Watch What Happens When RÜFÜS and ENESS Marry Lights And Music


Produced in association with our mates at Red Bull.
Sydney indie dance triumvirate RÜFÜS are nearing the end of their Almost World Tour, a four month long venture that has seen the band take on everything from the stages of SXSW, to the UK in support of Cut Copy, before finding them back in Australia to play sold out shows at venues like The Palace in Melbourne, where the band played the final gig that iconic establishment will likely see (if luxury hotel conglomerates have their way).
Accompanying them on every leg of the Almost World Tour has been an unofficial fourth band member, the product of a fruitful collaboration facilitated by old mates Red Bull with award-winning design studio [plus next week’s Pedestrian Coaches], the endlessly innovative ENESS: a towering interactive LED lighting rig that brought all kinds of new dimensions to the band’s already next level live shows – one of which, filmed at The Palace, features in the following:   

On the eve of the final RÜFÜS show this weekend, we took five minutes to gauge the band’s feelings at the end of a marathon Australian leg, the concept behind their collaborative ventures with Red Bull and ENESS and where they’ll go from here.

What were your highlights from the tour?

Byron
and Fremantle are two of our favourite places to visit anywhere in the world, [as well as] last night’s show at The Enmore. We’ve always wanted to do our own show there. It’s such a special space. So to do two shows there in our home town with all our friends, family and fans who have been coming to our shows for 3 years now… it’s hard to describe. Good feels.

What’s something you learned from playing alongside Cut Copy?
Those guys are pros. They know how lucky they are to be able to play music for a living – you can see it in the performances they give. They are on point every night. It’s awesome to see that.

How did you develop the idea of the lighting backdrop with ENESS? What was the concept behind it?
We wanted to do something unique for this tour. The idea of putting something exciting on stage that compliments the music was something we had been talking about for a long time. We were speaking to the guys at Red Bull about potential concepts and they got involved and supported us. They put us in contact with the ENESS team. From there the ENESS guys sent us a bunch of different ideas and designs and we worked with them on refining the concept. 

The most important thing for is was that the rig worked with the music as kind of a fourth band member, because there is a risk that you can get too carried away with a project like this and end up building something that is a show in itself.

How are you going to top it for your next tour?
That’s a pretty intimidating concept haha. We need to write another album before we decide what touring it might involve. 

What would you guys do with an infinite budget for stage design?
Build the world’s biggest confetti cannon and laser show. Potentially involving 3D glasses with an IMAX theatre.

Where to now for RÜFÜS?
We’re having a couple of weeks off between River Sessions and Splendour. Then we’re touring the northern hemisphere and starting work on new material. Trying to do a few months writing in foreign cities before coming home for the Australian summer and maybe one or two shows. This place is definitely home.

Photo supplied

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