Queens Of The Stone Age Announce 2026 Australian Tour Dates

The stoner rock icons announce their Australian return alongside new single, 'Easy Street'.

The legendary Queens Of The Stone Age will be making a triumphant return to Australia later this year, announcing a run of national tour dates for December.

Kicking off in Adelaide on December 8th, the local trek will see them hit up Hobart's MyState Bank Arena, Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena, Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena, the Newcastle Entertainment Centre and the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, before heading east for a long New Zealand date at Auckland's Spark Arena.

Joining the band on all dates will be influential alternative rockers Primus, who make their return to Australia after eight years away, and Tropical Fuck Storm, whose near-decade of existence have seen them considered one of the country's most exciting and ferocious rock exports.

No strangers to local shores, this upcoming run of dates will be the band’s first since early 2024, when they toured in support of their eighth album, In Times New Roman…, which became their sixth consecutive release to hit the Australian top ten.

Since then, they’ve been busy, but not in the ways that fans may have expected. In July 2024, the band got permission to record in the Paris Catacombs, becoming the first group to legally perform in the historic location.

That recording was released almost a year later, with Alive In The Catacombs being accompanied by a live concert film and documentary, and a run of dates across North America and Europe in which the band performed a stripped-down set.

Though that Catacombs tour won’t make its way down to Australia, the group are still keeping that mindset alive, releasing their new single, Easy Street.

Featuring acoustic guitar and psych-heavy synths, the serene cut is paired with a jagged edge, boasting Nikki Lane on guest vocals throughout.

The song is also paired with a Tony Wolski and Christopher Gruse-directed music video, featuring Josh Homme attempting to outrun a number of unique individuals, with a twist ending offering a chance to rethink our perceptions of often-dismissed outsiders.

As guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen explained to The Music, the creation of Easy Street was one rooted in simplicity and a lack of pretence. As he puts it, "something we just allowed ourselves to do".

"It is a very simple three or four chord song," he explains, adding that it allowed them to "be a little bit more free with our emotions."

"So much of a lot of rock music to me – and we are part of it too – is this sort of darkness and brooding, and the heaviness of life comes through – especially on our last record. I think that a lot has happened, a lot of those expressions have come and have been expressed, and this is kind of like a cleansing of the palate.

"Easy Street is – it's in the name – it just feels right,” he concludes. “After doing the Catacombs and just relying on acoustic instruments, it's kind of nice to do that once in a while."

Tickets to Queens Of The Stone Age's upcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand go on sale from 10am on Monday, July 20th.

A number of presales take place in the days preceding, including an artist and Mastercard presale running from 11am on Thursday, July 16th until 10am on Monday, July 20th, while a Live Nation presale runs from 11am on Friday, July 17th until 10am on Monday, July 20th.