Jimmy Barnes will headline the 2027 Red Hot Summer Tour with Jon Stevens, Birds Of Tokyo, Eskimo Joe, Baby Animals, Chocolate Starfish and Sarah McLeod joining the national outdoor run.
by Paul Cashmere
Jimmy Barnes will headline the 2027 Red Hot Summer Tour, bringing together one of the tour’s broadest Australian rock line-ups yet with Jon Stevens, Birds Of Tokyo, Eskimo Joe, Baby Animals, Chocolate Starfish and Sarah McLeod across eight outdoor dates from January to March.
The 2027 edition continues the Red Hot Summer Tour’s formula of putting established Australian rock acts on the same bill, but the line-up also creates an unusual meeting point between several generations of Australian rock.
Barnes will lead the bill following a particularly busy period that included the release of his 2025 album DEFIANT, the 40th anniversary of For The Working Class Man and a series of major outdoor performances.
The 2027 tour begins at Mannum Golf Club in South Australia on January 9 as part of the Sounds By The River show before moving through Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania.
For Barnes, the tour follows another significant chapter in a career that has now stretched beyond four decades. His catalogue includes solo material as well as his work with Cold Chisel, while his recording career has produced 22 Australian number one albums, according to the supplied tour information.
Barnes has also twice been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, as a solo artist and as a member of Cold Chisel.
The current run follows the release of DEFIANT in June 2025, which became his 21st studio album. The same period saw Barnes revisit For The Working Class Man for its 40th anniversary with a documentary and a series of outdoor performances.
Joining Barnes is Jon Stevens, who will perform material from his Noiseworks and INXS Collection. Stevens’ set draws from the catalogue of both bands, including “Take Me Back”, “New Sensation”, “Touch”, “Don’t Change”, “Hot Chilli Woman”, “Never Tear Us Apart” and “No Lies”.
That places Stevens alongside Birds Of Tokyo, a band whose career has taken a very different route through Australian rock. Formed in Perth in the early 2000s, Birds Of Tokyo have released five albums that reached the ARIA top three, including the number one albums March Fires and Human Design.
Songs including “Good Lord”, “Plans”, “Lanterns”, “Two Of Us”, “Brace” and “Unbreakable” have become major parts of the band’s live catalogue. The group has also worked with Australia’s major symphony orchestras, including sold-out runs at the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne’s Hamer Hall.
Eskimo Joe bring another long-running Australian rock catalogue to the bill. Now approaching three decades as a band, they have six studio albums, eight ARIA Awards from 35 nominations and songs that have become staples of Australian radio. Their latest single, “Miracle Cure”, is also part of the band’s current live chapter.
Baby Animals add one of the most significant debut albums in Australian rock history. Their self-titled 1991 album spent six weeks at number one in Australia, eventually selling eight times platinum and winning three ARIA Awards. It included “Rush You”, “Early Warning”, “Painless” and “One Word”.
The album’s success came while Baby Animals were touring the United States with Van Halen. At the time, their debut was competing at the top of the Australian chart with Nirvana’s Nevermind, which it kept from number one.
Chocolate Starfish and Sarah McLeod complete the line-up.
Chocolate Starfish are known for their theatrical live presentation and songs including “Mountain” and their version of “You’re So Vain”. McLeod, a founding member of The Superjesus, will perform with drummer Mick Skelton as the Sarah McLeod and Mick Skelton duo.
The Red Hot Summer Tour will visit eight locations, giving audiences across multiple states the chance to see the seven-act bill on a single outdoor stage.
The RHST/Face To Face presale is at noon on October 8. General public tickets go on sale at noon on October 9.
The tour opens in South Australia on January 9 and concludes at Gateway Lakes in Wodonga on March 6, 2027.
Saturday 9 January, Mannum, SA, Mannum Golf Club, Sounds By The River
Saturday 16 January, Warrnambool, VIC, Warrnambool Racecourse
Saturday 30 January, Lake Macquarie, NSW, Speers Point Park
Saturday 6 February, Southport, QLD, Broadwater Parklands
Saturday 13 February, Port Macquarie, NSW, Westport Park
Saturday 20 February, Yarra Valley, VIC, Rochford Wines
Saturday 27 February, Launceston, TAS, Country Club Lawns
Saturday 6 March, Wodonga, VIC, Gateway Lakes
Telstra Plus presale: Wednesday 7 October, 11am to Thursday 8 October, 11am local time.
RHST/Face To Face presale: Thursday 8 October, noon to Friday 9 October, 11am local time.
General public: Friday 9 October, noon local time.
Tickets: redhotsummertour.com.au
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