Now just weeks away from their 2026 arena tour of Australia and New Zealand, The Lumineers’ Wesley Schultz joins this week’s episode of the Rolling Stone Uncut podcast.
As well as talking about the upcoming tour, Schultz discussed what has been a massive year for the folk rockers, which included a headline show at Denver’s famous Empower Field at Mile High in front of 55,000 people.
This year also marks The Lumineers’ 20th year together; Schultz reflects on his favourite memories and where they go from here.
Watch or listen to the full episode below.
Booking Empower Field at Mile High
I remember I went to a [Denver Broncos game] there a couple of years prior, and the guy who was showing us around said, ‘We hope to have you here one day playing.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, right!’ This is way too many people. And then to find ourselves there, it was a really magical night. And it also was kind of a celebration of Denver for us because we had Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats also be a part of the night. I’m proud of what we’ve done to try to put Denver music on the map.
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The Lumineers return to Australia and New Zealand will be their biggest shows in the countries to date
The way I try to understand it, if there’s a way to understand it, during COVID, people leaned into the things that they really needed and loved. And, and up to that point, music was almost viewed as more of a luxury and a passive thing. And I think people saw something it did for them in that time.
It was sort of amazing to realise that some people are leaning into this music to help them get through times. I’ve leaned into all sorts of artists like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, a ton of Tom Petty, and then feeling like somehow for certain people, we were filling that void for them. It means a whole lot.
They show you on a platform like Spotify, if you’re a band, they’ll show you who listens to you, and where. And I think three of the top five cities in the world for us, including the States, were in Australia. We don’t go there often enough, and they’re still listening… there’s a lot of love, and so that’s always just kind of a trip.
The Lumineers celebrating 20 years
I think when we first played to 600 people, we thought that was insane. We thought somebody thought it was a different band playing and they’d showed up for somebody else! Because there was a band with a similar name. I guess the highlight for me probably was getting to meet Tom Petty and having a conversation about songs and just having someone validate – I see what you’re doing, and I appreciate it, and I like it. You know, that meant a lot.
The biggest feeling of victory is just all these years later, we get to make the records we want to make, when we want to make them. There’s not really time constraints on the albums. We do one record deal at a time. It’s not like a multi-record deal. It’s always been like that. So I feel proud of the fact that we don’t rush things and we just make them the way we want to.
When we played arenas, I remember thinking this is as good as it gets and we will probably end up back in theatres or clubs, but I’m going to enjoy this as much as I can. And now we’ve, played like nine stadiums in the US on the last run.
The Lumineers 2026 Australia & New Zealand Tour
Saturday, January 3rd
Christchurch Town Hall, Christchurch, NZ
Tickets
Tuesday, January 6th
Spark Arena, Auckland, NZ
Tickets
Friday, January 9th
Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, VIC
Tickets
Tuesday, January 13th
Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, QLD
Tickets
Friday, January 16th
Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, NSW
Tickets
Sunday, January 18th
Adelaide Entertainment Centre Arena, Adelaide, SA
Tickets
Wednesday, January 21st
RAC Arena, Perth, WA
Tickets
