Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027

Bernard Fanning has not announced any solo concerts in Australia or New Zealand for 2027. As of 9 October 2026, the news that matters for his fans is a different one: on that day Powderfinger, the Brisbane band he fronted from 1989 until their split in 2010, announced in a video that they are reforming, with a national Australian tour starting in September 2027.

The Powderfinger tour dates were announced on Monday 12 October 2026: Powderfinger Live 2027, 18 shows from 3 September to 30 October 2027 in Brisbane, Cairns, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. Support acts have not been named yet. What is certain is that 2027 will be Fanning's first year on the road with Powderfinger since the Sunsets Farewell Tour, which ended at the Riverstage in Brisbane on 13 November 2010.

Fanning has hardly been idle since then. His most recent solo run, the Tea & Sympathy 20th Anniversary Tour, began at the Concert Hall in Brisbane on 31 October 2025, twenty years to the day after the album's release, and ended at HOTA on the Gold Coast on 28 March 2026. This page covers what is and is not known about 2027 and gives a full account of his solo concerts in Australia and New Zealand.

Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027: what is announced so far

There is no official information about a Bernard Fanning solo tour in 2027. His last solo shows were the Tea & Sympathy 20th Anniversary dates of late 2025 and early 2026, and no new solo album or solo concert has been announced since.

The 2027 story is Powderfinger. The reunion was announced on 9 October 2026 with all five members of the classic line-up: Fanning, Ian Haug, Darren Middleton, John Collins and Jon Coghill. The band have said the national tour starts in September 2027, and the dates followed on Monday 12 October 2026: Brisbane Showgrounds, Cazalys Stadium in Cairns, Wellington Square in Perth, The Domain in Sydney, Ellis Park in Adelaide and Melbourne Park Oval. The Powderfinger box at the top of this page links to our dedicated Powderfinger page with every date.

For context, the last Powderfinger tour, Sunsets Farewell in 2010, ran from the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on 1 September to the Riverstage in Brisbane on 13 November and visited arenas and outdoor venues across the country, including Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne and three nights at Sydney's Acer Arena. It sold around 250,000 tickets. Whether 2027 follows a similar pattern is something only Monday's announcement will tell.

New Zealand fans should note that the reunion has so far been described as a national Australian tour. Nothing has been said about New Zealand, and Fanning's own New Zealand visits have been rare: the setlist archive has a solo show in Wellington in May 2006 and one at the Powerstation in Auckland in August 2013.

Before the Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027: Australia/NZ concert history

Fanning's first solo tour came straight after his debut album. Tea & Sympathy was released on 31 October 2005, and on 2 December 2005 he announced the Which Way Home tour, seven shows in the major capital cities between 25 February and 10 March 2006, with Perth band The Panics and Brisbane singer Andrew Morris as support. It was followed later in 2006 by the Yesterday's Gone tour. The setlist archive also has him at the San Francisco Bath House in Wellington on 4 May 2006, his first solo show in New Zealand.

After Powderfinger's split, Fanning returned with Departures in 2013 and played the Powerstation in Auckland on 30 August 2013. Civil Dusk (2016) and Brutal Dawn (2017) brought his busiest solo years: the Civil Dusk Tour began with two nights at The Tivoli in Brisbane on 10 and 11 November 2016 and the Great Northern Hotel in Byron Bay, and in February 2017 the Sooner or Later Tour went deep into regional Australia, from West Tamworth Leagues Club on 26 January to Orange, Albury, Shepparton, the Ulumbarra Theatre in Bendigo, Lake Wendouree in Ballarat, the Canberra Theatre, Anita's Theatre in Wollongong, the Empire Theatre in Toowoomba and the Saraton Theatre in Grafton.

The Brutal Dawn tour of October and November 2017 went the other way, into small rooms for multiple nights: two at The Governor Hindmarsh Hotel in Adelaide, four shows in Perth (three at the Rosemount Hotel), four nights at The Triffid in Brisbane, two at the Croxton Park Hotel in Melbourne, three at The Factory Theatre in Sydney, the Great Northern in Byron Bay and the Granada Tavern in Hobart on 24 November 2017.

From 2020 he moved into bigger outdoor settings. The archive has shows at Taronga Zoo in Sydney on 14 February 2020, Sandstone Point Hotel in Moreton Bay in November 2020, Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on 5 December 2020, Bonython Park in Adelaide in January 2021 and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne on 27 February 2021, alongside two nights at The Triffid and two at the Cairns Performing Arts Centre in February 2021.

In early 2023 he played a long outdoor run through regional Australia: Mornington Racecourse, Seppeltsfield in the Barossa, Berry Showground, the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in Hobart, Mildura, Victor Harbor, the Old Mount Gambier Gaol, Sandalford Winery in Perth, Roche Estate in the Hunter Valley, Queens Park in Toowoomba, Broadwater Parklands on the Gold Coast, two nights at Sandstone Point, the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens, Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay on 20 May 2023.

