Everything You Need To Know About The 2026 Star-Studded Red Hot Summer Tour

Mary Varvaris

A landmark all-Australian line-up, stunning regional venues, and multi-generational appeal – the Red Hot Summer Tour is coming in strong with its 2026 events.

Red Hot Summer Tour 2026(Credit: Red Hot Summer Tour, Mackenzie Muir)

Paul Kelly

Since its humble beginnings as a three-act bill travelling across Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia for six shows in 2011, the Red Hot Summer Tour has become a cultural behemoth.

Over the years, the Red Hot Summer Tour has hosted an abundance of artists, both Australian and international.

From Suzi Quatro to Crowded House, Killing Heidi, pub-rock icons Hunters & Collectors and many others, the team behind the Red Hot Summer Tour nails its intergenerational appeal, bringing electric line-ups to regional towns and cities across the country, offering family-friendly events in the sun, and continuously celebrating the most loved acts in Aussie rock.

This year is no different. But with its upcoming run, the Red Hot Summer Tour will showcase a landmark all-Australian line-up of rock, indie, and country legends.

The 2026 edition is going on a massive journey across the country, beginning on Saturday, 17 January, and concluding on Saturday, 23 May. So, without further ado, here’s everything you need to know about this year’s Red Hot Summer Tour.

Who’s Playing?

As the weather heats up, punters will get to enjoy Aussie anthems at picturesque locations. This year’s line-up is headlined by the one and only Paul Kelly, one of the country’s most loved storytellers.

The tour has also locked in household names in rock, pop, and country, including Missy Higgins, The Cruel Sea, The Cat Empire, Kasey Chambers, and Jess Hitchcock.

You may be unfamiliar with the name Jess Hitchcock, but if you’ve seen Paul Kelly perform in recent years, you’ve seen her in his band, lending backing vocals. While she’s set to appear with Kelly at the Red Hot Summer Tour, she will also kick off the day with her own music, backed by a band.

Kelly said of his return to the Red Hot Summer Tour circuit, “The band and I have many great memories from our last Red Hot Summer tour. We’re looking forward to making some new ones!”

What have the artists been up to?

PAUL KELLY

Paul Kelly released his 30th (!) album in November. Seventy commemorates his seventieth birthday and marks what Kelly has described as his “most varied album yet.”

Featuring the singles The Body Keeps the Score and Rita Wrote a Letter—the latter a sequel to his 1996 single, How To Make Gravy—the album explores themes of ageing, regret, and reflection. The Music’s Tyler Jenke said of the album, “Seventy is arguably one of the year’s finest records. At its core, it’s a record based around the importance of storytelling, Kelly’s mastery of the concept, and the cultural and societal resonance of such a practice.”

MISSY HIGGINS

The last two years have been milestone years for Missy Higgins. In 2024, she released her album The Second Act.

A sequel album to her classic The Sound Of White, upon its release, it topped the ARIA Australian Albums Chart and the overall albums chart, 20 years to the day after her debut album, The Sound Of White, hit #1. At the ARIA Awards in November, she took home the Best Adult Contemporary Album Award, a year after she was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

Her The Second Act tour was in high demand, selling tens of thousands of tickets and selling out shows across the country.

THE CRUEL SEA

In 2024, The Cruel Sea made their grand return to the stage, celebrating 30 years of The Honeymoon Is Over and touring with Cold Chisel. If that wasn’t enough, the Aussie rockers made a shock announcement in October 2024, when they announced that Straight Into The Sun, their first album in 23 years, would be released.

Following the record’s release last March, The Cruel Sea continued touring—but they weren’t celebrating 30-year-old albums that time. That tour saw a line-up of singer Tex Perkins, guitarist Dan Rumour, drummer Jim Elliott, and bassist Ken Gormly, plus long-term collaborator Matt Walker on guitar, hit the road.

THE CAT EMPIRE

Last year, The Cat Empire released their illustrious tenth album, Bird In Paradise. Their boldest, most vibrant release to date, the record was born from spontaneity, raw energy, and musical alchemy.

For Bird In Paradise, The Cat Empire channelled their organic roots while experimenting with influences from flamenco, funk, Latin, jazz, and Creole. Upon its release, frontman Felix Riebl said, “We didn’t set out to make this record — it found us. It’s a celebration of spontaneity, togetherness, and letting music lead the way.”

The band took the album on the road from August to September, performing in theatres across the country.

KASEY CHAMBERS

Country powerhouse Kasey Chambers continues to take grand strides with her music. In November, she took home her 15th ARIA Award for her latest album, Backbone.

Backbone is Chambers’ 13th studio album and has become an instant favourite among fans and critics, blending her signature introspective songwriting with reflections on identity, life, and resilience.

Released in 2024, it debuted in the top 10 on the ARIA Albums Chart, a reminder that even after decades in the game, Chambers still delivers. The album features hit songs, including The Divorce Song, featuring Chambers’ ex-husband and fellow musician Shane Nicholson, A Love Like Springsteen, and the title track, Backbone (The Desert Child). She continues to perform, with headline tours and festival appearances across the country.

JESS HITCHCOCK

Award-winning singer-songwriter Jess Hitchcock has made a name for herself while touring alongside Paul Kelly and for her own music, which blends surprising genres like pop, country, folk, and opera.

Hitchcock’s most recent record, Unbreakable, was released in 2023. At the time, she provided a track-by-track breakdown of the album for The Music, where she said this about the title track:

Unbreakable is about overcoming childhood trauma through music and finding a way to voice what you want to say through songs. It’s also a love letter to my gorgeous friend Piper and all the young women I work with, that through music you can find healing as I did, and I hope that they can too. The actions of your youth don’t define you, but they can shape you to become the Unbreakable people we are today.

Where is the Red Hot Summer Tour going this year?

The tour began at Mackay Park, Batemans Bay, on Saturday, 10 January. It continues with dates in Lake Macquarie, Port Macquarie, Southport, Werribee South, Berry, Bella Vista, Wodonga, Launceston, Bendigo, and Victor Harbour.

Tour dates were initially announced last September, but this month, event organisers added new shows in Mornington, Hervey Bay, Dubbo, Hillarys, and Sandstone Point, meeting fan demand and stretching this year’s Red Hot Summer Tour into May (it was originally scheduled to conclude in March).

You can see the complete list of tour dates below.

Who’s behind the Red Hot Summer Tour?

The Red Hot Summer Tour is one of the flagship events led by promoters Face To Face Touring. Guided by Directors John Zaccaria and Duane McDonald, the pair have solidified themselves as key figures in the Australian touring scene, not only by presenting major shows, but also by taking festivals to regional communities often overlooked by large-scale tours.

John Zaccaria cut his teeth working with musical instrument brands before working in media sales and founding a charity to bring music to underprivileged kids. For Duane McDonald, his road to concert promotion began when he was the proprietor of a regional pub and received a cold call from Premier Artists about hosting a Diesel show.

In 2023, the pair joined forces to launch Face To Face Touring, shortly before its acquisition by Live Nation. Face To Face has delivered live music experiences to over 40 regional locations across Australia, driving cultural and economic impact and attracting over 400,000 attendees across the Red Hot Summer Tour, SummerSalt, Lookout, and Sunburnt Country.

The Red Hot Summer Tour is taking place across the country from this month into May. You can find tickets on the Red Hot Summer Tour website.