Dominic Fike joins a roster of renowned artists who have graced the Apple Music Live stage, offering global audiences a chance to connect with music’s biggest stars. 

His performance featured some of his greatest hits and fan-favorite tracks, including “Mona Lisa,” “3 Nights,” “Superstar Sh*t,” and “Think Fast.” Additionally, fans heard selections from his sophomore album, ‘Sunburn,’ which dropped earlier this summer. Notably, this tour marks Dominic’s first live performances since his memorable appearance at Coachella earlier in the year.

To celebrate this highly anticipated performance, Dominic Fike engaged in a pre-show conversation with Apple Music 1 host Travis Mills. Their discussion delved into various aspects of his musical journey, including the evolution of his live performances and his growing leadership role in his career. 

Ahead of his show, Dominic shared his insights about the tour, emphasizing his deep involvement to make each performance unique and exceptional. He mentioned his desire to carry the energy and intention from the remarkable live show at Coachella into this tour.

Apple Music host Travis Mills praised Dominic’s boundless talent, highlighting his ability to create music that emanates vulnerability and honesty. This musical prowess extends beyond his tracks and shines through in their conversation.

Dominic Fike has garnered international acclaim, with his songs consistently ranking in the Daily Top 100 in over 70 countries on Apple Music. His album ‘Sunburn’ made waves by climbing Apple Music’s Top Albums Chart in an impressive 125 countries worldwide, including 20 where it secured a top 10 spot. ‘Sunburn’ further solidified its success by becoming one of the top five alternative albums of 2023 based on first-week streams in 20 countries. Over the past six months, his streams on Apple Music have surged by 79%.

The second season of Apple Music Live commenced with a spectacular performance by Ed Sheeran in May and was followed by Burna Boy’s historic London Stadium show earlier this summer. The series has also featured standout performances by artists such as Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Alicia Keys, Lil Durk, Mary J. Blige, Luke Combs, and Wizkid. Music enthusiasts can explore the full lineup of past performances in the Apple Music Live archive.

Dominic Fike on the evolution of his live show…

Luckily, man, I have just good people. My crew is nuts. My front of house dude, Andrew, is insane. My ears monitor lady, Courtney, is insane. She’s out of her mind, and they make it easy for me. We really dialed in the vocal effects. This guy named Henry Kuapas, and I, we sat there because initially, it was me playing a lot of guitar and kind of hiding behind my guitar playing. And then, Henry was like, “We should hire the best guitarist, and you should just put that down and make sure that your vocals sound amazing.” I was like, “I’m not a singer, dude, so that’s not going to work.” But now, I am. Now, it’s working out.

Dominic Fike on his guitar collection…

Dude, yeah, my guitars are crazy. You want to go see them? I got this one recently in Philly. This is Ada. She’s my guitar tech. She’s great. This is, dude, it was made in 2005 for an expo called NAMM by this master builder named John Cruz. It’s really crazy. The wood is this gold leaf.  It’s just built so well. The internals are crazy. It sounds like a classic Strat. And this is what I’ve been using now, and it kind of looks like Sunburn, right? And then I got, what about that Strat? This is what I was using before. What year is this, ’66. ’66? This thing’s fucking nasty, dude. I don’t know. This one sounds so good. I use this on a lot of the record. This was actually what I played on Sick. So it’s really beautiful. The checking is insane. People would advise not to take these things on tour because this thing’s like $20K. luckily, Ada kind of keeps [my guitars] intact. And then, we got this sucker right here recently too, from the same dude, Dakota. This thing’s beautiful. It just sounds exactly like … It’s the same thing. It sounds exactly like the guitar I played on Frisky. We’ve just been trying to, again, to emulate the fucking sounds of the album, replicate it.

Dominic Fike on his touring philosophy…

I think a lot of artists are trying to get through the live show. When they think of touring, they think of it as something that they have to get through and something that they have to do. It’s not something that they want to expand on, which is what we’re trying to do. I really want to move with intention. Everyone that I talk to, they all have a part to play, each person on the team, and I make sure I know what their limits are and what they do, what they don’t do, and how I can use them, and how they can use, me and how we can work together to make it very nice. When something goes wrong with my in-ear monitor tech, they’ll be freaking out, they’ll be angry at themselves, and they’ll come up to me and be like, “Oh, I’m sorry that this was messed up during the show.” I love that because we’re all working towards the same thing, to make these kids fucking lose their minds. You know what I mean?

Dominic Fike on what it’s like to play ’Sunburn’ for the first time live…

It’s surreal. The fact that people know the words is crazy. The people that are singing back to me each night, they know every word, they know the inflections and the fucking … It’s nuts, dude. It’s too much. And it’s been out two weeks or something. It’s incredible. [When the album first came out] I was a little critical about the album [because] It’s old. It’s old music. I mean, I’ve talked about this, but I was very self-critical. And when it came out and I heard the people enjoying it and singing it back to me, it changed everything. I love it now. This is the first tour. This is the first tour we’ve done it, so I’m still kind of grasping it. Coachella was kind of the first time I really sat and was like, “All right, I’m going to sing to these people.” And the response was crazy.

Dominic Fike on getting rest and finding downtime while on tour…

I brought my trainer on tour. His name’s Ty, and we do stretches and meditations, and we work out and shit. I’m thinking about getting a hyperbaric chamber.

Dominic Fike on whether he finds being on the road an inspiring place to create…

Dude, yeah. I brought my homie, Devin Workman with me, and we have been working every night. Last night, we sat after the Raleigh show. And we just sat in the green room, we set up all the speakers, and we just riffed, streamed for three hours straight. I was just on the mic, not stopping. And dude, people were crying at the end. It was nuts. It was emotional, it was beautiful. And I’m trying to get like that every night, you know what I’m saying?