The Tea & Sympathy 20th Anniversary Tour began at the Concert Hall in Brisbane on 31 October 2025 and resumed in February 2026 with the State Theatre in Sydney (25 February), the Thebarton Theatre, Kings Park in Perth, two nights at the Kings Theatre in Caloundra and two in Cairns. March 2026 brought two nights at Fortitude Music Hall and a South Bank show in Brisbane, the Newcastle Civic Theatre, two more State Theatre nights, Anita's Theatre, the Canberra Theatre, the Forum and the Palais in Melbourne, and a final night at HOTA on the Gold Coast on 28 March 2026.

The table below lists 100 documented Australia/NZ concerts by Bernard Fanning between 2006 and 2026, with the most shows in Brisbane (13), Sydney (10), Perth (7), Melbourne (6), Cairns (5), Adelaide (5). It is not exhaustive: it only includes documented shows.

Concert data: setlist.fm

Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027 setlist: the songs played most often in Australia and New Zealand

Across the 15 most recent documented Australia/NZ concerts with a full song list (28 October 2023 to 28 March 2026), these are the songs that came up most often. Titles only — set lists change from night to night.

1. Hope & Validation — played at 15 of 15 shows
2. Sleeping Rough — played at 15 of 15 shows
3. Songbird — played at 15 of 15 shows
4. Wish You Well — played at 15 of 15 shows
5. Yesterday's Gone — played at 15 of 15 shows
6. Down to the River — played at 14 of 15 shows
7. Further Down the Road — played at 14 of 15 shows
8. Not Finished Just Yet — played at 14 of 15 shows
9. The Strangest Thing — played at 14 of 15 shows
10. Thrill Is Gone — played at 14 of 15 shows
11. Watch Over Me — played at 14 of 15 shows
12. Believe — played at 13 of 15 shows
13. For You and I — played at 13 of 15 shows
14. Steady Job — played at 13 of 15 shows

Before the Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027: past Australia/NZ tours at a glance

• Tea & Sympathy 20th Anniversary Tour (2025–2026): 19 Australia/NZ shows — Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Caloundra, Cairns, Newcastle, Wollongong, Canberra, Melbourne, Gold Coast.
• Brutal Dawn (2017–2018): 18 Australia/NZ shows — Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Byron Bay, Hobart, Wollongong.
• Sooner Or Later Tour (2017): 10 Australia/NZ shows — Tamworth, Orange, Albury, Shepparton, Bendigo, Ballarat, Canberra, Wollongong, Toowoomba, Grafton.
• Civil Dusk Tour (2016): 3 Australia/NZ shows — Brisbane, Byron Bay.
• Departures (2013): 1 Australia/NZ show — Auckland.

Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027 and Australia/NZ festivals

The setlist archive shows Fanning on several Australian festival bills. Over New Year 2016-17 he played the Falls Festival sites at Lorne (30 December 2016) and Marion Bay in Tasmania (31 December 2016), then North Byron Parklands on 2 January 2017. He was back at North Byron Parklands on 22 July 2017, and played the festival site at Queenscliff on 25 November 2017, a short set of 'Already Gone', 'These Days' and 'Which Way Home?'.

Other outdoor appearances include Stuart Park in Wollongong in March 2018, Cottesloe Beach in Perth in April 2018 and Rymill and King Rodney Parks in Adelaide on 28 October 2023.

Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027: career and records

Bernard Joseph Fanning was born on 15 August 1969 in Brisbane and grew up in Toowong, where his mother taught him piano. He met guitarist Ian Haug in an economics class at the University of Queensland in 1989 and became the singer of Powderfinger, which Haug had formed with John Collins and Steven Bishop. With Jon Coghill on drums and Darren Middleton joining in 1992, the line-up stayed unchanged until the end.

Through the late 1990s Powderfinger became one of the biggest bands in Australia, with highly successful record and concert ticket sales. During a hiatus in 2005 Fanning released his debut solo album, Tea & Sympathy, a blend of blues and acoustic folk recorded mostly at Real World Studios with Tchad Blake. It debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA chart and stayed 58 weeks in the top 50; 'Wish You Well' was voted No. 1 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2005 and won the ARIA for Best Video.

Powderfinger reunited in 2007 for Dream Days at the Hotel Existence, another No. 1, and toured Australia and New Zealand with Silverchair on the Across the Great Divide tour to support Reconciliation Australia, before splitting in 2010. Fanning then spent 18 months in Madrid with his family, wrote Departures (2013), and returned to Brisbane. Civil Dusk (2016) and Brutal Dawn (2017) were conceived as a pair.

In 2024 he formed Fanning Dempsey National Park with Paul Dempsey; their album The Deluge came out on 2 August 2024. Fanning has long spoken out on political issues and advocates for Aboriginal justice in Australia. In October 2026 Powderfinger announced their reunion for 2027.

Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027: the Powderfinger reunion

The announcement of 9 October 2026 ends sixteen years of Powderfinger silence on stage, apart from the virtual One Night Lonely concert streamed in 2020. The five members confirmed the reunion in a video, and the band have said a national Australian tour will begin in September 2027.

