Australia. So, we’re starting there, which is an opportunity for us to sharpen our skills without as much pressure. It gives us an opportunity to refine what we’re doing, hone in the lights, trial the actual set list and the way things flow. I think the first few months of any tour of ours is the most exciting because between shows, the biggest changes happen. We start in Guadalajara and Monterrey, imagine if you fast-forward a month, the show will look somewhat differently musically and visually, which is exciting. Towards the end, if you’ve been touring an album for a year, things are pretty consistent, because you know what works, you know how audiences respond for the most part, so there’s less variability.” 

Once the band wraps up their set, they head off the stage, exhaling as they dip themselves into an ice bath. The three note it helps them recalibrate their system and ground themselves back into reality following the experience of performing in front of thousands of people.

“It’s such an elation, but then you come off stage and you don’t know what to do with that energy,” George says. “It’s been a cool way to channel that back in, to come back into our body.”

Inhale. Exhale.