In its 25th year, BIGSOUND returns not merely as an industry fixture, but as a living, breathing snapshot of Australian and Aotearoa music at its most ambitious. Set once again to unfold across Fortitude Valley, Magandjin, from 1–4 September 2026, the event arrives with a sense of scale that feels both earned and expansive. What began as a showcase has long since evolved into a cultural meeting point, where careers are shaped in real time and the future of the region’s sound is quietly, and sometimes explosively, set in motion.
This year’s BIGSOUND 100 underscores that legacy with intent. Carefully curated across three nights and 15 venues, the lineup reads less like a simple bill and more like a cartography of contemporary music-making across the continent. It is, as programmers Casey O’Shaughnessy and Katie Rynne describe it, a cross-section of export-ready talent, though that phrasing scarcely captures the atmosphere these artists collectively conjure when placed in conversation with one another.
BIGSOUND 2026
When: 1 – 4 September
Where: Fortitude Valley Brisbane, QLD
BIGSOUND 100 – FESTIVAL SHOWCASE LINEUP
(Alphabetical Order)
AKOSIA
Ally Row
And Beyond
Any Young Mechanic
BALA RONTU
belac
Betty
Birdland
blinder
blue diner.
Blush’ko and The Lazy Boys
CATPISS
Clancy
Daily J
DC Maxwell
DeepFaith
Denvah
Deva Mahal
Divers
Djawarray and Mayi Wunba Dancers
dœgægé
DRIZZZ
Dugong Jr
Dumbhead
eli wan
Erika Ever
Fletcher Kent
Gloam
Grace Chia
Greatsouth
HARLEY GIRL
Hayley Jensen
Indigo Blaze
Jaal
Jack Botts
JALMAR
Jem Cassar-Daley
Jett Blyton
JIMI THE KWEEN
JJ Vacant
Kaikobad
Kidskin
Kiz
koady
Kyla Belle
L.O.W
Ladyhawke
LamBros.
Lara Buchanan
Late June
Lazy Haze
Lightyears
LIQUID ZOO
Local the Neighbour
Loosie Grind
Lover
Maybe Hugo
Mertas
Milly Strange
Mim Jensen
MOKOMOKAI
Ngaiire
nightdive
PA777IENCE
PASH
Peach Fuzz
Piper Butcher
Polly
PRETTY BLEAK
Public Figures
Queenie
Ricky Neil Jr.
Rromarin
Ruby Mae
RubyHoo
Salty
Sam Fischer
Say True God?
Scratching
Sidney
Sidney Phillips
Silky Roads
Special Features
Stimpies
SUPERNEW
Sweatbaby
TANISHA
Tear Drive
TEENS
THE BROWNS
The Cheaks
THEADORE
Tori Darke
Toy Shaw
TRAVIS COLLINS
Tusekah
Wild Gloriosa
WIN BIG
Zach Stephenson
Zipporah
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Across genres and geographies, the 2026 edition moves with a fluidity that feels distinctly of the moment. Neo-soul luminary Ngaiire returns with new material shaped by distance, ancestry and a sharpened sense of artistic self-determination. Her work continues to sit at the intersection of the personal and the elemental, a reminder that voice alone can carry both history and horizon.
Jem Cassar-Daley, meanwhile, extends a trajectory that has been building with quiet certainty since her emergence in 2021. Her songwriting, grounded in Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung identity, carries a warmth that resists simplification. There is a clarity in her performance style that suggests not just technical assurance but an instinct for storytelling that feels lived rather than constructed.
Elsewhere, Aotearoa’s Daily J bring their sun-warmed blend of indie psych and electronic textures, a sound that feels engineered for late-night immersion. Their ascent has been steady rather than sudden, underpinned by a growing international audience drawn to their ability to dissolve genre into atmosphere. It is music that does not ask for attention so much as gently holds it.
Sam Fischer’s inclusion adds another layer of transnational momentum. Now based between London and global stages, his songwriting sits comfortably within contemporary pop’s emotional register while retaining a distinctly Australian sensibility for narrative detail. Having collaborated with a range of international artists, his presence at BIGSOUND speaks less to emergence and more to continuity, a reminder of how Australian songwriters continue to shape global pop infrastructure from within it.
Ladyhawke brings a different kind of legacy altogether. One of the defining voices of late-2000s indie-pop, her catalogue has always balanced nostalgia with reinvention. At BIGSOUND, she arrives as an artist still in motion, her recent collaborations signalling an ongoing curiosity rather than a settled retrospective arc. Her work continues to trace the evolution of electro-pop across two decades, refracted through personal and sonic reinvention.
Surf-folk storyteller Jack Botts carries a quieter momentum. Emerging from busking circuits along the East Coast, his music retains a conversational intimacy even as his audience has expanded significantly. There is a looseness to his delivery that translates naturally to the stage, where understatement often proves more powerful than spectacle.
Beyond the marquee names, the BIGSOUND 100 thrives in its breadth. From Adelaide’s Any Young Mechanic, whose recent international reception has marked them as one of the country’s most promising exports, to Melbourne’s Public Figures, whose punk-inflected urgency channels a different kind of generational frustration, the lineup reflects a scene in constant motion. Artists such as Akosia, Zach Stephenson, Lara Buchanan and Dugong Jr further expand the palette, moving between pop, electronic, indie and experimental forms with an ease that feels increasingly characteristic of the region’s emerging class.
What binds these disparate voices is less genre than intent. BIGSOUND has always functioned as an ecosystem rather than a stage, and its 25th iteration reinforces that role with clarity. Across four days, Fortitude Valley becomes less a precinct and more a network, where conversations in corridors matter almost as much as performances on stage. Deals are not announced so much as initiated. Collaborations are not launched so much as quietly agreed upon over shared understanding.
This year’s broader conference theme, Creativity in Conversation, reflects that ethos. Alongside the showcase program, Artist In Conversation sessions bring together figures such as Stu Mackenzie and Lucas Harwood of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Julia Jacklin, and Trials, each offering different entry points into the creative process. Their inclusion signals a widening of focus, where music is not only performed but examined, dissected and reimagined in dialogue with peers and audiences.
International industry representation from labels, festivals and platforms including Partisan Records, Pitchfork and Bonnaroo further situates BIGSOUND within a global framework. Yet even with this outward-facing ambition, the event retains a distinctly local pulse. It remains grounded in Queensland’s cultural infrastructure, supported by Arts Queensland, Tourism and Events Queensland, and Creative Australia, while continuing to serve as a proving ground for artists at pivotal moments in their development.
Economically and culturally, its impact is difficult to ignore. With millions generated for the state and thousands of delegates converging on Brisbane each year, BIGSOUND operates as both industry engine and cultural barometer. But its true significance is harder to quantify. It lies in the intangible shift that occurs when an artist moves from emerging to undeniable, often within the span of a single performance.
As the program edges closer to full reveal, anticipation builds not around spectacle alone, but around possibility. BIGSOUND has never been simply about who is playing. It is about what happens next.
Tickets are one sale now. All ticketing information can be found here.
