The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027

The Cat Empire's only announced Australian concert for 2027 is a big one at home. The Orchestra Encore tour, which began at the Sydney Opera House in August 2026, is due to end at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne on 16 January 2027, with Orchestra Victoria, the Gondwana National Choirs and the flamenco group Arte Kanela. As of 9 October 2026 no other Cat Empire shows in Australia or New Zealand have been announced for 2027.

The Melbourne date closes a circle. In 2024 the band's first orchestral tour played Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart and Adelaide, but the Melbourne leg was postponed indefinitely in August that year, in solidarity with the pianist Jayson Gillham after his performances were cancelled. The Orchestra Encore tour returns to the idea with symphony orchestras in each city, and the Music Bowl, where the band have played some of their most important nights, is its final stop.

This page sets out what is and is not known about The Cat Empire in 2027 and tells the story of their concerts in Australia and New Zealand, from the Melbourne jazz clubs where they started in 1999 to the farewell of the original line-up at Bluesfest in 2022 and the orchestral nights of 2024 and 2026.

The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027: what is announced so far

The Orchestra Encore tour was put on sale on Tuesday 14 April 2026. Its 2026 dates were three nights at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from Thursday 27 to Saturday 29 August, two at Llewellyn Hall in Canberra with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra on 4 and 5 September, MyState Bank Arena in Hobart with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra on Friday 25 September, and two nights at the Thebarton Theatre in Adelaide with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 October. The setlist archive also has a show at Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane on 13 September 2026.

The tour then pauses until the Melbourne finale on 16 January 2027 at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, an open-air summer concert with Orchestra Victoria and the Gondwana National Choirs. Arte Kanela, the flamenco collective who have worked with the band for years, also appear. This is the only 2027 date we can confirm, and it is the band's first orchestral show in Melbourne after the postponed 2024 leg.

No other 2027 concerts have been announced in Australia, and there is nothing in New Zealand. In recent years the band have filled the Australian summer with outdoor, winery and racecourse bills, from Speers Point Park in Newcastle to the Mornington Racecourse and Kent Reserve in Victor Harbor in early 2026, but none of those has been announced for 2027 so far. Anything presented as a full Cat Empire 2027 itinerary should be treated with caution.

New Zealand has not seen the band often. The setlist archive's most recent New Zealand show is Robrosa Station in Cardrona on 30 December 2018; before that come Tapapakanga Regional Park at Orere Point in February 2015 and the TSB Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth in March 2011.

Before The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027: Australia/NZ concert history

The Cat Empire grew out of Jazz Cat, a nine-piece Melbourne group led by Steve Sedergreen, which played the jazz club Dizzy's. Late in 1999 Ollie McGill, Felix Riebl and Ryan Monro began playing as a trio, and for a few months both bands played alternate Thursdays at Dizzy's before the Cat Empire moved on to Bennett's Lane and other clubs. In July 2001 Harry James Angus, Will Hull-Brown and Jamshid 'Jumps' Khadiwhala joined, and late that year the band played the Spiegeltent at the Melbourne Festival. In 2002 they played the Adelaide Festival of Arts and headlined the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the St Kilda Film Festival.

Their reputation was built on the road. During the recording of their debut album in 2003 they toured Australia, played the St Kilda Festival with Kate Ceberano and appeared at the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival. In March 2005 the setlist archive has a New Zealand university run: the Union Hall in Dunedin on Tuesday 1 March, Massey University in Palmerston North, Victoria University of Wellington, the University of Auckland and the University of Waikato in Hamilton. A year later, in March 2006, they played for about an hour at the opening ceremony of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games as the athletes entered the stadium.

In February 2008 the band finished an Outdoor Australian Tour that played Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Newcastle, Canberra, Geelong, Townsville and Launceston, and in March headlined the Sunday night at the East Coast Blues & Roots festival in Byron Bay. In January 2009 they opened the Sydney Festival at The Domain, and on 28 February 2009 played two free shows at Bondi Beach and Circular Quay to raise money for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal. Their live DVD of that era, Live at the Bowl, was filmed at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

In 2013 a warm-up tour for Steal the Light played small rooms in Melbourne and Sydney and bigger stages at the Fremantle Arts Centre and WOMADelaide, and in September 2013 they played the Enmore Theatre in Sydney. On 16 January 2015 they were part of Triple J's 40th anniversary concert at The Domain in Sydney. The setlist archive's detailed Australian record begins in March 2021: the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Saturday 6 March, Ryan Monro's last show as a member, then the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in Hobart, Fremantle Park and the Gardens Amphitheatre in Darwin.

