Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027

Paul Kelly has not announced a tour of Australia or New Zealand for 2027. As of 9 October 2026 there are no 2027 dates, venues or on-sale details. That is not a sign that he has stopped: few Australian artists play at home as often, and in 2026 alone he headlined the Red Hot Summer Tour from January to May and played two intimate shows at the end of August, at the Potts Point Hotel in Sydney on Sunday 30 August and Lefty's Music Hall in Brisbane on Monday 31 August.

The year before was one of the biggest of his career. In August and September 2025 the Fever Longing Still tour took him into arenas around the country, from RAC Arena in Perth to two nights at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, then on to Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, with Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit and Fanny Lumsden on the bill.

This page explains what is and is not known about Paul Kelly's plans for 2027 and tells the story of five decades of concerts in Australia and New Zealand: from a folk club in Hobart in 1974 to the A to Z shows, the Christmas-season Making Gravy concerts, the regional summer tours and the arena run of 2025.

Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027: what is announced so far

There is no official Paul Kelly tour of Australia or New Zealand in 2027 yet. No headline tour, festival booking or one-off concert for 2027 has been published as of 9 October 2026, so any list of 2027 dates or a 'presale code' for them is not official.

What is known is what he has been doing most recently. His 2026 started with the Red Hot Summer Tour, the travelling outdoor series he headlined with an all-Australian line-up including Missy Higgins and The Cruel Sea, at venues such as Mackay Park in Batemans Bay, Werribee Park, Bella Vista Farm in Sydney, Country Club Tasmania in Launceston and the Sandstone Point Hotel at Moreton Bay. In August 2026 the Sydney and Brisbane shows celebrated a deluxe edition of his album Seventy, with his nephew Dan Kelly alongside him; the Potts Point Hotel show also marked a new mural of Kelly on the hotel's wall.

Paul Kelly's touring pattern has been steady for years: a major tour roughly every year or two, often built around a new album, plus summer outdoor shows, festival slots and special one-offs. That history is not an announcement, and nothing about 2027 should be assumed until dates are published.

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Before the Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027: Australia/NZ concert history

Paul Kelly grew up in Adelaide and first performed in public in mid-1974 at a folk club at Salamanca Place in Hobart, singing Bob Dylan's 'Girl from the North Country' and the traditional 'Streets of Forbes'. He settled in Melbourne in 1976 and spent the late 1970s and early 1980s in the city's pub rock scene with the Dots, before moving to Sydney by 1985, where he formed Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, later known as the Messengers. In March 2001 he supported Bob Dylan on his Australian tour.

In December 2004 in Melbourne he began the A to Z shows, performing 100 of his songs in alphabetical order over consecutive nights. He took the format to the Brisbane Powerhouse, the Spiegeltent in Melbourne and four nights at the Sydney Opera House in late 2006, and again on the A to Z Shows of 2010-11, which included four nights at the Auckland Town Hall from Wednesday 16 to Saturday 19 March 2011, alongside his memoir How to Make Gravy.

Big moments in Melbourne punctuate his story. On 26 March 2006 he sang 'Leaps and Bounds' and 'Rally Round the Drum' at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, on 14 March 2009 he played Sound Relief at the MCG, and on Saturday 29 September 2012 he performed 'How to Make Gravy' and 'Leaps and Bounds' before the AFL Grand Final. In early 2009 he supported Leonard Cohen on Cohen's first Australian tour in 24 years, and in February and March 2013 he toured Australia with Neil Finn.

The recent archive is dense. In March and April 2022 the On the Road Again tour visited small towns and regional centres: Meeniyan Town Hall, Club Sapphire Merimbula, Bathurst, three nights at Anita's Theatre in Wollongong, Newcastle's Civic Theatre, Forster, Tamworth Town Hall, the Hoey Moey in Coffs Harbour, Yamba, Byron Bay and Geelong's Costa Hall. In May 2022 he played four nights on the Northern Broadwalk in Sydney with Time and Tide: Four Decades of Song, and on Friday 9 December 2022 a 29-song Making Gravy show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

From January to May 2023 he played a long series of outdoor shows, from Mornington Racecourse and Seppeltsfield to Fremantle Prison, the Old Mount Gambier Gaol, Toowoomba's Queens Park, the Darwin Botanic Gardens, Cairns Showgrounds and Mackay's Great Barrier Reef Arena on 20 May. Later that year came seated concerts at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Sydney Town Hall and the Princess Theatre in Brisbane, and in February 2024 two nights at the Odeon Theatre in Hobart and the Perth Concert Hall.

