Yungblud’s arrival in Australia ahead of the kickoff of his IDOLS World Tour has been anything but low-key.
The British rocker touched down in Sydney earlier this week and quickly drew massive fan attention after attending a pop-up photo gallery exhibition in Newtown, where crowds reportedly became so large that police were called to manage the situation.
The event, titled Yungblud: IDOLS, featured photography by British photographer Tom Pallant and showcased images from previous legs of the singer’s ongoing tour.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
Yungblud — born Dominic Harrison — had encouraged fans to attend the gallery via social media, telling them he would be there in person. Hundreds reportedly queued for hours to catch a glimpse of the artist, with some lining up from early morning.
Though no major incidents were reported, the turnout was large enough that authorities asked the event to wrap earlier than planned.
“Yo guys, I love you so much, thank you for coming out,” Yungblud said in a voice memo shared to fans afterward. “That got a bit f—ing hectic, didn’t it? The cops said we had to move on because it was just getting mad.”
The exhibition is scheduled to run through Jan. 11, with fans lining up as early as 6:30 a.m. on opening day, according to the gallery.
The day prior, Yungblud kicked off his Australian arrival with a bang—quite literally stripping down to nothing on a Sydney Harbour yacht alongside socialite Dina Broadhurst.
The back-to-back viral moments have only amplified attention around Yungblud’s return to Australia, where he is set to launch the local leg of his IDOLS World Tour on Saturday (Jan. 10) at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena.
The Australian dates come after a turbulent end to 2025, when he was forced to cancel several shows following medical advice related to vocal and blood tests.
“It is in my nature to run and run until I run myself to the ground,” he said in a statement shared in November. “But this time I’ve been told I have to take it seriously.”
The Australian leg of the IDOLS World Tour was later confirmed to proceed as scheduled, with multiple dates selling out quickly.
The tour supports Yungblud’s fourth studio album, IDOLS, released in June 2025. Yungblud’s tour down under is in support of Idols, his fourth studio album which dropped in at No. 4 on the ARIA Chart last June. That effort marked his third top 10 chart appearance in these parts, after Weird! reached No. 6 in 2020, and his self-titled collection logged one week at No. 1 in 2022. Last November, the pop-punk artist released One More Time, a collaborative EP with Aerosmith.
In the months following its release, Yungblud also received multiple Grammy nominations, including Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance.