Australian Crawl reform for Red Hot Summer Tour

Australian Crawl, Men at Work, Bird of Tokyo, Vika & Linda, Eskimo Joe, Boom Crash Orchestra, and Ella Hooper get together for a sizzling tour.

The Red Hot Summer Tour is set to make history in 2026, assembling one of its most ambitious line-ups to date, headlined by a landmark moment decades in the making. For the first time in 40 years, Australian Crawl will return to the stage in a configuration that brings three original members together, sharing the spotlight with none other than Men At Work, in a celebration of Australian music that spans eras, coastlines and cultural memory.

RED HOT SUMMER TOUR DATES 2026:

Saturday 17 October – Queens Park, Toowoomba QLD

Sunday 18 October – Sandstone Point Hotel, Sandstone Point QLD

Saturday 24 October – Berry Showground, Berry NSW

Sunday 25 October – Keirle Park, Manly NSW

Saturday 31 October – Roche Estate, Hunter Valley NSW

Sunday 1 November – Coolangatta Beach, Coolangatta QLD

Saturday 7 November – Victoria Park, Ballarat VIC

Sunday 8 November – Mornington Racecourse, Mornington VIC

Saturday 14 November – Sandalford Wines, Swan Valley WA

Sunday 15 November – Glenelg Beach, Glenelg SA

Keep connected to your live music scene here.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Red Hot Summer Tour Official (@redhotsummertour)

Across a sprawling national run, the tour will bring together generations of songwriters and performers whose work has long since moved beyond radio rotation and into the collective Australian psyche. From coastal anthems to pub-rock staples and chart-dominating rock radio favourites, this is a bill designed less as nostalgia and more as living catalogue, still in motion.

At the centre of the announcement is the long-awaited return of Australian Crawl in a form not seen since their mid-1980s heyday. James Reyne, Simon Binks and David Reyne will reunite on stage, joined by a formidable ensemble including John Watson (’83–’86), Brett Kingman, Josh Owen, Andrew McIvor, Sean Johnson, Melinda Jackson and Nicole Kurta. In a career that burned brightly between 1978 and 1986, Australian Crawl carved out a distinctly Australian lexicon of storytelling, surf-lit imagery and sharply observed vignettes of youth and excess.

James Reyne reflects on the band’s beginnings with characteristic wryness. “We ran our own shows on the Pen and a following grew. One can only shake one’s head at the sometimes wonderful inventions of folly in all its guises and forms for the trip was a blast; such fun and high spirits were had that upon return we decided we should perhaps give this thing a year, before we returned to our studies; just to see what happens. What a ride.”

Simon Binks, meanwhile, frames the reunion with a sense of both disbelief and gratitude. “I’m looking forward to this upcoming celebration of Australian Crawl. Who would have thought that this far down the track three original members would be sharing the same stage once again.”

David Reyne adds a more cinematic recollection of the band’s origins, recalling sunburnt gigs, borrowed Holdens and a coastline soundtracked by youthful abandon. “It was a riot. Each night a howling, joyous, sunburnt shindig. Australian Crawl was born. What a delight it will be to do it all again.”

Sharing headline duties are Men At Work, whose global ascent in the early 1980s turned Australian rock into an international export story. With hits such as Down Under, Who Can It Be Now? and Be Good Johnny, the band became synonymous with a moment when Australian music broke decisively into the global mainstream, culminating in Grammy-winning, multi-platinum success.

Frontman Colin Hay reflects on that era with a mix of humour and distance. “The first two Men At Work records went crazy,” he says. “And when you have success like that, the dust never really settles. I learned only through time and experience, not to compete with my past, but embrace it.”

Today, Hay continues to tour extensively, including his work with Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band, while also performing under the Men At Work banner with a Los Angeles-based ensemble. For this tour, he describes returning to Australia as a full-circle moment, revisiting songs that have outlived their original context to become part of the country’s cultural fabric.

The line-up extends well beyond legacy acts. Birds of Tokyo bring their stadium-sized modern rock catalogue, including ARIA chart-topping albums and a run of anthems that have become fixtures of national airwaves and festival stages. Their evolution from Perth independents to one of Australia’s most consistent live draws underscores the tour’s generational scope.

Also appearing are Vika & Linda, whose harmonies have long been regarded as among the most powerful in Australian music. With a career spanning collaborations with The Black Sorrows, Paul Kelly and Kasey Chambers, alongside ARIA Hall of Fame recognition and OAM honours, their inclusion brings a soulful weight and vocal richness to the bill. Their recent work continues a late-career renaissance, with songwriting stepping further into the foreground than ever before.

Eskimo Joe arrive with nearly three decades of consistent relevance, from ARIA Award wins to enduring radio staples and a reputation as one of the country’s most dependable live bands. Their catalogue, anchored by songs such as Black Fingernails, Red Wine, continues to bridge alternative rock and mainstream appeal with unbroken momentum.

Boom Crash Opera add a catalogue of instantly recognisable anthems that helped define late-80s and 90s Australian rock, from Great Wall to Dancing in the Storm. Their enduring appeal lies in a balance of theatricality and immediacy, a sound built for festival fields and communal singalongs.

Completing the line-up is Ella Hooper, whose evolution from Killing Heidi frontwoman to solo artist and media presence has marked her as one of Australia’s most versatile performers. Her current Americana-leaning direction adds an unexpected tonal shift to the tour’s otherwise rock-heavy palette, underscoring its breadth.

Across ten dates nationwide, Red Hot Summer Tour 2026 shapes as more than a festival run. It reads as a cross-generational gathering of Australian songwriting, where legacy and longevity meet contemporary reinvention, and where decades of music history converge under open skies.