Fifteen years is a long silence in rock terms. Long enough for a new generation to inherit the chorus of ‘Second Chance’ without ever having seen it detonated in an arena. In September 2026, that gap closes as Shinedown return to Australia and New Zealand for the first time in over a decade, co-headlining a run of dates with British mainstays Bush.
Opening in Auckland on September 17, the tour moves through Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide before wrapping in Perth on September 29. It pairs two bands who came of age in different eras of modern rock, yet share a similar instinct for scale: big hooks, direct lyrics and a live show built to travel well.
For Shinedown, the visit lands alongside the release of their eighth studio album, EI8HT, due May 29. The Florida outfit have accumulated 24 No.1 rock hits in the US and more than eight billion streams globally, a commercial streak that has positioned them as radio fixtures as much as touring lifers. Frontman Brent Smith has described the new record as the band pushing themselves “like never before”, a claim that will be tested on stages here that have not hosted them since the early 2010s.
Bush arrive with a catalogue that reaches back to 1994’s Sixteen Stone, an album that cut deep into Australian charts and embedded songs like ‘Glycerine’, ‘Machinehead’ and ‘Comedown’ into the decade’s alt-rock memory. Now ten albums in, and touring behind 2025’s I Beat Loneliness, Gavin Rossdale and co continue to operate in that space between post-grunge heft and melodic restraint.
Both bands trade on longevity without leaning solely on it. Shinedown’s recent arena runs in the US have emphasised precision and crowd rapport, while Bush’s 2022 Australian shows at Under The Southern Stars were noted for balancing early material with newer work. The 2026 tour offers a study in how two strands of modern rock history intersect on the same bill, rather than compete.
Tickets go on sale shortly, with dates expected to draw from both legacy fans and listeners who have encountered these songs via streaming rather than CD racks. After a 15-year absence, Shinedown’s return alone gives the run added weight; paired with Bush’s enduring live reputation, September shapes as a month where 1990s and 2000s rock share the same stage again.
SHINEDOWN x BUSH CO-HEADLINE AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND TOUR
THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER – SPARK ARENA, AUCKLAND
SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER – RIVERSTAGE, BRISBANE
WEDNESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER – HORDERN PAVILION, SYDNEY
FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER – JOHN CAIN ARENA, MELBOURNE
SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER – AEC THEATRE, ADELAIDE
TUESDAY 29 SEPTEMBER – HPC, PERTH
General tickets on sale: Friday 13 March @ 11am local time
Tickets from destroyalllines.com
