The Roots Announce 2025 Australian Tour

Hip-hop royalty The Roots will return to Australia for a three-date Australian tour in January 2025, kicking off the New Year with a bang.

Performing in Australia for the first time in 12 years, the Grammy award-winning hip-hop group will be joined by Brooklyn-based MC Talib Kweli and three-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Nai Palm, aka the singer from Melbourne’s own Hiatus Kaiyote.

The 12-member band led by MC, rapper and singer Black Thoughts and drummer Questlove—both members founded The Roots in 1987—will begin the tour at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Wednesday, 1 January, celebrating the New Year in style. From there, the group will head to Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion on Thursday, 2 January, and Brisbane’s Eatons Hill Outdoors on Friday, 3 January.

Frontier Members can access pre-sale tickets on Tuesday, 10 September, at 1 pm local time, followed by the general sale on Wednesday, 11 September, at 2 pm local time. You can find more ticketing details on the Frontier Touring website.

Last year, Questlove produced and directed something special as The Roots were the backing band for the Grammy Awards’ massive hip-hop tribute, honouring the genre’s 50th anniversary.

The hip-hop legends who took to the stage included Big Boi, Busta Rhymes, De La Soul, Missy Elliott, Future, Grandmaster Flash, Ice-T, Lil Wayne, Nelly, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Rakin, Run-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, and more.

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In a review of the band’s concert at Melbourne’s Festival Hall all the way back in 2013, The Music’s Mikel Roman remarked, “Lead vocalist Black Thought unleashes some of the best rap lines you will ever hear and the live delivery is like a continuous, stream-of-consciousness, lyrical flow. There are no breaks between tracks, no talking to the audience to fill in some time, just interrupted energy.”

Roman added, “The Roots are in their element live, are great stage performers and don't have to answer to anyone when they deliver a show as good as this.”