The original line-up said goodbye on the Original Line-up Final Shows: two nights at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on 15 and 16 December 2021, with Monro back on bass, Sandstone Point Hotel in Moreton Bay, Botanic Park in Adelaide in March 2022 and a final set at Bluesfest in Byron Bay on Thursday 14 April 2022. The new line-up of Riebl and McGill with Grace Barbé, Neda Rahmani, Daniel Farrugia and Lazaro Numa appears in the archive from December 2022, at the Bridge Hotel in Forth, Tasmania, and in Shepparton.

Since then the archive is dense. The Where the Angels Fall tour of September and October 2023 played the Enmore Theatre, Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane and two nights at the Forum Theatre in Melbourne. An Australian Coastal Tour followed, including two nights at Taronga Zoo in Sydney in February and March 2024. The 2024 orchestral tour played three nights at the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House from 5 to 7 September, with the 6 September show streamed worldwide, plus Fortitude Music Hall, two nights at the Wrest Point Entertainment Centre in Hobart and two at the Festival Theatre in Adelaide; in Melbourne the band played the Corner Hotel and the Northcote Theatre instead. The Bird in Paradise tour of August and September 2025 visited Freo.Social, the Enmore Theatre, The Tivoli, the Munro Martin Parklands in Cairns, the Odeon Theatre in Hobart, Ballarat Civic Hall and the Northcote Theatre.

The table below lists 98 documented Australia/NZ concerts by The Cat Empire between 2005 and 2026, with the most shows in Melbourne (13), Sydney (11), Adelaide (6), Brisbane (6), Hobart (5), Newcastle (3). It is not exhaustive: it only includes documented shows.

Concert data: setlist.fm

The Cat Empire 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 (31 December 2025 to 25 September 2026), these are the songs that came up most often. Titles only — set lists change from night to night.

1. How to Explain? — played at 15 of 15 shows
2. Still Young — played at 15 of 15 shows
3. Two Shoes — played at 15 of 15 shows
4. Brighter Than Gold — played at 14 of 15 shows
5. Blood on the Stage — played at 13 of 15 shows
6. Steal the Light — played at 10 of 15 shows
7. Hello — played at 8 of 15 shows
8. Prophets in the Sky — played at 8 of 15 shows
9. Sly — played at 8 of 15 shows
10. The Chariot — played at 8 of 15 shows
11. Oscar Wilde — played at 7 of 15 shows
12. Ballet — played at 6 of 15 shows
13. Be With You Again — played at 6 of 15 shows
14. Bulls — played at 6 of 15 shows

Before The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027: past Australia/NZ tours at a glance

• Orchestra Encore Tour (2026): 9 Australia/NZ shows — Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide.
• Bird in Paradise (2025): 12 Australia/NZ shows — Great Keppel Island, Sydney, Newcastle, Silverton, Brisbane, Cairns, Hobart, Ballarat, Melbourne, Woombye.
• Orchestra Tour 2024 (2024): 6 Australia/NZ shows — Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart.
• Australian Coastal Tour (2023–2024): 7 Australia/NZ shows — Torquay, Mornington, The Entrance, Sydney, Gold Coast, Hervey Bay, Metricup.
• Where the Angels Fall Tour (2023): 2 Australia/NZ shows — Sydney, Melbourne.
• UK and Europe Tour 2023 (2023): 1 Australia/NZ show — Byron Bay.
• Original Line-up Final Shows (2021–2022): 5 Australia/NZ shows — Melbourne, Moreton Bay, Adelaide, Byron Bay.
• Steal The Light (2015): 1 Australia/NZ show — Orere Point.
• The Cat Empire (2005): 5 Australia/NZ shows — Dunedin, Palmerston North, Wellington, Auckland, Hamilton.

