System Of A Down will return to Australia for their first headline tour in more than a decade in January and February 2027, joined by fellow American heavy music pioneers Faith No More for three stadium concerts in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
by Paul Cashmere
System Of A Down will play their biggest Australian headline shows to date when they return in early 2027 with special guests Faith No More, marking the band’s first Australian headline tour in more than ten years. The three-date run will take in Sydney’s Accor Stadium on 22 January, Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on 27 January and Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on 1 February, bringing together two of the most influential bands to emerge from alternative and heavy music over the past four decades.
The announcement follows System Of A Down’s sold out stadium performances across Europe and the United Kingdom this northern summer and represents another sign that Australia’s stadium concert market continues to attract major international rock acts. For Faith No More, the tour marks their first Australian performances since 2015 and follows confirmation earlier this year from bassist Billy Gould that the band planned to return to touring in 2027 after an extended hiatus.
System Of A Down last headlined Australia in 2012 during their reunion tour, combining Soundwave Festival appearances with arena sideshows. Their Melbourne headline concert at Rod Laver Arena followed a headline performance at Soundwave at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds, reflecting how the band had grown from theatre and festival attractions into major arena headliners.
Their Australian history stretches back to 2002 when they made their debut on the Big Day Out festival during the breakthrough success of Toxicity. That visit also included an intimate Melbourne performance at The Palace Complex. By 2005, following the release of Mezmerize and Hypnotize, the band had graduated to Festival Hall while again appearing on Big Day Out. The progression from The Palace to Festival Hall, then Rod Laver Arena, and now stadiums illustrates the band’s continuing popularity despite releasing no new studio albums since 2005, apart from the standalone tracks “Protect The Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz” in 2020.
Formed in Glendale, California in 1994, System Of A Down established themselves as one of heavy music’s most distinctive voices through their combination of metal, progressive rock and Armenian folk influences. Frontman Serj Tankian, guitarist Daron Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan built a catalogue that includes System Of A Down, Toxicity, Steal This Album!, Mezmerize and Hypnotize. Songs including “Chop Suey!”, “Toxicity”, “Aerials” and the Grammy Award winning “B.Y.O.B.” remain staples of modern rock radio while the band’s politically engaged songwriting has become a defining characteristic of its legacy.
Faith No More’s Australian relationship extends even further. The San Francisco group first toured Australia in 1990 following the international success of The Real Thing, performing at Melbourne’s Palace Complex and Old Greek Theatre. Their popularity expanded dramatically during the Angel Dust era, when they returned in 1993 for Festival Hall, Monash University and a memorable appearance on Hey Hey It’s Saturday.
The band remained regular visitors throughout the 1990s. Their King For A Day tour in 1995 included Alternative Nation at Olympic Park and multiple Festival Hall concerts before returning again in 1997 behind Album Of The Year. Following the group’s original split in 1998, Faith No More reunited in 2009 and returned to Australia for Soundwave 2010, adding two sold out Festival Hall sideshows in Melbourne. They again headlined Soundwave in 2015 following the release of Sol Invictus, their first studio album in nearly two decades.
Since forming in 1979, Faith No More have consistently blurred the boundaries between metal, funk, alternative rock, punk and experimental music. The arrival of vocalist Mike Patton before the release of The Real Thing transformed the band’s international profile, producing enduring songs including “Epic”, “Midlife Crisis”, “Evidence”, “Easy” and “Ashes To Ashes”. Their influence has been acknowledged across generations of alternative and heavy artists, while their willingness to experiment with style helped redefine mainstream rock during the late 1980s and 1990s.
The pairing of System Of A Down and Faith No More is notable given the significant influence Faith No More had on the evolution of alternative metal during the years before System Of A Down emerged. Although both bands have spent long periods away from recording, each has remained a major concert attraction, with audiences continuing to respond to extensive catalogues that have retained their cultural relevance.
Tour Dates
22 January 2027, Sydney, Accor Stadium
27 January 2027, Melbourne, Marvel Stadium
1 February 2027, Brisbane, Suncorp Stadium
Ticket Details
General public tickets go on sale Friday 31 July 2026. Artist presale begins 28 July, followed by the PayPal First Access presale on 29 July.
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