Yungblud will return to Australia in January 2026 for his largest national tour to date, and Brisbane's long-running punk outfit Dune Rats have been confirmed as special guests for the full run. The announcement follows significant demand across the country, with Perth and Brisbane selling out quickly, an additional Brisbane show added, and Sydney upgraded to Qudos Bank Arena due to overwhelming interest.

Canadian metal force Alissa White-Gluz has officially opened the next phase of her career with the release of her debut solo single The Room Where She Died, available now through Napalm Records. The track marks her first global solo release after years of creating material privately for her Patreon community. It also confirms the direction she hinted at when she departed Arch Enemy in November 2025, the band she fronted for more than a decade.

Ensiferum will bring their Winter Storm Over Australia tour to local fans in May 2026, marking the Finnish band's long-awaited return and celebrating their 30th anniversary.

Motörhead's 50th year has closed with a global wave of tributes, new releases and public celebrations that underline the band's enduring cultural reach. As 2026 approaches, the legacy of Motörhead and its founder Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister continues to expand through memorials, music projects and a growing international fan community that remains fiercely loyal to both the man and the band.

Scottish comedian Danny Bhoy will return to Australia in early 2026 for his thirteenth national tour, bringing his acclaimed new show Dear World… to audiences across the country. The tour marks another chapter in a career that has seen Bhoy become one of the most successful international acts on the Australian comedy circuit, with a loyal following that has grown steadily since his local debut more than twenty years ago.

Devo will return to the road in April 2026 for the Mutate, Don't Stagnate Tour, launching just days before their next appearance at Coachella. The West Coast run will deliver a full production show combining the band's signature visual language, electronic experimentation, and sharp cultural commentary, continuing a legacy that began more than five decades ago.

Raul Malo, the Miami-born vocalist who reshaped modern country and Americana through his work with The Mavericks, has died in Houston at age 60. Malo passed away on 8 December 2025 after a prolonged battle with colon cancer. His death brings to a close a career that spanned more than three decades and produced one of the most distinctive voices in American music.

Australian musician and author Joe Matera will release The Making Of ABBA - The Story Behind The Band's 1975 Breakthrough Album on 30 October 2025, a detailed exploration of the record that lifted the Swedish quartet from European favourites to global pop innovators. The book charts the creative, musical and historical arc of ABBA's self-titled third album, a release that defined the sound of the group and set the stage for their international ascendancy through the second half of the 1970s.

British rap innovator Dave will return to Australia in June 2026, with a new arena tour celebrating his chart-topping album The Boy Who Played The Harp. The visit marks his first national run since 2021, when he toured We're All Alone In This Together to sold-out crowds and cemented his place as one of the defining storytellers of his generation.

The team behind Pod Save America will visit Australia and New Zealand for the first time in February 2026, as Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor, and Dan Pfeiffer present the Hopefully Just Visiting Tour. The four former Obama staffers have become central figures in political commentary since launching the podcast in 2017, and the tour will deliver their trademark candour about United States politics, the global rise of right-wing extremism, and the importance of civic engagement in turbulent times.

The Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition has unveiled its 2025 Top 50 Finalists, marking a historic year for the prestigious initiative named for legendary Australian writers Harry Vanda and George Young. More than 4,000 songs were submitted from 52 countries, a milestone that confirms the competition's position as one of the most recognised international platforms for contemporary songwriters.

Swedish post-punk disruptors Viagra Boys will return to Australia and New Zealand in January with The Infinite Anxiety Tour, a run already generating intense demand, with three shows sold out and remaining tickets moving fast. The tour will bring the group's chaotic and cathartic live presence back to fans who first embraced the band's unfiltered mix of satire, noise, and dark humour when they emerged from Stockholm in 2015. With the countdown now underway, Viagra Boys have confirmed the acts joining them on the road across both countries.

SongMakers, the collaborative songwriting program designed to develop young Australian creators, will undergo a significant expansion in New South Wales in 2026 and 2027, following a major funding commitment from Sound NSW. The initiative, operated by APRA AMCOS, has become a core development platform for emerging talent, with a track record of embedding professional creative practice inside Australian schools.

Beloved Welsh tenor and broadcaster Aled Jones MBE will return to Australia in 2026 for an intimate national tour that promises music, stories, and nostalgia. The tour, his eighth down under, will visit regional and capital venues across the country, giving audiences close-up access to the songs and memories that have shaped his four decade career.

For twenty years Jerome Reuter, operating under the moniker Rome, has remained one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary dark folk. His meticulous approach to concept driven songwriting, paired with an enduring commitment to literature, history and the philosophical left field, has attracted a devoted global following. Fans from Berlin to Los Angeles, from Sydney to Saigon, and from Lisbon to Kyiv have embraced his work with a rare intensity, forged through relentless touring and a steady stream of narrative rich albums.

