The Whitlams Orchestral ’26 Tour will see The Whitlams partner with Australia’s leading symphony orchestras across the country in 2026.
The announcement arrives hot on the heels of two triumphant Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concerts at Hamer Hall last weekend, where The Whitlams demonstrated just how transformative the orchestral format can be for their songs.
At Hamer Hall, conductor Nicholas Buc led the MSO through an afternoon that turned The Whitlams’ catalogue into widescreen cinema. Freedman, alongside Jack Housden, Terepai Richmond and Matt Fell, embraced the setting with a mix of humour and gravitas. It was their first seated Melbourne concert since 2017, and their first orchestral collaboration with the MSO in years, a combination that highlighted the band’s dual strength: sardonic rockers with the heart of poets.
The setlist leaned heavily into Eternal Nightcap (1997), with the “Charlie” trilogy forming the emotional backbone of the first set. Nearly three decades on, those songs still resonate with an honesty that can silence a theatre. Elsewhere, newer material like Nobody Knows I Love You (2022) and Fallen Leaves (2024) proved just as potent, showing that The Whitlams’ orchestral journey is still evolving.
Freedman’s lyrics, equal parts tenderness, regret and sharp wit, found new splendour in the symphonic setting. As he quipped before Thank You (For Loving Me at My Worst), the song has become “a funeral favourite for self-confessed fuck-ups,” the kind of gallows humour that defines his storytelling. The encore, Band on Every Corner, was introduced as “a song about Sydney” before Freedman conceded with a grin, “but let’s pretend it’s about Melbourne tonight.”
These shows were a prelude of what is to come in 2026. The Whitlams’ long history of orchestral collaborations stretches back more than two decades, and in 2026 they’ll expand it nationally. Sydney, Hobart, Brisbane, Newcastle, Adelaide, Toowoomba and Perth will all host orchestral concerts, with each city’s orchestra bringing its own colour to the arrangements.
The tour also carries special significance for some of the collaborators:
• Queensland Symphony Orchestra will reunite with the band for the first time since their Kevin07-era QPAC concert.
• West Australian Symphony Orchestra marks 21 years since first joining forces with the band in Kings Park, where a flock of ducks once famously waddled onto the stage mid-song.
• Adelaide Symphony Orchestra will feature The Whitlams in a rare slot between Fringe and Cabaret Festival seasons.
• Toowoomba Concert Orchestra underscores the band’s ongoing commitment to regional Australia.
The orchestral program itself is a living body of work, enriched over the years by arrangements from Daniel Denholm, Benjamin Northey, Sean O’Boyle, Jamie Messenger, and the late Peter Sculthorpe, whose contributions remain deeply woven into the show’s emotional centre.
For Freedman, the attraction is simple: “Every seven years or so we get to be right in the middle of a beautiful storm of strings and brass. It’s the rarest and most powerful way to hear these songs.”
General tickets for The Whitlams Orchestral ’26 Tour are on sale now via linktr.ee/WhitlamsOrchestral_2026.
The Whitlams Orchestral ’26 Tour Dates
Fri 30 & Sat 31 Jan – State Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Fri 27 Feb – Wrest Point, Hobart, TAS
Fri 6 & Sat 7 Mar – QPAC, Brisbane, QLD
Sat 14 Mar – Civic Theatre, Newcastle, NSW
Sat 11 Apr – Festival Theatre, Adelaide, SA
Sat 6 Jun – Empire Theatre, Toowoomba, QLD
Sat 13 Jun – Riverside Theatre, Perth, WA
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