Radiohead announces major 2027 Australian tour: as many as 16 concerts in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney
Radiohead will return to Australia in 2027 for the first time in 15 years, with a schedule that is considerably more extensive than the usual short tour through several major cities. According to the official announcement by the band and promoter Frontier Touring, the British group will play a total of 16 arena concerts in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney between May 3 and June 1, 2027. The tour begins with four shows at RAC Arena in Perth, continues with six nights at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, and ends with another six concerts at Afterpay Arena in Sydney. This confirms one of the largest concentrated blocks of Australian dates Radiohead has ever announced there. All concerts will be open to audiences of all ages, subject to the licensed entry conditions set by the individual venues.
The return is especially significant because Radiohead as a band has not performed in Australia since 2012. Frontman Thom Yorke has performed solo in the country in the meantime, but the announced dates represent the first full return of the five-piece after a long period during which the members pursued separate projects. The official 2027 schedule also shows that the group is not following the classic touring model of one concert per city, but instead staying for several nights in the same arenas. This format resembles the residencies Radiohead used when returning to European stages in 2025, following a multi-year break from live performances. For Australian audiences, this means a much larger number of available dates, but also the concentration of the entire tour in just three major urban centres.
Four concerts in Perth, followed by six each in Melbourne and Sydney
The Australian leg of the tour will open at RAC Arena in Perth, where four performances have been confirmed during the first week of May. According to the official schedule, Radiohead will play there on May 3, 4, 6 and 7, 2027. The return to Perth carries additional historical significance: RAC Arena states that the band has not performed in the city since 1998, meaning almost three decades will have passed between the two visits. After the west coast, the tour moves to Melbourne, where Rod Laver Arena has been booked for six concerts spread over eight days. The final block will take place in Sydney, also across six nights, with the last Australian performance scheduled for June 1, 2027.
- Perth, RAC Arena: May 3, 4, 6 and 7, 2027.
- Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena: May 13, 14, 16, 17, 19 and 20, 2027.
- Sydney, Afterpay Arena: May 25, 26, 28, 29 and 31 and June 1, 2027.
The schedule is unusually dense, but at the same time leaves free days between most performances, a pattern that allows the band to remain in the same city for longer and avoid daily travel between locations. Frontier Touring states that there will be no additional dates for the Australian tour, so the currently confirmed 16 concerts represent the final Australian schedule for 2027. Brisbane and Adelaide are not included in the published itinerary, and the promoters have not announced separate performances in other Australian cities. This will likely lead some fans to travel to Perth, Melbourne or Sydney, especially because the concerts are arranged in multi-day blocks. Visitors planning to arrive from other parts of Australia or from abroad may therefore find it useful to check accommodation in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney in advance, particularly for weekend dates and the final week of May.
Ticket registration is open until September 10
Ticket sales will not be organised as a completely open general sale from the outset. According to the rules published by Radiohead and Frontier Touring, interested buyers must first register for the opportunity to purchase tickets, with the registration window open from September 7, 2026 at 5 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time until September 10 at the same time. The promoter explicitly states that the time of registration within that period does not provide any advantage and that all validly completed registrations will be treated equally. Registration has been introduced to reduce the impact of automated systems and unauthorised resellers and to distribute access to the sale among genuine buyers. There is also a separate process for accessible tickets and for visitors who require additional support.
Frontier Touring states that registered users will begin receiving notifications from 3 p.m. AEST on September 11 informing them whether they have been selected for the next stage. Successful registered users will then begin receiving messages from 7 a.m. on September 15, according to the local time of the city for which they were selected, containing a purchase link and a unique code, while the sales window itself opens at 9 a.m. local time. Receiving a code does not guarantee a ticket; it only provides access to the sale while supplies last. For the general sale, one successful registered user may purchase a maximum of four tickets within the assigned city, and that total limit can be distributed across one or more concerts in that city. If an application is not selected in the first round, the promoter states that the user will automatically be placed on a waiting list for any later ticket releases.
Prices are fixed, with no dynamic increases
The official tour FAQ has also published the price range, which is important given the expected demand after a fifteen-year absence. A standing floor ticket costs 199 Australian dollars, including basic fees, while standard seated tickets range from 139 to 349 Australian dollars depending on the category. A special package called "Fast Track Status" is listed at 649 Australian dollars, with details described separately by the promoter in the terms of sale. Frontier Touring emphasises that prices will not change dynamically according to demand, meaning there is no model under which the same category automatically becomes more expensive as interest rises. Additional transaction, delivery or administrative fees charged by individual authorised ticketing systems may nevertheless apply.
Each ticket also includes a donation of two Australian dollars to Greenpeace Australia Pacific and the Australian Marine Conservation Society, according to Frontier Touring. Radiohead will, according to the same announcement, match the total value of those donations with an equivalent contribution of its own. The promoters warn that tickets should be purchased exclusively through authorised sales channels and that codes or tickets offered through unauthorised resellers may be cancelled. An official option for transfer or resale at face value is planned, but only closer to the concert dates and under the rules of authorised systems. This approach fits into the band's broader strategy of limiting automated purchasing and the secondary market, where prices are often increased several times over.