Boney M Featuring Maizie Williams will return to Australia in April 2026 for The Final Curtain Tour, a national run that will celebrate the enduring legacy of one of the most successful disco groups of all time. The tour will feature all the major hits, including Rasputin, Daddy Cool, Sunny, Rivers Of Babylon, Ma Baker, Gotta Go Home and Brown Girl In The Ring, performed with a full live band.

Superheaven will return to Australia in April and May for their first local shows in more than ten years, the tour pairing the Pennsylvanian heavyweights with the genre-bending Angel Du$t. The run brings two of the most forceful voices from the grunge revival and melodic hardcore movement together for a series of high-energy dates across five cities. The announcement follows a period of renewed activity for Superheaven, including new music, expanded touring plans and a revived focus on the sound that helped define their rise.

Thaikkudam Bridge, one of India's most dynamic live collectives, will return to Australia in March 2026 with a run of headline shows across Eora, Naarm and Tarndanya. The tour, presented by Blaide.live, will showcase the band's high-intensity fusion of Indian classical traditions, folk influences and hard rock power, delivered through a 15-member ensemble with nine vocalists and six instrumentalists.

Fresh from a stirring starring turn as Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, acclaimed Australian vocalist Michael Paynter is stripping back the theatrics and volume for a deeply personal new tour. Dubbed the Great Australian Songbook Tour 2026, the run promises intimate performances that re-imagine the nation's most iconic songs with just guitar and piano, alongside a few surprise special guests drawn from Paynter's long career in music.

Bleak Squad, the Melbourne collective formed by Adalita, Mick Harvey, Mick Turner and Marty Brown, have released a new single as they prepare for their largest national run to date. Black & White arrives ahead of an extensive February and March 2026 tour and offers another glimpse of the group's growing creative force, following a breakout year centred on their debut album Strange Love.

Japanese bassist Tetsu Yamauchi, born Yamauchi Tetsuo in Fukuoka in 1946, has died at 79. His death brings to a close a career that bridged Japanese rock, British blues rock, and the global touring circuit.

Kylie Minogue has revived her much-loved festive release ten years after Kylie Christmas first brightened the holiday season. The new edition, Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped), marks the second major expansion of the album and delivers a refreshed collection built around the original 2015 release. Kylie has added four new tracks, Hot In December, This Time Of Year, XMAS, and Office Party, offering fans new material after a massive year dominated by her Tension World Tour.

Next year's Eurovision Song Contest has entered its most turbulent phase in decades, as Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands confirm they will boycott the 2026 event in Vienna, after the European Broadcasting Union confirmed Israel is cleared to compete. The decision came during a tightly guarded general assembly in Geneva, where the EBU declined to hold a vote on Israel's participation, a move that triggered immediate withdrawals from several major broadcasters.

A diverse lineup of Australian artists, community advocates and humanitarian organisations will come together at PICA in Port Melbourne, Naarm on Sunday 21 December for A Gathering For Gaza, a one-day fundraising event created to support urgent relief efforts in Gaza. The event will run from 2pm to 11pm and will raise funds for four frontline organisations, with all net profits directed to Olive Kids, PANZMA, PARA and Médecins Sans Frontières Australia.

Jet frontman Nic Cester has stepped into a new creative realm with the release of Getcha!, the lead single from guitarist Thomas Raggi's new album Masquerade, out now. The track unites an unlikely but powerful lineup, bringing together Cester, Måneskin's Raggi, Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.

Garbage's appearance at Good Things Melbourne has become the most discussed moment of the festival, with Shirley Manson's outburst at a longtime fan sparking widespread debate across the band's community. The confrontation, which unfolded in front of thousands, has divided supporters in a way not seen around the group since their breakthrough years in the mid-90s.

Tenille Arts has entered the next phase of her career with the release of her new single Don't Ruin Flowers, delivered through a fresh global partnership between Dreamcatcher Artists and ONErpm. The track marks the first taste of her forthcoming album, scheduled for announcement in mid-2026, and signals a confident expansion of her creative world after several milestone years on the international stage.

Pierce Brothers will enter 2026 with momentum few Australian acts can match, rising from the success of their fourth studio album Moonrise, released in late 2025, and now preparing for an extensive Australian tour from March through May.

Tim Rogers, newly inducted into the Rock ‘N' Roll Hall of Fame, will return to the stage in March and April 2026 for a rare run of intimate solo dates. The tour, titled Le Charme Defensif, brings the celebrated Australian songwriter into close-quarters rooms across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT, offering a direct connection to a career that has shaped Australian music for more than three decades.

Seventh Wonder Performs Fleetwood Mac, Orchestrated, arrives at the Sydney Opera House for one night only on Saturday 14 February 2026.