Two-time Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Noah Kahan will bring The Great Divide Tour to Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland following the release of his fourth studio album The Great Divide.
by Paul Cashmere
American singer-songwriter Noah Kahan will return to Australia and New Zealand in September and October 2026 with The Great Divide Tour, a run of arena dates supporting his forthcoming fourth studio album The Great Divide. The tour, announced today, will include two nights at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, two shows at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena and a performance at Auckland’s Spark Arena.
The announcement arrives ahead of the release of The Great Divide, scheduled for April 24 through Mercury Records. The album follows the international success of Kahan’s 2022 breakthrough record Stick Season, a project that elevated the Vermont songwriter from a rising folk-pop act to a global touring draw.
For Australian audiences, the tour represents Kahan’s first major arena run in the region since his profile expanded worldwide on the back of Stick Season. With nearly 15 billion global streams and close to 12 million albums sold across his catalogue, Kahan now sits among the most commercially successful artists to emerge from the folk-pop revival of the early 2020s.
The Great Divide arrives at a pivotal point in Kahan’s career. Written in the aftermath of his rapid rise to international prominence, the album explores themes of identity, family relationships, success and emotional distance. Production duties are shared between longtime collaborator Gabe Simon, who also produced Stick Season, and Grammy-winning producer Aaron Dessner, known for his work with Taylor Swift and Bon Iver.
According to the album’s creative brief, Kahan wrote and recorded the material in multiple locations across the United States, from a piano setup in Nashville to rural sessions near a pond in Guilford, Vermont. Additional recording took place in upstate New York and on a Tennessee farm, reflecting the varied environments that shaped the record’s writing process.
Kahan’s songwriting has consistently drawn from his upbringing in Strafford, Vermont, where he grew up on a tree farm. His father introduced him to guitar while his mother, a writer, encouraged him to develop his storytelling skills. Those influences became evident early in his career, when he began uploading original songs to YouTube and SoundCloud as a teenager.
He signed with Republic Records in 2017 and released the single Hurt Somebody, which achieved gold certification in the United States and introduced him to international audiences. The song later appeared on his debut album Busyhead in 2019, establishing a foundation for his blend of introspective lyric writing and acoustic-driven arrangements.
Follow-up album I Was / I Am arrived in 2021 but it was 2022’s Stick Season that proved transformative. The title track built momentum online through social media previews before becoming a major chart success. The album ultimately produced multiple high-profile collaborations including Dial Drunk with Post Malone, Northern Attitude with Hozier and She Calls Me Back with Kacey Musgraves.
Commercially, Stick Season performed strongly across several territories. The title track reached number one in the United Kingdom and later topped the Australian ARIA chart, marking a breakthrough moment in the local market. The album remained in the global Top 15 for more than three years after its release and ranked among the best-selling albums of 2024.
Beyond commercial success, Kahan has used his platform to advocate for mental health awareness. In 2023 he founded The Busyhead Project, a non-profit initiative aimed at expanding mental health resources and reducing stigma surrounding psychological struggles. The organisation has raised more than $5.5 million to support related programs and services.
That advocacy work reflects themes that frequently appear in Kahan’s music. His lyrics often address anxiety, depression and body image, subjects he has discussed openly with fans both online and during concerts. The connection between personal storytelling and audience engagement has become central to his reputation as a live performer.
The upcoming tour will also feature American singer-songwriter Michael Marcagi as the opening act. Marcagi emerged through the Midwest indie and folk scene and has developed a growing international following in recent years.
Tour Dates
25 Sep 2026, Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
26 Sep 2026, Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
2 Oct 2026, Sydney, Qudos Bank Arena
3 Oct 2026, Sydney, Qudos Bank Arena
9 Oct 2026, Auckland, Spark Arena
Ticketing
Artist Presale: Wed 15 Apr, 12pm to Thu 16 Apr, 11:59pm
Live Nation Presale: Thu 16 Apr, 1pm to Thu 16 Apr, 11:59pm
General Public Onsale: Fri 17 Apr, 1pm
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