Live Review: RÜFÜS DU SOL
Rufus Du Sol 2022 Australian Tour at Langley Park, Perth, 17 December 2022.
By Sheldon Ang
Photos by Liam Fawell
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The night is chilled by the south westerly, with light winds trading along the riverside gathering of an oceanic proportion. It has been under an hour since the sun kissed the horizon, transforming the meandering Derbal Yerrigan from the glittering golden shimmer to the dead set of midnight blue. As the twilight zone creep under the cloudless skies, a group velocity of lasers swish swoosh from the smoky stage, engraving the infinite darkness filled with constellations as Saturn, Jupiter and Mars eyeing from their auspicious positions. If the composer were John Williams, the heavens would’ve been a live performance of The Battle of Endor in Star Wars before an audience of 20,000 at Langley Park, framed by the Perth City skyline.
Our first show in Perth was at the Amplifier and there were fifty people.
Such is the meteoric rise of RÜFÜS DU SOL of a galactic proportion. After performing before 30,000 in Brisbane, 50,000 in Sydney, another 50,000 in Melbourne and millions more across the globe – the trio from the harbour city is arguably the biggest band or artist in Australia in terms of crowd pull. Who else other than AC/DC can garner such numbers?
It was also a showcase of an array of ARIA awards and nominations, covering virtually all dance categories, validated by international-grade success after a hugely successful 15-month tour which included sold out performances across America. The Sydney trio, now expats in Los Angeles, are also Grammy nominated and award winners, acquiring the Australian ambassador role to coolness through song and dance.
Australia is a special place, playing such a wide variety of music, with people in this country listening to a widespread of music. I feel that makes us really creative people, I feel that’s why there’s so much of amazing music coming out of Australia, thank you so much for letting us finish in Perth.
So after fifteen months of touring, Perth was their last show. The final night was sparked by Make it Happen, followed by Eyes and You Were Right from the Surrender, Solace, and Bloom albums. As the music reverberated across the grounds, the incantation through lyrics were embraced by the audience, with fans vocally piggybacking to every word, gilded by the enchanting world of alternative electronic dance music, or EDM.
Each member stood on individual platforms, raised to twelve feet above the ground, with vocalist/guitarist Tyrone Lindqvist in the middle, while keyboard Jon George on one side and drummer James Hunt on the other, each casting profoundly and seamlessly, gelling mellifluously with the synchronicity of cogs in motion, while their image was beamed from the massive screens highlighted by the lightshows that is synonymous to RÜFÜS DU SOL.
On My Knees came in early in the set. The single has been nominated for the 2023 Grammy for Best Dance Recording. The intensity and hard-hitting sounds were distinctively palpable in the live version, weaving through a twilight brood in the space of late night soundscape, translating the nine o’clock dance into a 3am hypnotic trance, accentuating the ethereal linger of a haunting brood, with virtually every fan singing to their top of their lungs. Perhaps it is the sing along of the night.
Tyrone’s hazy vocals soared and delivered euphorically through a catchy background hook over deep bass in a tribal fusion with emotional lyrics in Underwater, which was also nominated in the Grammys for Best Dance Recording in 2020. It’s undeniably vintage RDS and this performance was one of the most boisterously captivating moments in the set.
If you know just one song from the trio, it would likely be Alive – after winning the Grammy for (as you guessed it) Best Dance Recording of 2022. This track is evidently made for live performance through the peak of energy, with beautiful drums aligning with Tyrone’s vocals, where he oozed personal emotion in this heavy song that is underscored with hope.
Throughout the night, the stage lighting and moody colour painted the thematic innuendos of the night, dwelled in a dreamy and melodramatic soundscape of vulnerability, claustrophobia, turmoil, and hope. Combined with the melodic blend of instruments and Lindqvist’s dreamy vocals, the performance drove the audience into a mellowed trance, upbeat rave and hypnotic solace – all fused into a single state of mind.
After fifteen months of tour, this is our last show. Perth, this is a beautiful city in a beautiful night.
With that que, the night ended with Treat You Better and No Place.
One die hard fan and QANTAS flight stewardess Caroline Elliot who had to forgo the Melbourne show received a VIP ticket to Perth (courtesy of the Publicist and this writer) said, “I’m still buzzing from last night’s magnificent performance. It is surreal how three people can command 20,000 fans like they did”.
RÜFÜS DU SOL live version is more than the end to end showcase of twenty-two tracks. They have brought a new dimension and journey through re-imagination of their songs. Despite individual display of their roles, they do operate as a single unit, with no individual egoistical standouts. Through that singularity, their live performance elevates the mass that transcend the consciousness into a journey where inner thoughts, spiritual rupture, solitude, and the minutiae of daily composition are exorcised from our bodies, ultimately channeling into an ecstatic realm – if that even makes sense. Well, that’s how this writer feels.
The writer would like to thank On The Map PR and RÜFÜS DU SOL for the VIP tickets.
About the Writer: Sheldon Ang is the founder, photographer and writer of SAM, having covered some of the hottest acts in Perth since launching in May of 2022.