The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027 and Australia/NZ festivals

The Cat Empire are one of the great Australian festival bands. Wikipedia records them at the East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival in 2003 and as Sunday-night headliners there in March 2008, at Bassinthegrass in Darwin in 2009 in front of 5,000 people, twice at WOMADelaide, at the West Coast Blues & Roots Festival in Fremantle in April 2011, and in 2016 at WOMADelaide, Bluesfest Byron Bay, Pleasure Garden and Southbound. In 2019 they played the St Kilda Festival and the Woodford Folk Festival.

The setlist archive adds Bluesfest's site at the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm near Byron Bay in April 2023, the festival site at Queenscliff in November 2025, Pineapple Fields at Woombye, the Mundi Mundi Plains near Silverton in August 2025, New Year's Eve 2025 on Sydney's Northern Broadwalk, and the long run of summer outdoor dates in early 2026. In New Zealand their festival appearances include Robrosa Station at Cardrona over New Year 2018-19.

The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027: career and records

The Cat Empire formed in Melbourne in 1999 and became famous for a fusion of jazz, funk, ska and rock with strong Latin influences. For most of their history the core members were Felix Riebl (vocals, percussion), Harry James Angus (trumpet, vocals), Will Hull-Brown (drums), Jamshid 'Jumps' Khadiwhala (turntables, percussion), Ollie McGill (keyboards) and Ryan Monro (bass), usually joined by the Empire Horns.

Their self-titled debut album (2003), produced by Andy Baldwin and featuring 'Hello', reached No. 15. Two Shoes (2005), recorded at Egrem Studios in Havana, debuted at No. 1. Cities: The Cat Empire Project (2006) won the ARIA for Best World Music Album, So Many Nights (2007) reached No. 2 and Cinema (2010) No. 3. In October 2011 they played their 800th show, at the O2 Academy in Bournemouth.

As an independent band they released Steal the Light (2013, No. 3), Rising with the Sun (2016), which debuted at No. 1 in Australia and charted in 16 countries, and Stolen Diamonds (2019, No. 4). In 2018 they won People's Choice awards for Best Live Act and Best Live Voice at the National Live Music Awards. Abroad they have played Glastonbury four times and set a record of ten sold-out shows at the O2 Academy Bristol.

Monro retired in March 2021, and Angus, Hull-Brown and Khadiwhala left after the 2021-22 farewell shows. Riebl and McGill continued with a new line-up and released Where the Angels Fall (2023) and Bird in Paradise (2025), which reached No. 18, preceded by the Devil EP in January 2025.

The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027: the Music Bowl finale

The Sidney Myer Music Bowl has been the band's Melbourne stage of choice for big occasions. It is where they filmed Live at the Bowl, where Ryan Monro played his last show as a member on 6 March 2021, and where the original line-up began its farewell with two nights on 15 and 16 December 2021.

On 16 January 2027 it hosts the last night of the Orchestra Encore tour, an open-air summer concert with Orchestra Victoria, the Gondwana National Choirs and Arte Kanela. After the postponed Melbourne leg of 2024, it will be the first time Melbourne sees the band's orchestral show, which Sydney, Hobart and Adelaide have now hosted on both tours.

The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027: the orchestra shows

The orchestral concerts were announced on 25 March 2024 with the Melbourne and Sydney symphony orchestras and Arte Kanela, and grew into a national tour with orchestras in Queensland, Tasmania, Adelaide and Western Australia. In the logged sets the band walk on to an 'Overture', then play 'How to Explain?', 'Blood on the Stage' and newer songs such as 'Bird in Paradise' and 'Devil' alongside 'Two Shoes', 'Brighter Than Gold' and 'Steal the Light'.

A feature of the 2026 shows is a long medley of older songs, 'Fishies', 'Days Like These', 'Saltwater', 'So Many Nights', 'Thunder Rumbles', 'The Darkness', 'The Rhythm', 'In My Pocket' and 'The Wine Song', before the closing 'Still Young'. Sets have run to 17-19 titles.

