After more than a decade away, Australian underground rock band The Drones are reuniting for a special one-off tour of Australia in 2026.
The tour comes after the band – including Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin – briefly returned to the stage in June 2025 to play two intimate fundraiser sets at Melbourne’s Croxton Bandroom. Both shows sold out in just 20 minutes.
Now, to meet demand, they’ve announced a run of national dates, featuring songs spanning their seven studio albums. The tour will kick off on August 8th in Darwin, before stops in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, and Castlemaine, wrapping in Archie’s Creek on September 12th.
Liddiard and Kitschin will temporarily step away from their newer project Tropical Fuck Storm, which they formed in 2017, to take part in the tour. They’ll be joined by Dan Luscombe, Christian Strybosch, and Steve Hesketh.
Tickets for the 2026 tour will go on sale at 10am (AEST) on Tuesday, April 14th via the venues’ websites. The Darwin Festival performance will go on sale separately on May 22nd. See below for links.
Formed in 1997 in Perth, led by Liddiard, The Drones steadily built a reputation for chaotic and emotionally charged live shows, driven by his dense songwriting and abrasive vocal delivery. Their music combined blues, noise rock and post-punk influences, often framed by lyrics that examined politics, social dysfunction and bleak humour.
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They broke through in 2005 with Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By, which led them to win the inaugural Australian Music Prize. They went on to tour with the likes of Neil Young, Patti Smith, The Dirty Three, and more.
The Drones turned their outsider status into a badge of honour, releasing seven studio albums, with classics like, “Taman Shud”, “To Think That I Once Loved You”, “Shark Fin Blues”, “Jezabel”, “Boredom”, “I See Seaweed”, “How To See Through Fog” and “River Of Tears”.
They will be joined by Sydney duo The Mess Hall, another act closely associated with Australia’s independent rock scene of the early 2000s, across the tour.
THE DRONES AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2026
Saturday, August 8th
Darwin Festival, Darwin NT
Tickets on sale May 22nd
Friday, August 14th
Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne VIC
Tickets
Friday, August 28th
Crowbar, Brisbane QLD
Tickets
Saturday, August 29th
Factory Theatre, Sydney NSW
Tickets
Friday, September 4th
The Gov, Adelaide SA
Tickets
Saturday, September 5th
Rechabite, Perth WA
Tickets
Friday, September 11th
Theatre Royal, Castlemaine VIC
Tickets
Saturday, September 12th
Archie’s Creek Hotel, Archie’s Creek VIC
Tickets
