Australia's two signature outback music festivals are gearing up for a massive return in 2026 with stellar line-ups and desert spectacles that promise to reignite the magic. After a one-year pause, the Birdsville Big Red Bash returns July 7-9, while the Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash takes centre stage August 20-22, both unveiling rosters stacked with Australian music royalty.

Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers have announced their next big move, the Glory album and tour, along with the snarling new single Bait. It's the first taste of what's shaping up to be the band's boldest era yet, arriving November 7 through Community Music and Mom + Pop.

Irish folk innovators Beoga will return to Australia in February 2026 for their first visit in more than a decade, performing headline shows, festival sets and joining their longtime collaborator Ed Sheeran for his national stadium tour.

Alt-rock veterans Garbage have confirmed the much-anticipated return to Australia and New Zealand, announcing four theatre shows in December 2025 in Auckland, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. These dates mark the band's first headline tour in Australia since 2016, and their first appearance in New Zealand's main centres in over a decade.

For more than three decades, Counting Crows have been one of the most distinctive and heartfelt voices in American rock. In 2026, Adam Duritz and company will return to Australia and New Zealand for The Complete Sweets! Tour.

American post-hardcore veterans Thrice will return to Australia and New Zealand in 2026 for their first headline tour in nearly a decade. The tour will showcase music from their new album Horizons/West, the companion to 2021's Horizons/East, alongside a career-spanning set of fan favourites.

Michael D'Angelo Archer, the singer-songwriter and producer who helped define the neo-soul movement, has died aged 51 following a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer, his family has announced. The D'Angelo Estate said he “has been called home, departing this life today, October 14, 2025,” and asked for privacy while inviting fans to celebrate the music he leaves behind.

Mercury Prize and Ivor Novello-nominated rapper Pa Salieu will make his long-awaited Australian debut this December, bringing his powerful and genre-bending live show to Sydney and Melbourne, alongside his first appearance at Meredith Music Festival.

Joey Santiago has always been the quiet force driving Pixies' sonic personality - the man behind the wiry leads and angular phrases that defined a generation of alternative guitarists.

Baltimore's hardcore juggernaut Turnstile will make their long-awaited return to Australian shores this summer, bringing their explosive live energy and genre-bending chaos for four massive shows across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst has officially concluded the auction of his legendary 1979 Ludwig “Touring and Recording” drum kit, with the final winning bid reaching $77,500.

Genre-defying British rocker Yungblud will return to Australia in January 2026 for his biggest headline shows yet, as part of his global IDOLS World Tour. The tour announcement follows a year of record-breaking success, with Yungblud selling out his entire 24-date North American run in just one minute.

On 14 October 1985, INXS released Listen Like Thieves, the album that cracked their international code, and 40 years on it still sounds like a band discovering the shape of its future. The fifth studio album from the Sydney six-piece spent two weeks at number one on the Australian Kent Music Report and became the launchpad that propelled them into the US Top 20, peaking at No. 11 on the Billboard 200.

For Bud Rokesky, the road has always been both a teacher and a companion. Born in XXXX and raised between XXXX and the tiny XXXX town of XXXX, population 300, Rokesky spent much of his childhood surrounded by wide skies, red dust and time, time to think, to watch, to listen. That solitude shaped him, turning him into one of Australia's most distinctive modern storytellers.

Good Charlotte will return to Australia in February 2026 for the Motel Du Cap World Tour, their first visit down under in eight years. The tour marks the beginning of their global trek in support of their upcoming eighth studio album, Motel Du Cap, and will feature special guests Yellowcard and Kisschasy.

Ben Folds, one of the world's most distinctive singer-songwriters and live performers, will return to Australia in February and March 2026 for an eight-date national tour, Ben Folds & A Piano. Joining him for the run will be American artist Lindsey Kraft, an actress, singer and composer best known for her roles in Netflix's Grace and Frankie and HBO's Getting On.

The Red Hot Summer Tour will once again light up Australia in 2026, with Batemans Bay now confirmed to join the run of shows. The much-loved outdoor festival continues its legacy of celebrating Australian music under the open sky, and next year’s event promises one of the strongest all-local line-ups yet. At the forefront stands the country’s most revered songwriter and storyteller, Paul Kelly, headlining a bill that also features Missy Higgins, The Cruel Sea, The Cat Empire, Kasey Chambers, and Jess Hitchcock.

American genre-blender nothing, nowhere. will return to Australia in 2026 for The Return Of The Reaper Tour, marking ten years since he first announced himself to the world with his breakthrough release Reaper. The Vermont-born artist, the creative alter ego of Joseph Mulherin, will bring his band and two special guests, sace6 from the US and Sydney's rising post-hardcore outfit Closure, for a national run of shows next April.

Lloyd Cole, one of Britain's most literate and enduring songwriters, will return to Australia in March 2026 for a national run of solo shows - but this time, he's plugging back in.

Melbourne is turning the volume all the way up as the city prepares to welcome home one of its most iconic exports, AC/DC. In a nod to the legendary band's roots, hundreds of Victorian bagpipers will descend on Fed Square on Wednesday 12 November for The Great Melbourne Bagpipe Bash, an event set to recreate one of the most famous moments in Australian rock history and attempt a world record at the same time.

Australia's signature travelling alternative-rock festival, Good Things Festival, has just turned up the heat with a blockbuster announcement: a sweeping array of sideshows featuring many of the international acts on the main lineup.

Crowded House have officially kicked off the 2025 Red Hot Summer Tour, launching the season with a Legends On The Lawn event in Cairns on 11 October. The full Red Hot Summer season gets underway next weekend at Sandstone Point, Queensland.

Legendary actress Diane Keaton, the award-winning star of Annie Hall, The Godfather films, Father of the Bride and countless others, has died in California aged 79. Her passing brings to a close a career that transformed Hollywood with humour, authenticity and emotional depth.

When Simply Red released their debut album Picture Book on 11 October 1985, few could have predicted that it would introduce one of the defining British voices of the decade. Fronted by Manchester's fiery-haired Mick Hucknall, the band's blend of soul, pop and sophisticated R&B gave them a sound that bridged the late 70s' blue-eyed soul movement with the sleek production of the mid-80s. Forty years on, Picture Book remains one of the most polished debut albums of its time, the record that established Simply Red as one of the UK's most enduring musical exports.

Two of Melbourne's most promising young singer-songwriters, Aimee Isobel and Connor Stanton, have come together for a hauntingly beautiful new single, Rainy Weather, a powerful duet that explores heartbreak, healing, and self-discovery.

You Got Gold, a new feature documentary celebrating the life, music and influence of John Prine, will begin its national theatrical rollout in New York on 28 November at The Quad, before expanding across North America.

Neil Young has announced he will once again remove his music from a major digital platform, this time targeting Amazon, while urging fans to boycott large corporations and instead support local businesses.

John Lodge, bassist, singer and songwriter for The Moody Blues, has died suddenly and unexpectedly at age 82. His family announced that Lodge passed peacefully on 10 October 2025, surrounded by loved ones and listening to the music of The Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly. No cause of death was disclosed.

Bellarine Estate has thrown its hat into the festival ring with 100 Acres Festival, a one-day celebration of blues, wine and coastal hospitality set for Saturday April 18, 2026. The new event will take over the estate's rolling vineyards and pastures from midday until 6pm, and it will be led by US blues elder statesman Eric Bibb performing with his full band.

Stereophonics have cancelled their Australian Spring Tour following medical advice that frontman Kelly Jones is unfit to travel long distance after suffering a displaced jaw joint. The decision comes as a major disappointment to Australian fans, with the band's first local shows in several years now officially called off.