The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027: Melbourne, where it began

The Cat Empire are a Melbourne band to the core: from Dizzy's and Bennett's Lane, the Melbourne Festival Spiegeltent and the St Kilda Festival, to the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in 2006. When Rising with the Sun came out in March 2016 they played surprise busking sets at Federation Square, the Circus Oz Spiegeltent and South Melbourne Market.

The setlist archive has them in Melbourne at the Forum Theatre, the Corner Hotel, the Northcote Theatre, the Caribbean Gardens, Werribee Park, Federation Square and, again and again, the Music Bowl. The January 2027 concert is the only Melbourne date currently announced.

The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027: New Zealand and the Tasman

The band's first New Zealand run in the archive was a university tour in March 2005, from Dunedin to Auckland and Hamilton, during the Two Shoes era. Later visits were mostly summer outdoor shows: New Plymouth's TSB Bowl of Brooklands in March 2011, Tapapakanga Regional Park in February 2015 and Robrosa Station at Cardrona on 30 December 2018.

Rising with the Sun reached No. 13 in New Zealand in 2016, but no New Zealand concert has been announced for 2027.

The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027: what to expect live

A Cat Empire headline show usually runs to 18-24 songs and ends with a party: in recent years 'Still Young' and 'The Chariot' are the usual closers, often after 'Hello', 'Rock 'n' Roll' or a medley. At the Enmore Theatre on Friday 15 September 2023 the new line-up played 24 songs, from 'Thunder Rumbles' and 'Bulls' through 'Two Shoes', 'Brighter Than Gold' and 'Steal the Light' to covers of 'La Bamba' and 'Twist and Shout', before 'Rock 'n' Roll' and 'The Chariot'.

The final original line-up show at Bluesfest in April 2022 ran 'How to Explain?', 'Bulls', 'Oscar Wilde', 'The Crowd', 'Brighter Than Gold', 'Daggers Drawn' and 'Two Shoes' through 'Hello', 'The Car Song' and 'The Wine Song' to 'The Chariot'. The Northcote Theatre show of 7 September 2025, on the Bird in Paradise tour, included 'Prophets in the Sky', 'Candela' and 'Going to Live'.

Across all logged Australian and New Zealand shows, the most played songs are 'Still Young', 'How to Explain?', 'Two Shoes', 'Brighter Than Gold', 'Steal the Light', 'The Chariot', 'Oscar Wilde' and 'Hello'.

The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027 tickets and presales

Tickets for the Orchestra Encore tour, including the Melbourne concert on 16 January 2027, went on sale on Tuesday 14 April 2026. Buy only through the official outlet named by the band or the venue, and check availability there before turning to anyone else.

For any further 2027 dates, the same rules apply: wait for the official announcement, use the agency named in it or the venue's box office, and remember that most Australian events now use name-locked mobile tickets. No one can sell you a genuine 'presale code' for shows that have not been announced.

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The Cat Empire Australia Tour 2027: questions and answers

Are The Cat Empire touring Australia in 2027?

One 2027 concert is announced: the Orchestra Encore finale at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne on 16 January 2027. No other 2027 dates have been announced as of 9 October 2026.

Who performs with The Cat Empire in Melbourne?

Orchestra Victoria, the Gondwana National Choirs and the flamenco group Arte Kanela.

Which cities did the Orchestra Encore tour visit in 2026?

Sydney (three nights at the Opera House), Canberra (Llewellyn Hall), Brisbane (Fortitude Music Hall), Hobart (MyState Bank Arena) and Adelaide (Thebarton Theatre, 9 and 10 October).

Why wasn't there a Melbourne orchestral show in 2024?

The Melbourne leg of the 2024 orchestral tour was postponed indefinitely in August 2024, in solidarity with pianist Jayson Gillham after his performances were cancelled.

When did the original line-up play its last show?

At Bluesfest in Byron Bay on 14 April 2022, after farewell shows that began at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in December 2021.

Are The Cat Empire playing New Zealand?

No New Zealand dates have been announced. Their last New Zealand show in the setlist archive was at Robrosa Station, Cardrona, on 30 December 2018.

What is the latest Cat Empire album?

Bird in Paradise, released in 2025, which reached No. 18 in Australia.

When did tickets go on sale?

The Orchestra Encore tour went on sale on Tuesday 14 April 2026.