The stage will be in the centre of the arena, with no support act
The Australian concerts will not use the classic arrangement with the stage at one end of the venue. Frontier Touring confirms that Radiohead will perform "in the round", meaning on a centrally positioned stage that the audience can view from multiple sides. A similar configuration was used during the European performances in 2025, when the band returned to concerts for the first time since 2018. Such an arrangement changes the usual geometry of large arenas and allows for a greater number of audience sections around the performers, but at the same time requires a more complex technical structure above and around the central stage. In Melbourne, according to official information, some seats will have a partially obstructed view because of support towers and production equipment, and those seats will be specifically marked during purchase.
No support act has been announced for the 16 Australian concerts. The promoter states that Radiohead will perform without a support artist, while the final schedule for entry, start time and programme duration will be announced closer to the dates. All nights are marked as "licensed all ages", meaning they are also open to younger audiences subject to local venue rules and licensed zones. Multi-generational interest is one of the reasons demand could be high: Radiohead has retained the audience that has followed the band since the 1990s, while parts of the catalogue have gained renewed momentum among younger listeners on streaming services and social media in recent years. The concentration of 16 arena performances in just three cities shows that the promoters are preparing for interest far beyond the capacity of a single night at each location.
Return after the 2025 European tour
Radiohead returned to the stage as a band in November 2025, when it played its first concert since 2018 in Madrid. During the European tour, the group performed 20 shows across five cities, with four nights each in Madrid, Bologna, London, Copenhagen and Berlin. That model of multi-night residencies clearly served as the basis for the Australian plan as well, although the Australian blocks are even larger in Melbourne and Sydney. The performances were designed around a cross-section of the entire catalogue, and the band did not tie its return to the release of a new studio album. Radiohead's most recent studio album remains "A Moon Shaped Pool" from 2016, the ninth album in their discography.
The band members were not inactive during the period without joint touring. Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood developed the project The Smile with drummer Tom Skinner, while Ed O'Brien, Colin Greenwood and Philip Selway worked on their own musical and collaborative projects. Radiohead's return in 2025 was therefore not interpreted as the continuation of an uninterrupted touring cycle, but as a reunion of the band after a long period in which joint activity had been very limited. In March 2026, guitarist Ed O'Brien spoke about the intention for the group to play a limited number of shows on different continents each year in the future, with an emphasis on preventing touring from becoming routine exhaustion. The 16 Australian concerts and five additional confirmed shows in Japan demonstrate what that approach looks like in practice.
After Australia, five concerts in Japan will follow
Australia is not the only destination Radiohead has confirmed for 2027. The band's official website lists another five concerts at GMO Arena Saitama in Japan on June 8, 9, 11, 12 and 13. This means the entire announced block for 2027 currently comprises 21 performances, from the first concert in Perth on May 3 to the final night in Saitama on June 13. A week has been left between the final performance in Sydney and the first Japanese date, further confirming the model of short, intensive residencies instead of a months-long tour involving dozens of cities. The band's official website states that no additional dates are planned for 2027 beyond the performances currently announced, although Radiohead leaves open the possibility of future concerts in other parts of the world after that year.
For the Australian cities, this means that Perth, Melbourne and Sydney are the only confirmed stops for the band's return after 15 years. Perth stands out in particular, where four consecutive dates will represent Radiohead's first appearance since 1998, while Melbourne and Sydney each receive six nights, effectively turning each city into a residency of its own. The large number of dates does not change the fact that the geographical scope of the tour is narrow, so some fans will have to travel considerable distances. Precisely because of this, the schedule published many months in advance provides enough time to organise travel, accommodation and local transport. For international visitors, it is also important to follow the local sale time, because Perth uses Western Australian time, while Melbourne and Sydney follow the eastern time zone during the sales period.
Three decades of influence and nine studio albums
Radiohead was formed in Oxfordshire, England, and the line-up consists of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and Philip Selway. The band achieved its international breakthrough in the early 1990s, but its later status expanded far beyond the confines of early alternative rock. Albums such as "The Bends", "OK Computer", "Kid A", "In Rainbows" and others reshaped the relationship between guitar rock, electronics, ambient textures and unconventional production, which is why Radiohead is regularly cited among the most influential bands of its generation. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted the group in 2019, highlighting its expansion of genre boundaries and its influence on the way rock music developed and was distributed in the digital era. The official Grammy database lists three wins and 18 nominations.
That is precisely why the 2027 Australian tour is not merely another comeback series of concerts, but a rare opportunity to see a band that now performs selectively across as many as 16 dates within a single country. At the same time, Radiohead is not announcing a new record as the reason for the tour, so the focus once again returns to the broad catalogue built over more than three decades. The experience of the 2025 European concerts showed that setlists can span different periods of the band's career rather than being concentrated on a single album, although the official song list for the Australian dates has not yet been published. It has also not been officially confirmed whether the setlist will change significantly from night to night, which is particularly important in cities hosting six concerts each. What has been confirmed is the scale of the return: 16 arena performances in a period of less than a month, with a central stage, no support act and a registration system intended to limit resale and automated purchasing.
Sources:
- Radiohead - official announcement of Australian and Japanese dates for 2027, registration rules, prices and purchase limits (link)
- Frontier Touring - official Australian schedule, registration process, ticket prices, stage configuration and terms of sale (link)
- ABC News Australia - confirmation of Radiohead's return to Australia after 15 years and overview of the 16 announced concerts (link)
- RAC Arena - official information about the Perth concerts and the fact that the band is returning there for the first time since 1998 (link)
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - biographical context and confirmation of Radiohead's 2019 induction (link)
- Grammy Awards - information about awards, nominations and band members (link)