Peter Garrett will return to the stage this November for a rare run of intimate east coast pub shows, backed by a new line-up featuring Midnight Oil guitarist Martin Rotsey and members of Spiderbait, The Jezebels and Raintalker.
by Paul Cashmere
Peter Garrett has announced a short run of Australian pub dates for November, marking one of the former Midnight Oil frontman’s few live music outings in recent years. The three-date tour will take in Sydney, Brisbane and Brunswick Heads before Garrett joins the bill for the 2026 Queenscliff Music Festival in Victoria. The performances will see Garrett reunited with longtime Midnight Oil guitarist Martin Rotsey and a band of prominent Australian musicians performing material from across his solo catalogue, alongside selected Midnight Oil songs.
The announcement is significant because Garrett’s public profile in recent years has been dominated less by music and more by environmental advocacy, public policy and community leadership. While Midnight Oil’s reunion tours and final recordings reaffirmed the band’s place in Australian music history, Garrett has largely focused his attention on causes that have defined much of his life outside music.
These November performances therefore represent a rare opportunity for audiences to see Garrett in a smaller live setting. The shows arrive at a time when veteran Australian artists are increasingly returning to intimate venues rather than major arenas, reconnecting with audiences through more direct and personal performances.
Garrett will be joined by The Alter Egos, a band that includes Midnight Oil guitarist Martin Rotsey, Spiderbait drummer Kram, The Jezebels keyboard player Heather Shannon and bassist Zoe Hauptmann, whose credits include work with Missy Higgins, Neil Finn and Ian Moss. Backing vocals will be provided by Grace and May Garrett, who perform together as Raintalker.
According to the announcement, the setlist will draw from Garrett’s two solo albums, A Version Of Now and The True North. Both records reached the top of the ARIA Australian Albums chart and established Garrett’s post-Midnight Oil identity as a solo artist. Audiences can also expect selected Midnight Oil material as well as some unexpected inclusions, including Garrett’s 2025 interpretation of World Party’s God On My Side.
Explaining his return to the stage, Garrett linked the performances to the social and environmental concerns that have shaped both his music and public life.
“You don’t have to doom scroll for too long these days to know that we urgently need to change how we treat our country and each other,” Garrett said.
“Music has always been a vital way to express thoughts and feelings about the world around us and while a fair bit of my time is now spent on these other roles I really can’t wait to get back onstage for a few nights and make some sweet noise with my mates.”
Garrett’s career remains unique in Australian cultural life. After emerging as Midnight Oil’s frontman in 1973, he became one of the country’s most recognisable performers, known for combining politically charged songwriting with activism on environmental and Indigenous issues. Midnight Oil’s catalogue, including landmark albums such as Diesel And Dust, Blue Sky Mining and Earth And Sun And Moon, helped establish the group as one of Australia’s most influential rock bands.
Away from music, Garrett served as president of the Australian Conservation Foundation before entering federal politics. He represented the Sydney seat of Kingsford Smith for the Australian Labor Party from 2004 until 2013 and held ministerial portfolios including Environment, Heritage and the Arts, and later School Education, Early Childhood and Youth.
Since leaving Parliament, Garrett has continued to balance music with advocacy. Midnight Oil reunited in 2016 and subsequently toured internationally, releasing the albums The Makarrata Project and Resist. Garrett also returned to solo recording, issuing A Version Of Now in 2016 and The True North in 2024.
His public advocacy has intensified again in 2026. In May he was appointed Chair of Landcare Australia, an organisation supporting conservation and sustainable land management initiatives across the country. More recently he accepted a leadership role in the crowd-funded AUKUS Public Inquiry, examining Australia’s planned nuclear-powered submarine program alongside former Australian Defence Force chief Admiral Chris Barrie and former Western Australian premier Carmen Lawrence.
The November concerts will therefore arrive amid one of the busiest periods of Garrett’s post-political career. For fans, the dates offer a chance to see one of Australia’s most recognisable voices return to the environment where Midnight Oil first built its reputation, the pub stage. Following the three headline performances, Garrett will continue on to Queenscliff Music Festival, where his appearance is expected to attract audiences from both the music and activist communities that have followed his work for decades.
Dates are:
20 November 2026, Sydney, Mona Vale Hotel
26 November 2026, Eagleby, Distillery Road Market
27 November 2026, Brunswick Heads, Hotel Brunswick
also:
28 November 2026, Queenscliff, Queenscliff Music Festival
Tickets on sale 30 June 2026 at 10:00am AEST via petergarrett.com.au/tour
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