Australian progressive guitar innovator Plini will return home in August 2026 for the ‘An Unnameable Desire’ Australian and New Zealand tour, bringing his biggest live production yet alongside UK math rock band Delta Sleep, rising alt-metal artist Cenobia and Sydney heavy newcomers Nightdive.
by Paul Cashmere
Plini has announced a major Australian and New Zealand headline tour for August 2026, marking the homecoming leg of his global ‘An Unnameable Desire’ run and continuing one of the most significant international success stories to emerge from Australia’s progressive instrumental scene over the past decade.
The tour follows the release of Plini’s third studio album An Unnameable Desire, a record that further expands the Sydney-born guitarist and composer’s reputation for blending progressive rock, metal, jazz fusion and cinematic instrumental music into a distinctly modern sound. The run begins at Brisbane’s Princess Theatre on 6 August before moving through Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, then crossing to New Zealand for shows in Auckland and Wellington.
For Australian heavy music audiences, the announcement underlines how far Plini has travelled since independently releasing early EPs under the name Halcyon more than a decade ago. Without major label backing, he has built an international following through relentless touring, online fan engagement and collaborations across the progressive metal community.
“Excited to bring my biggest production around Australia and New Zealand in August,” Plini said in the announcement. “Playing songs from the new album around Europe at the moment has already been insanely fun. And extra excited to have put together a bill of some of my favourite bands.”
The 2026 tour arrives during a particularly active period for the guitarist. An Unnameable Desire was released alongside an extensive world tour and has already produced multiple video releases including ‘Manala’ and ‘After Everything’. The album continues the progression heard across earlier releases including Handmade Cities in 2016 and Impulse Voices in 2020, records that helped redefine expectations for instrumental rock artists operating outside traditional commercial formats.
Plini’s rise has been notable because it happened largely through musicianship and word-of-mouth credibility rather than radio exposure. His intricate compositions and fluid guitar technique have earned endorsements from some of the genre’s most respected players. Steve Vai famously described Handmade Cities as “one of the finest, forward thinking, melodic, rhythmically and harmonically deep” instrumental guitar records he had heard, while later referring to Plini as “the future of exceptional guitar playing”.
Those endorsements helped elevate Plini into the international touring circuit, where he has shared stages with artists including Animals As Leaders, Sleep Token, Periphery and TesseracT. He also became the first instrumental act to perform at the UK’s Download Festival, a significant breakthrough in a genre traditionally dominated by vocal-driven bands.
The broader significance of Plini’s success reflects the growing international appetite for technically sophisticated instrumental music. Over the past decade, streaming platforms and online musician communities have created audiences for progressive artists who once existed almost entirely on the underground fringe. Guitar-focused instrumental records now regularly reach listeners far beyond the traditional prog-metal audience.
Supporting the tour will be UK quartet Delta Sleep, returning after their first Australian headline run in 2023. Formed in 2010, the band built a strong reputation within the math rock scene through releases including Twin Galaxies, Ghost City, Spring Island and 2024’s Blue Garden. Their latest single ‘Unread’ continues the group’s blend of angular guitar arrangements and emotionally charged songwriting.
Sydney artist Cenobia joins the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne dates. Emerging in 2025, the masked independent solo performer quickly developed a substantial online audience through TikTok and YouTube, combining heavy alternative metal with a carefully constructed visual identity and mythology-driven presentation.
Nightdive will appear on the Australian dates only. The Sydney band formed in late 2024 through remote collaboration before building momentum with debut single ‘Diviner’. Their first EP In Quiet Rooms was released in late 2025 and mixed and mastered by Simon Grove, a long-time Plini collaborator whose production credits also include Intervals and Protest The Hero.
Plini’s profile has occasionally reached beyond the progressive music world. In 2020, viewers noted similarities between the guitar solo in Doja Cat’s MTV Europe Music Awards performance of ‘Say So’ and Plini’s composition ‘Handmade Cities’. The issue later concluded amicably after the artist reportedly contacted Plini privately.
The upcoming tour also reinforces Australia’s continuing importance in the global progressive metal network. While much of the genre’s commercial infrastructure remains centred in Europe and North America, Australian artists including Plini, Karnivool, Northlane and Polaris have helped establish the region as a consistent exporter of technically ambitious heavy music.
The 2026 tour presents the first local opportunity to hear material from An Unnameable Desire performed alongside selections spanning Plini’s catalogue, from early EP tracks through to more expansive recent compositions. With larger production elements promised for the shows, the run shapes as another milestone in the continuing evolution of one of Australia’s most internationally respected instrumental musicians.
Tour Dates:
Thursday 6 August, Brisbane, Princess Theatre
Friday 7 August, Sydney, Liberty Hall
Saturday 8 August, Melbourne, Northcote Theatre
Sunday 9 August, Adelaide, Lion Arts Factory
Tuesday 11 August, Perth, Magnet House
Friday 14 August, Auckland, Double Whammy
Saturday 15 August, Wellington, San Fran
^ Cenobia not appearing in Adelaide, Perth or New Zealand
Nightdive not appearing in New Zealand
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