Dates, venues and ticketing were published on Monday 12 October 2026: presales from Wednesday 14 October 2026 and the general on-sale on Monday 19 October 2026 through Ticketmaster. Be careful with 'presale codes' circulating online. Our Powderfinger page, linked at the top of this page, carries the official details and offers a free alert.

Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027: Brisbane, home town

Brisbane has had more Fanning shows than any other city in the archive. He has played The Tivoli, The Triffid (four nights in October 2017 and two in February 2021), Fortitude Music Hall, the ABC Studios, the South Bank Cultural Forecourt and the Concert Hall, where the Tea & Sympathy anniversary tour began on 31 October 2025.

The city is also where Powderfinger said goodbye: the Sunsets Farewell Tour ended at the Riverstage on 13 November 2010. The song 'Departures (Blue Toowong Skies)' names Toowong, the inner Brisbane suburb where he grew up.

Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027: touring the regions

Few Australian songwriters of his stature have spent as much time in regional towns. The 2017 Sooner or Later Tour played Tamworth, Orange, Albury, Shepparton, Bendigo, Ballarat, Wollongong, Toowoomba and Grafton, and the 2023 outdoor run reached Mildura, Mount Gambier, Victor Harbor, Port Macquarie, Wodonga, Darwin, Cairns and Mackay.

Cairns in particular keeps coming back: two nights at the Cairns Performing Arts Centre in February 2021, the Cairns Showgrounds in May 2023 and two more nights at the Performing Arts Centre in March 2026.

Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027: what to expect live

On the Tea & Sympathy 20th Anniversary Tour, Fanning played the album from start to finish, opening with 'Down to the River' and 'Thrill Is Gone', then 'Hope & Validation', 'Wash Me Clean', 'Not Finished Just Yet' and 'Songbird', through to 'Watch Over Me' and 'Yesterday's Gone'. The encores changed from night to night, with covers such as 'Beware of Darkness', 'Hey, Hey, What Can I Do', 'Fire and Rain', 'Dead Flowers' and 'Kathy's Song', and every logged show ended with 'Sleeping Rough' and 'Wish You Well'. Sets ran to 17-19 songs.

His earlier solo tours mixed albums more freely. The 2020 Qudos Bank Arena show included the Powderfinger songs 'Sunsets' and 'These Days' alongside 'Fighting for Air', 'Wasting Time', 'Shed My Skin' and 'Departures (Blue Toowong Skies)', and the 2017 Factory Theatre set ended with 'Which Way Home?' running into snatches of 'Iron Man', 'War Pigs' and 'Fame'.

Across all logged Australian shows, his most played songs are 'Wish You Well', 'Songbird', 'Which Way Home?', 'Hope & Validation' and 'Not Finished Just Yet'. A Powderfinger set list in 2027 will of course be a different matter, drawn from the band's catalogue.

Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027 tickets and presales

There are no Bernard Fanning solo tickets on sale for 2027, and no presale or on-sale date has been announced. For Powderfinger, presales start on Wednesday 14 October 2026 and the general on-sale is Monday 19 October 2026 through Ticketmaster (local time in each city).

When tickets do go on sale, buy only through the official ticket agency named in the announcement, the venues' box offices or the fan club. Most Australian tours now use name-locked mobile tickets, so buy through the official outlet or its official resale service to make sure the ticket is in your name. Ignore anyone selling 'presale codes' before the official details are out.

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Bernard Fanning Australia Tour 2027: questions and answers

Is Bernard Fanning touring Australia in 2027?

Not as a solo artist so far. As of 9 October 2026 the announced plan is a Powderfinger reunion tour of Australia starting in September 2027.

When will the Powderfinger dates be announced?

They were announced on Monday 12 October 2026: 18 shows in Brisbane, Cairns, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne, September–October 2027.

Will Powderfinger play New Zealand?

Nothing has been announced. The reunion has been described as a national Australian tour.

When was Powderfinger's last tour?

The Sunsets Farewell Tour of 2010, from the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on 1 September to the Riverstage in Brisbane on 13 November 2010.

When did Bernard Fanning last tour solo?

On the Tea & Sympathy 20th Anniversary Tour, from the Concert Hall in Brisbane on 31 October 2025 to HOTA on the Gold Coast on 28 March 2026.

Has Bernard Fanning played New Zealand?

The setlist archive has two solo shows: the San Francisco Bath House in Wellington in May 2006 and the Powerstation in Auckland on 30 August 2013.

Which songs did he play in 2026?

The whole of Tea & Sympathy, plus covers in the encore, ending with 'Sleeping Rough' and 'Wish You Well'.

Are there presale codes for Powderfinger?

Powderfinger presales open on Wednesday 14 October 2026 (Telstra Plus and artist presale, then Live Nation on Friday 16 October); general on-sale is Monday 19 October 2026. Sign up for our alert.