August Burns Red will return to Australia and New Zealand in September and October for their Season Of Surrender Tour, marking their first headline run in Australia in seven years and their first New Zealand shows in more than a decade.
by Paul Cashmere
American metalcore veterans August Burns Red will return to Australia and New Zealand in September and October 2026 for a headline run built around their forthcoming album Season Of Surrender.
The tour begins on 27 September in Perth before travelling through Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane. The band will then cross the Tasman for two New Zealand dates in Wellington and Auckland, their first performances there in more than ten years.
Australian metalcore outfit Bloom will appear on all dates, while Texas band I Promised The World join the Australian leg only.
The announcement coincides with the lead-up to Season Of Surrender, the band’s new studio album scheduled for release on 5 June through Fearless Records.
For Australia and New Zealand, the tour represents a rare headline visit from one of the most consistent names in modern metalcore. While August Burns Red have played the region several times over the years, their most recent visit in 2023 was as support for Australian band Polaris on the Fatalism Tour.
The upcoming dates mark the band’s first full headline tour of Australia since 2019 and their first New Zealand shows in more than a decade, highlighting the sustained global appetite for metalcore acts that emerged in the 2000s and remain active today.
For August Burns Red, the tour also serves as the first international live showcase for Season Of Surrender, an album positioned as the next chapter in a career now stretching more than two decades.
Formed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 2003, August Burns Red have maintained a remarkably stable line-up for most of their career. Guitarists JB Brubaker and Brent Rambler, drummer Matt Greiner, vocalist Jake Luhrs and bassist Dustin Davidson have been together since 2006.
Across ten studio albums the band has built a reputation for technical guitar work, complex rhythms and a relentless touring schedule. Their breakthrough album Messengers in 2007 introduced Jake Luhrs as frontman and helped push the group into the global metalcore conversation. Subsequent releases such as Constellations in 2009 and Rescue & Restore in 2013 continued to expand their audience, with several albums landing in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200.
Industry recognition followed with two Grammy Award nominations for Best Metal Performance, first for the song Identity from the 2015 album Found In Far Away Places, and again in 2018 for Invisible Enemy from Phantom Anthem.
The upcoming Season Of Surrender album arrives after 2023’s Death Below, continuing a catalogue that has generated hundreds of millions of streams globally. According to vocalist Jake Luhrs, the new material returns to the group’s heavier foundations.
Announcing the tour, the band said: “We are so excited to headline Australia for the first time in seven years and return back to New Zealand after a decade. We are bringing two of the best up and coming acts in metalcore today to make this a can’t miss show. This tour will also be the first place in the world where we do a tour celebrating the release of our brand new record Season Of Surrender.”
August Burns Red emerged during a period when metalcore was shifting from underground scenes to broader international audiences. Acts such as Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying and Parkway Drive helped push the genre into festival line-ups and chart placements during the late 2000s and early 2010s.
While many groups from that wave have slowed their recording schedules or changed direction stylistically, August Burns Red have maintained a steady output and a reputation for technical musicianship. Their music often features intricate guitar interplay, shifting time signatures and tightly structured breakdowns, characteristics that helped define progressive strands of metalcore.
Over the years the band has toured extensively alongside artists including Bullet For My Valentine, A Day To Remember and The Devil Wears Prada. Their live reputation has become central to their identity, with shows typically drawing from across the catalogue rather than focusing solely on new material.
The support acts on the 2026 tour reflect the evolving landscape of heavy music. Australian band Bloom have developed a strong following since forming in 2017, releasing their debut album Maybe In Another Life in 2024 and the follow-up The Light We Chase in 2025. Their melodic hardcore approach places them among the emerging wave of Australian heavy acts building international audiences.
Texas band I Promised The World will make their Australian debut on the tour. Formed in 2023, the group blends screamo, post-hardcore and Midwest emo influences, with their music shaped by personal themes including grief following the death of vocalist Caleb Molina’s father in 2020.
With Season Of Surrender arriving in June and a major international tour to follow, 2026 is shaping as another active year for August Burns Red.
After more than twenty years together, the band remain one of the few acts from their era still releasing new material while maintaining a global touring schedule. For Australian and New Zealand audiences, the upcoming shows provide the first chance anywhere in the world to see the new album presented on stage in a full headline setting.
Tour Dates
Sunday 27 September, Perth, Freo Social
Tuesday 29 September, Adelaide, The Gov
Thursday 1 October, Melbourne, 170 Russell
Friday 2 October, Sydney, Liberty Hall
Saturday 3 October, Newcastle, King St Bandroom
Sunday 4 October, Brisbane, The Tivoli
Wednesday 7 October, Wellington, San Fran
Thursday 8 October, Auckland, Powerstation
Early bird pre-sale tickets on sale Tuesday 21 April at 11am local time.
General tickets on sale Wednesday 22 April at 11am local time.
Tickets available via destroyalllines.com.
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