The Strokes and The War On Drugs are coming To Australia but you’ll only see then see them in Adelaide.
The Strokes and The War On Drugs are exclusive To Adelaide’s Harvest Festival in October.
MUSIC LINEUP:
Saturday 25 October
The Strokes (Aus Exclusive)
The War On Drugs (Aus Exclusive)
Vance Joy
M.I.A.
Lime Cordiale
Wolfmother (Performing Debut Album)
The Presets
Skream & Benga
Genesis Owusu
The Jungle Giants
Cloud Control
Vacations
Bag Raiders (Live)
Teenage Joans
Divebar Youth
Sunsick Daisy
Oscar The Wild
Any Young Mechanic
Sunday 26 October
Jelly Roll
Royel Otis
Ministry Of Sound Classical
Groove Armada (Dj Set)
Shaboozey
Pnau
Lauren Spencer Smith
Ruel
Sneaky Sound System
The Dreggs
Drew Baldridge
Julia Cole
Folk Bitch Trio
Mild Minds
Anna Lunoe
Velvet Trip
Towns
Coldwave
Colter
Apollo
Amuse-Bouche Lineup:
Hosted By Ben & Belle
Nat’s What I Reckon
Marmalade
Artist Appearances & Many More – Full Lineup To Be Announced Soon!
Adelaide’s Harvest story is a distinctly South Australian spin on the “city-park, food-and-wine-meets-music” idea. While Australia had a national touring event called Harvest Festival from 2011–2013 (helmed by promoter AJ Maddah, with headliners like Portishead and Beck), that tour did not stage an Adelaide leg and ultimately folded ahead of its planned 2013 run. Adelaide’s version arrived almost a decade later under different promoters, a new name — Harvest Rock — and a clear identity anchored in the state’s food and wine culture as much as its bands
Harvest Rock launched over 19–20 November 2022 in the adjoining city green spaces of Murlawirrapurka & Ityamai-itpina (Rymill & King Rodney Parks). The bill balanced heritage names and modern festival draws, with Jack White playing his only Australian show that year and Crowded House closing the Sunday. From the outset, the festival framed itself as more than a series of sets: curated wine bars, chef pop-ups and hospitality activations were folded into the footprint, selling the experience as a weekend in the park where the soundtrack happened to be world-class. The inaugural year drew strong industry attention and set the template: one stage (or at least a tightly clustered footprint) to minimise clashes, and hospitality that felt on-par with the music. Headliners and schedule details were widely reported at the time, including confirmation that Jack White topped day one and Crowded House the second night.
With proof of concept in hand, Harvest Rock II returned on 28–29 October 2023. The lineup stepped confidently into groove, funk and alt-pop lanes: Jamiroquai and Beck were the clear headline draws, flanked by Nile Rodgers & Chic, Paul Kelly, Tash Sultana, Chromeo and more. The curation broadened beyond rock to dance-ready sets and 1990s nostalgia, without losing the “Adelaide picnic-in-the-park” character. The South Australian Tourism Commission later noted the festival’s growing interstate pull and economic upside, citing tens of millions in activity across its first two editions.
Like many Australian festivals navigating post-pandemic cost spikes and a complex touring market, Harvest Rock called off its 2024 event. Organisers stressed the intention to return, and the cancellation slotted into a wider national pattern of festival pauses and resets that year.
Adelaide’s Harvest returned to 25–26 October 2025, again in Rymill & King Rodney Parks, with a brawny, multigenerational bill. The Strokes were unveiled as Saturday’s headliner — their first Adelaide appearance in nearly two decades — with The War on Drugs and M.I.A. among key day-one draws. Sunday pivoted to crossover Americana and pop-country energy with Jelly Roll at the top, joined by Shaboozey and a strong cadre of locals and electronic acts (PNau; Ministry of Sound Classical; Groove Armada DJ set). Government and media communications around the return underscored Harvest Rock’s tourism value and interstate audience share, framing the comeback as both a cultural and economic win for the city
Headline acts by year (Adelaide)
• 2022 (19–20 Nov) — Jack White (Sat), Crowded House (Sun).
• 2023 (28–29 Oct) — Jamiroquai, Beck. (The event billed both as top-line headliners across the weekend.)
• 2024 — Cancelled.
• 2025 (25–26 Oct) — The Strokes (Sat), Jelly Roll (Sun).
Many city festivals could happen anywhere; Harvest Rock wears Adelaide on its sleeve. The site is walkable from the CBD; programming makes space for picnic blankets and long lunches; and the food and beverage partners — from chefs such as Duncan Welgemoed to wine curators like Nick Stock, are treated as headliners in their own right. That integration is not incidental branding; it’s the chassis the music sits on, and it’s been central to public announcements each year.
South Australia’s tourism authorities have repeatedly positioned Harvest Rock as a driver of visitation and spend. After the launch year, the state reported roughly $16.5 million in total economic activity from the 2022 festival and hotel occupancy highs for that weekend. Messaging around the 2025 return again highlighted the event’s ability to pull interstate audiences — up to around 30% of the crowd in previous editions — a meaningful stat for a CBD festival in a tight national market.
Australia’s festival landscape has been volatile since 2020, with multiple cancellations and reshuffles. Harvest’s 2024 pause placed it in that broader context, but the 2025 lineup suggests the team recalibrated rather than retreated: pairing a legacy-indie crown jewel (The Strokes) with a contemporary, crossover country-hip-hop phenomenon (Jelly Roll) is an astute way to cover multiple demographics without diluting identity.
If there’s any through-line to the earlier, non-Adelaide Harvest Festival brand (2011–2012) it’s taste. Those tours brought Portishead, Sigur Rós, Beck and The Flaming Lips to parkland settings and aimed at a slightly older, album-oriented crowd. Harvest Rock inherits that curatorial spirit but re-roots it in South Australian lifestyle — an echo rather than a sequel. (For context: the national Harvest planned a 2013 edition headlined by Massive Attack, Franz Ferdinand, Primus and Goldfrapp before cancelling.)
In just a few editions, Harvest Rock has given Adelaide a signature spring weekender that feels native to the city: relaxed but ambitious, culinary as much as musical, and comfortable programming heritage acts alongside contemporary names. Its brief hiatus in 2024 mirrors the wider pressures on Australian live events, but the 2025 comeback underscores both audience appetite and government backing for a festival that drives visitation while staying true to Adelaide’s park-life charm. If the pattern holds — big international headliners on one day, an eclectic Sunday that folds in electronic, hip-hop and local heroes — Harvest looks poised to remain a fixture on the national calendar.
