Paul Cashmere

After closing its third season only days ago, Live At The Gardens has confirmed its 2026 return to Melbourne, with the Royal Botanic Gardens again hosting one of the city's signature outdoor music experiences next March. The Observatory Precinct will transform across two weekends, from 6 to 8 March and 13 to 15 March, with five headline events presented across the heritage landscape.

For more than two decades, The Used have pushed the boundaries of post-hardcore and emo, shaping a global movement through melodic volatility and emotional candour. In 2026, the Utah-formed band will reach a milestone few in their genre have achieved, with an exclusive orchestral performance inside the Sydney Opera House on Sunday 29 March 2026, a black tie event presented as A Mid Summer Night's Symphony.

Spin Doctors will return to Australia in May 2026, marking their first visit in more than thirty years, as they celebrate the 35th anniversary of their landmark debut album Pocket Full Of Kryptonite. The tour will also include the band's first ever New Zealand performance, extending the anniversary celebrations across an eleven-date run through capital cities and key regional centres.

Sanguisugabogg, the Ohio death metal force known for their graphic theatrics and uncompromising sound, will return to Australia in June 2026, with Oklahoma's PeelingFlesh joining them for their first run of shows on local soil. The tour follows Sanguisugabogg's chaotic 2024 Australian debut, which left audiences talking about the band's notorious tradition of launching a football into the pit with the promise of a prize for the last fan standing. The group will bring a new set built around their 2025 album Hideous Aftermath, which has become a defining benchmark for modern death metal.

TISM will finally give fans another chance to secure a seat at their 2026 Sydney Opera House takeover, with both previously sold out shows now reconfigured as in the round events, allowing new tickets to be released this week. The band continue to reject all pressure to add a third date, instead shifting both concerts into a full 360 degree layout, creating additional seating around the stage and activating the choir seats behind the performance area. These positions, although behind the stage, will place fans unusually close to the action, creating a rare vantage point for what are already set to be two extraordinary nights.

Rose Tattoo will return to Europe for the final time in 2026, bringing to a close an international chapter that began more than four decades ago when the Sydney band first tore across European stages with a sound that fused hard rock, blues rock and the uncompromising spirit of Australian pub culture. For many European fans, Rose Tattoo were the band that arrived without compromise, played louder than anyone else on the bill and built a fiercely loyal following that never waned, even as line-ups changed and years passed.

Two decades after defining Australian rock for a generation, Eskimo Joe will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Black Fingernails Red Wine with a national tour in May and June 2026.