Guns N’ Roses will return to Australia and New Zealand in late 2026 with a run of major stadium concerts, bringing the legendary rock band back to the region alongside special guest Airbourne.
by Paul Cashmere
Guns N’ Roses have announced a major return to Australia and New Zealand with a string of stadium concerts scheduled for November and December 2026. The dates mark the band’s first extensive tour of the region since their previous global runs and continue what has been a remarkably active touring era for one of rock’s most enduring acts.
The newly announced shows will feature support from Australian hard rock outfit Airbourne, the Warrnambool-formed band whose high-energy live reputation has earned them a global following.
The tour begins in Adelaide on 29 November as part of the bp Adelaide Grand Final celebrations before moving through regional and capital city venues across Australia and then finishing with a final show in New Zealand.
The Australian dates include Townsville, Brisbane, Newcastle, Melbourne and Sydney before the tour crosses the Tasman to Auckland.
The run of concerts follows an intense global touring period for Guns N’ Roses across 2025 that took the band through Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. It also coincides with the release of two new singles, “Nothin’” and “Atlas”, marking the group’s first new material since 2023.
While “Atlas” delivers the kind of urgent, arena-scale rock that helped define the band’s classic sound, “Nothin’” leans into a more introspective direction built around piano and layered guitar textures.
The band’s longevity remains one of rock music’s most remarkable stories. Emerging from Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, Guns N’ Roses exploded onto the global stage with their 1987 debut album Appetite For Destruction. The record produced classic tracks including “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, “Welcome To The Jungle” and “Paradise City” and went on to become the best-selling debut album in United States history.
In 1991 the band followed with the ambitious double-album project Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, which famously debuted at numbers one and two on the Billboard album chart simultaneously. The releases expanded the group’s sonic palette with orchestration, ballads and longer compositions.
Across their career the band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and remains among the most streamed rock acts globally.
The modern touring line-up centres around the reunited core of Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan, supported by long-time keyboardist Dizzy Reed, guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Isaac Carpenter and multi-instrumentalist Melissa Reese.
Their reunion era began with the blockbuster Not In This Lifetime… Tour, which launched in 2016 and eventually became one of the highest-grossing tours in music history. That run sold more than five million tickets worldwide and re-established Guns N’ Roses as a major live draw across stadiums and festivals.
Recent touring has continued that momentum, with the band regularly performing marathon sets that stretch beyond three hours and combine classic hits with deeper catalogue tracks.
Formed in 2003 by brothers Joel and Ryan O’Keeffe, Airbourne built their reputation on relentless touring and a raw, high-energy rock sound rooted in the traditions of classic hard rock. Their debut album Runnin’ Wild arrived in 2007 and quickly gained international traction, charting in Australia and appearing on the US Billboard 200.
Subsequent albums including No Guts. No Glory., Black Dog Barking and Breakin’ Outta Hell further cemented their status as one of Australia’s most successful rock exports of the past two decades.
The band’s reputation for explosive live shows has seen them perform more than a thousand concerts globally and share stages with acts such as Iron Maiden, Motörhead and The Rolling Stones.
Their latest release, the single “Gutsy”, marks their first new music in several years and signals a renewed chapter as they return to the international touring circuit.
The upcoming Guns N’ Roses tour promises to be one of the largest rock events in Australia for 2026, bringing stadium-scale production and one of the genre’s most iconic catalogues back to local audiences.
Guns N’ Roses – The World Tour 2026 (Australia And New Zealand)
Sunday 29 November – bp Adelaide Grand Final, Adelaide
Wednesday 2 December – Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville
Saturday 5 December – Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Tuesday 8 December – McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
Friday 11 December – Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
Monday 14 December – Engie Stadium, Sydney
Thursday 17 December – Eden Park Stadium, Auckland
The Adelaide concert as part of the bp Adelaide Grand Final is already on sale.
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