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RÜFÜS DU SOL
@ Gunnersbury Park
LONDON
20th August 2022
(Live Review)

Review by Mel Scrafton

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Interestingly I was asked by a local patron at the venue during the event if I was there to actually review the event or just RÜFÜS Du Sol? Well considering the fact that I was there primarily to review only RÜFÜS, and the audience I’m reviewing for is Australian, then I guess reviewing the event as well was pretty pointless. So with that in mind, I’ll just give you a brief rundown of the festival and the supporting acts.

Gunnersbury Park is a beautiful wooded and green estate in London.

We accessed the area from the tube – the Piccadilly line alighting at Acton Town.

Music commenced from 3pm, with support acts – Joplyn, Georgia, Bakar, Flight Facilities & Jon Hopkins.

The event itself was up against some stiff competition at the peak of London’s summer festival season as well as, popular music icons Coldplay, who were playing at Wembley.

Regardless the crowd was sizeable and at dusk approximately 8.40 the Sydney Trio – Tyrone Lindqvist, Jon George and James Hunt, AKA RÜFÜS DU SOL, formerly known as simply Rüfüs from 2010 to 2018, commence their exhilarating set.

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Having won an ARIA for Atlas in 2014, another in 2015 for best dance release for ‘You Were Right’, in 2019, for Solace, and last year, 2 ARIA’S for Best Group & Dance Release for ‘Alive’, these guys have quite a reputation for producing world class dance music.

I have called this tour the “warm up” for their Australian National Tour starting at the end of November promoting the 2021 album release ‘Surrender’.

The icing on the cake has to be the 2022 Grammy for Best Dance Record for the above mentioned ‘Surrender’.

The crowd was a mixed demographic and keen for the band to showcase their entire musical portfolio. Playing tunes from their back catalogue to the  consistently intense reaction from their fans. Yes, it has been too long since they were able to tour anywhere and this was clearly a treat for everyone.

Highlights from the performance were carefully complimented by the visual effects and laser lighting. I know we can expect the same on the Australian tour.

Even though the set is subtly focused of their ‘Surrender’ album, they effortlessly mixed the popular dance anthems from previous releases into the set and it flowed seamlessly.

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Sound was wobbly at the onset but quickly sorted itself out after the first track. There were so many crowd pleasers from ‘Bloom’ & ‘Solace’ and a special shout out from the guys for anyone who supported them from the off, when they played ‘Sundream’ from ‘Atlas’. Perfectly timed confetti cannons launched over the crowd for the title track ‘Surrender’ on the lyrics “shower me with love!”. I had imagined the heavens may have opened but it wasn’t to be, perhaps climate change insured a beautiful sunny day for this show.

By now, Tyrone would have celebrated his 1st anniversary having written and performed ‘Next to Me’ for his wife’s honour, that was a personal insight shared with the crowd on this memorable night. As electronic dance festivals go, this one had great artists, a stunning venue and all the usual demographic of party people. I’ll never justify the expensive drink & food culture (or the warm UK drinks!)

But a festival like this is universal, including the influencers in full self obsessed glory.

I hope we have a tonne more material to come from Rufus Du Sol, as they have a unique and refreshing spin on original dance music and we are proud of them.

The guys played a solid 1 hr & 40 min set.

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Set list –

Intro
Eyes – Solace
You Were Right – Bloom
Devotion – Surrender
On My Knees – Surrender
Like an Animal – Bloom
Brighter – Bloom
Sundream – Atlas
Make It Happen – Surrender
Surrender – Surrender
Treat You Better – Solace
See You Again – Surrender
New Sky – Solace
I Don’t Wanna Leave – Surrender
Solace – Solace
Underwater – Solace
Always – Surrender
Alive – Surrender
Innerbloom – Bloom

ENCORE –

Next to Me – Surrender
No Placed – Bloom

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Previous Releases –

Atlas 2013
Bloom 2016
Solace 2018
Surrender 2021

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Follow RÜFÜS DU SOL
Website – Facebook – Twitter
Instagram – Spotify – YouTube

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AMNPLIFY – DB