The Fever Longing Still tour of 2025 was billed as his biggest Australian run: RAC Arena in Perth, the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, MyState Bank Arena in Hobart, the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and two nights at Rod Laver Arena on 6 and 7 September 2025. In November 2025 he played a small Down on the Corner show at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, then came Red Hot Summer in early 2026 and the Seventy shows in August 2026.

The table below lists 131 documented Australia/NZ concerts by Paul Kelly between 2002 and 2026, with the most shows in Auckland (20), Melbourne (12), Sydney (11), Brisbane (5), Christchurch (5), Hobart (5). It is not exhaustive: it only includes documented shows.

Concert data: setlist.fm

Paul Kelly 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 (6 September 2025 to 31 August 2026), these are the songs that came up most often. Titles only — set lists change from night to night.

1. Before Too Long — played at 15 of 15 shows
2. Deeper Water — played at 15 of 15 shows
3. Dumb Things — played at 15 of 15 shows
4. How to Make Gravy — played at 15 of 15 shows
5. Leaps and Bounds — played at 15 of 15 shows
6. Rita Wrote a Letter — played at 15 of 15 shows
7. To Her Door — played at 15 of 15 shows
8. From St Kilda to Kings Cross — played at 14 of 15 shows
9. From Little Things Big Things Grow — played at 13 of 15 shows
10. Careless — played at 12 of 15 shows
11. Firewood and Candles — played at 12 of 15 shows
12. Going to the River With Dad — played at 12 of 15 shows
13. Meet Me in the Middle of the Air — played at 12 of 15 shows
14. Every Day My Mother's Voice — played at 11 of 15 shows

Before the Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027: past Australia/NZ tours at a glance

• Down on the Corner 2025 (2025): 1 Australia/NZ show — Melbourne.
• Fever Longing Still (2025): 10 Australia/NZ shows — Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart, Adelaide, Melbourne, Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland.
• Fever Sessions (2024): 2 Australia/NZ shows — Sydney, Brisbane.
• Making Gravy Tour (2022): 1 Australia/NZ show — Melbourne.
• On the Road Again (2022): 13 Australia/NZ shows — Meeniyan, Merimbula, Bathurst, Wollongong, Newcastle, Forster, Tamworth, Coffs Harbour, Yamba, Byron Bay, Geelong.
• Life Is Fine (2017): 3 Australia/NZ shows — Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland.
• Merri Soul Sessions (2015): 1 Australia/NZ show — Auckland.
• Spring and Fall (2013): 5 Australia/NZ shows — Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland.
• The A to Z Shows 2010/11 (2011): 4 Australia/NZ shows — Auckland.
• Leonard Cohen Tour 2008-2010 (2009): 1 Australia/NZ show — Auckland.

Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027 and Australia/NZ festivals

Paul Kelly has played many of Australia's major festivals. He made his first Big Day Out appearances in early 2008, including Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland on Friday 18 January 2008; he played Splendour in the Grass in July 2010 and Bluesfest in Byron Bay in April 2011. On 14 March 2009 he was part of Sound Relief at the MCG, the benefit for victims of the Black Saturday bushfires.

In 2026 he headlined the Red Hot Summer Tour, the touring outdoor event that moves between racecourses, wineries, parks and showgrounds. The setlist archive lists his 2026 outdoor dates at Batemans Bay, Warrnambool Racecourse, Speers Point Park in Newcastle, Westport Park in Port Macquarie, Broadwater Parklands on the Gold Coast, Werribee Park, Berry Showground, Bella Vista Farm, Gateway Lakes in Wodonga, Launceston, Bendigo Jockey Club, Kent Reserve in Victor Harbor, Mornington Racecourse, Seafront Oval in Hervey Bay, Lazy River Estate in Dubbo, Whitfords Nodes Park in Perth and the Sandstone Point Hotel on Saturday 23 May 2026.

Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027: career and records

Paul Maurice Kelly was born on 13 January 1955 in Adelaide. After travelling around Australia he settled in Melbourne in 1976 and recorded two albums with the Dots, Talk (1981) and Manila (1982). In Sydney he formed the Coloured Girls, renamed the Messengers for international releases, and made Gossip (1986), Under the Sun (1987), So Much Water So Close to Home (1989) and Comedy (1991).

His Top 40 singles include 'Before Too Long', 'Darling It Hurts', 'To Her Door', his highest-charting single in 1987, and 'Dumb Things', which also charted in the United States. 'To Her Door' and 'Treaty', which he co-wrote with Yothu Yindi, were named by APRA in 2001 among the top 30 Australian songs of all time. He has written several songs about Indigenous Australian history and issues, notably 'From Little Things Big Things Grow' with Kev Carmody.

Kelly's range runs from bluegrass on Smoke (1999) with Uncle Bill to soul on The Merri Soul Sessions (2014) and poetry on Seven Sonnets and a Song (2016). Life Is Fine (2017) was his first No. 1 album in Australia, followed by Nature (2018) and Paul Kelly's Christmas Train (2021). He has also written for other artists, and the 2002 tribute Women at the Well featured 14 female singers performing his songs.

He has won 14 ARIA Music Awards and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2010 he published the memoir How to Make Gravy, a film about him, Paul Kelly: Stories of Me, was released in 2012, and in 2017 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. He lives in St Kilda in Melbourne.

Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027: the Making Gravy tradition

'How to Make Gravy', written as a letter from a prisoner missing his family's Christmas on 21 December, has become one of Australia's best-loved Christmas songs, and it is the most played song in Kelly's Australian and New Zealand setlist archive. He has built a run of end-of-year concerts around it.

The Making Gravy show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Friday 9 December 2022 ran to 29 songs, mixing his catalogue with Christmas songs from Paul Kelly's Christmas Train such as 'Maybe This Christmas', 'Silent Night' and 'Christmas', and ending with 'Darling It Hurts' and 'Save the Last Dance for Me'. On Christmas Eve 2023 he was back at the Bowl to sing 'Silent Night' and 'How to Make Gravy'.

Whether there will be Christmas-season shows in late 2026 or 2027 has not been announced.

Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027: touring the regions

No major Australian artist covers the map like Paul Kelly. The 2022 On the Road Again tour went to Meeniyan, Merimbula, Bathurst, Forster, Tamworth, Coffs Harbour, Yamba and Byron Bay. The 2023 outdoor run took in Mildura, Ballarat, Mount Gambier, Mannum, Seppeltsfield, Toowoomba, Darwin, Cairns and Mackay. The 2026 Red Hot Summer Tour added Warrnambool, Wodonga, Hervey Bay, Dubbo and Victor Harbor.

Several of those venues are unusual: Fremantle Prison, the Old Mount Gambier Gaol, wineries such as Sandalford and Roche Estate, racecourses and showgrounds. For fans outside the capitals, he has been one of the few headliners to come to them.

No 2027 regional dates have been announced as of 9 October 2026.

Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027: Auckland and New Zealand

New Zealand has been a regular stop for Kelly for more than two decades. In December 2002 he toured the country from Dunedin's Regent Theatre to Christchurch Town Hall, Nelson, the State Opera House in Wellington, Palmerston North, Napier, two nights at Baycourt in Tauranga, Hamilton's Founders Theatre, the Civic in Auckland and Forum North in Whangarei on Sunday 22 December 2002.

Later visits included a 2004 tour of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch; a run at Auckland's TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre in July 2009; the A to Z nights at Auckland Town Hall in 2011; church shows in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland on the Spring and Fall tour of March 2013; the Powerstation in April 2015; the Life Is Fine tour in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland in late 2017; and a show at the Hollywood Cinema in Auckland in March 2024.

His most recent New Zealand dates were on the Fever Longing Still tour: Christchurch Town Hall on Tuesday 9 September, the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington on 10 September and Auckland Town Hall on Friday 12 September 2025, a 31-song show that closed the tour.

Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027: the arena year of 2025

Fever Longing Still, released in November 2024, led to Kelly's largest Australian tour. Instead of theatres, he booked arenas: RAC Arena in Perth, the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Qudos Bank Arena, MyState Bank Arena in Hobart, the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and Rod Laver Arena, where a second Melbourne night was added.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, the American band, and the country singer Fanny Lumsden joined him. Kelly's sets ran to 26-27 songs in Australia, opening with 'Houndstooth Dress' and 'Firewood and Candles' and closing with 'Leaps and Bounds', 'Darling It Hurts' and 'Meet Me in the Middle of the Air'.

That tour showed the size of his audience at home. Whether his next tour returns to arenas, theatres or the outdoor circuit has not been announced.

Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027: what to expect live

A Paul Kelly concert usually runs to 20-30 songs and draws on all five decades of his writing. In Melbourne on 7 September 2025 the set included 'Before Too Long', 'Careless', 'Rita Wrote a Letter', 'Love Never Runs on Time', 'Sonnet 18', 'From St Kilda to Kings Cross', 'To Her Door', 'Deeper Water', 'Dumb Things', 'How to Make Gravy', 'From Little Things Big Things Grow' and 'Leaps and Bounds'.

His most recent shows, at the Potts Point Hotel and Lefty's Music Hall in August 2026, opened with 'I Will Always Love You' and the two parts of 'Tell Us a Story', and included 'Stardust' from the Seventy deluxe edition, 'Northern Rivers', 'Harpoon to the Heart' and 'Take It Handy' before the usual late run of 'Dumb Things', 'To Her Door', 'How to Make Gravy' and 'Leaps and Bounds'.

Across all his Australian and New Zealand shows in the archive, the most played songs are 'How to Make Gravy', 'To Her Door', 'Deeper Water', 'Leaps and Bounds', 'Dumb Things', 'Before Too Long' and 'From Little Things Big Things Grow'. Formats vary widely: full band in arenas and outdoor shows, duo or small-group sets in pubs and clubs, and themed concerts such as the A to Z shows and Making Gravy.

Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027 tickets and presales

There are no Paul Kelly tickets on sale for 2027 in Australia or New Zealand, because no 2027 concerts have been announced. No presale or on-sale date exists yet.

For his recent tours, tickets were sold through the official agents of each venue or event, sometimes with a presale for his mailing list before the general sale; small shows such as the August 2026 pub dates can sell out very quickly. Buy only from official outlets or the venue box office, expect name-locked mobile tickets for arena shows, and be careful with fake 'presale codes'.

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Paul Kelly Australia Tour 2027: questions and answers

Is Paul Kelly touring Australia in 2027?

Nothing is announced as of 9 October 2026. There are no 2027 dates in Australia or New Zealand yet.

When did Paul Kelly last play live?

At Lefty's Music Hall in Brisbane on Monday 31 August 2026, the night after the Potts Point Hotel in Sydney, both celebrating the deluxe edition of Seventy.

Did Paul Kelly headline Red Hot Summer 2026?

Yes. He headlined the 2026 Red Hot Summer Tour, which ran from January to May 2026 across regional and city venues.

When was his last arena tour?

The Fever Longing Still tour of August-September 2025, with arenas in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Hobart, Adelaide and two nights at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

When did Paul Kelly last play New Zealand?

Auckland Town Hall on 12 September 2025, after Christchurch and Wellington, at the end of the Fever Longing Still tour.

What are the A to Z shows?

Concerts in which he played 100 of his songs in alphabetical order over several nights, first in Melbourne in 2004 and later in Brisbane, Sydney and Auckland.

What song does Paul Kelly play most often?

'How to Make Gravy' is the most played song in his Australian and New Zealand setlist archive, ahead of 'To Her Door' and 'Deeper Water'.

Has Paul Kelly played the AFL Grand Final?

Yes, he performed 'How to Make Gravy' and 'Leaps and Bounds' before the 2012 Grand Final at the MCG.

Are there presale codes for Paul Kelly 2027?

No. No 2027 tour has been announced, so there is no presale. Sign up for the alert to be told when dates are confirmed.