Perth Festival will expand its 2026 season with a new wave of events that enrich the city’s summer arts landscape. The Festival has unveiled an extensive range of music, theatre, film, immersive technology and cross-cultural storytelling that builds on an already ambitious program. These new inclusions strengthen the Festival’s long legacy as one of Australia’s most innovative multi-arts celebrations, a legacy stretching back to its 1953 beginnings as the oldest annual international arts festival in the country.
A key highlight is the addition of King Stingray, the rising surf-rock heroes from Northeast Arnhem Land. They will take over the East Perth Power Station Main Stage on Friday 27 February. Their shows have garnered national acclaim for their radiant blend of reverb-heavy guitars, yidaki and Yolŋu Matha vocals. Their presence reinforces the Festival’s long tradition of celebrating First Nations artistry.
The Tiger Lillies will also arrive in Perth with their new show Serenade From The Sewer, bringing their darkly comic, vaudeville-infused theatre back to local audiences for the first time in years. The London trio, known for touring globally for more than 35 years, will perform at The Embassy on Friday 27 February. Their work remains defined by its haunting operatic punk, European cabaret references and macabre storytelling drawn from Soho’s underground history.
BlakOut, a powerful First Nations music takeover, will fill the East Perth Power Station on Friday 21 February. The Casa Musica stage will present Jordyn With A Why from Aotearoa, Luritja songwriter Keanu Nelson and rising Perth DJ Macca with free performances for audiences by the river. The Main Stage will then continue the momentum with Baker Boy, Snotty Nose Rez Kids from the Haisla Nation in British Columbia and Māori artist MĀ delivering some of the most vital Indigenous music from across the Pacific.
Perth Festival’s Summit will again gather creative leaders, artists and thinkers for a program designed to unpack major cultural forces shaping contemporary society. Held at Lawson Flats from Wednesday 14 February to Tuesday 24 February, Summit will present live storytelling, panel discussions and documentary cinema.
Featured artist Joe Bloom will reflect on story consumption in a digital environment, a theme that informs his upcoming Festival work A View From A Bridge. Film inclusions will explore resilience and human rights through projects such as Floodland, set in Lismore, and Cutting Through Rocks, which follows an Iranian councilwoman challenging systemic barriers. Poetic Futures will present three First Nations poets who examine connection, shared knowledge and the future through spoken word. Liquid Architecture will showcase experimental sonic art from across the Asia-Pacific region.
The popular children’s cinema program Cine Wonders will return for its second year from Tuesday 27 January to Sunday 1 March. The 2026 edition will span Luna SX in Fremantle and The Revival House in Como. Classics including Beauty & The Beast, Muppet Treasure Island and The Secret Garden will bring nostalgic magic to family audiences. New releases include The Songbirds’ Secret and Best Of Annecy Animation For Kids, offering vibrant visual storytelling designed to ignite young imaginations.
Biomass will transform WA Museum’s Jubilee Hall into a multi-sensory gallery from Friday 3 February to Friday 12 June. This immersive exhibition will feature advanced VR installations exploring ecological systems, migration stories, political history and the fragility of life. Audiences will encounter the 360-degree VR film Passenger, the powerful Taiwanese narrative The Man Who Couldn’t Leave, the evolving rainforest journey Gondwana, the live-coded piece Embodied/Misembodied and the oceanic sensory work Seeing Echoes In The Mind Of The Whale.
Astral Weeks will again offer intimate secret gigs at a Northbridge listening bar, running from Sunday 8 February to Wednesday 25 February. The series has become a cult favourite for its short, tightly held sets by surprise artists, keeping Perth music lovers guessing until the moment a performer steps on stage.
The East Perth Power Station’s broader 2026 line-up also includes Bleak Squad, formed by Mick Turner, Mick Harvey, Adalita and Marty Brown. Their shows are already close to selling out. Perth’s underground club collective SYBER: 013 will bring global rhythms ranging from baile funk to Jersey club and trap. Sudan Archives will close the venue after presenting material from her groundbreaking R&B and electronica-driven album.
Concert Dates And Ticketing Details
Tuesday 27 January – Sunday 1 March, Cine Wonders, Luna SX and The Revival House
Friday 3 February – Friday 12 June, Biomass, WA Museum
Sunday 8 February – Wednesday 25 February, Astral Weeks, Surprise Guests
Wednesday 14 February – Tuesday 24 February, Summit, Lawson Flats
Friday 21 February, BlakOut, East Perth Power Station
Friday 27 February, King Stingray, East Perth Power Station
Friday 27 February, The Tiger Lillies, Embassy Ballroom
Tickets on sale Thursday 11 December at 12pm AWST.
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