The Drones are back. Not tentatively, not testing the waters — but with a one-off national tour that feels less like a reunion and more like a reactivation.
The spark was already there. In June 2025, the band slipped back onto the stage for a pair of fundraiser shows at Melbourne’s Croxton Bandroom, selling out in under twenty minutes. It was enough to confirm what many already suspected: the appetite hadn’t gone anywhere.
Now, with a full run of Australian dates locked for 2026, The Drones return with a catalogue that spans seven studio albums and nearly three decades of work.
Led by Gareth Liddiard, The Drones built their reputation on a kind of controlled volatility — songs that veer between precision and collapse, delivered with a voice that feels permanently on the edge of rupture. Liddiard’s writing has always cut differently, threading political unease, dark humour and dense, novelistic detail into something that refuses easy interpretation.
That approach carried them from underground fixtures to one of the most respected names in Australian music, winning the inaugural Australian Music Prize for Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By and carving out a live reputation that was as confrontational as it was cathartic. Tours alongside the likes of Neil Young, Patti Smith and The Dirty Three only reinforced that standing.
When the band stepped away, Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin pivoted into Tropical Fuck Storm, a project that carried forward the same restless energy into a more fractured, experimental form. Over the past decade, that band has toured relentlessly and collected ARIA Awards, but The Drones have remained a looming presence — unfinished business.
Now they return, joined by longtime collaborators Dan Luscombe, Christian Strybosch and Steve Hesketh, with fellow Australian Music Prize winners The Mess Hall along for the ride. Both bands re-emerging after extended absences gives the tour a sense of occasion without tipping into spectacle.
What matters is that The Drones never really fit the idea of a legacy act to begin with. Their music resists that kind of framing. It’s too jagged, too unresolved. And that’s exactly why this return carries weight — not because it looks back, but because it suggests there’s still something left to say.
The Drones 2026 Tour Dates With Guests The Mess Hall
Tix on sale 10am AEST Tuesday, April 14th
Saturday, 8 Aug Darwin Festival Darwin NT
Tix on sale May 22nd.
Friday, 14 Aug Thornbury Theatre Thornbury VIC
Tix from here.
Friday, 28 Aug Crowbar Brisbane QLD
Tix from here.
Saturday, 29 Aug Factory Theatre Marrickville NSW
Tix from here.
Friday, 4 Sept The Gov Adelaide SA
Tix from here.
Saturday, 5 Sept Rechabite Perth WA
Tix from here.
Friday, 11 Sept Theatre Royal Castlemaine VIC
Tix from here.
Saturday, 12 Sept Archie’s Creek Hotel ArchiesCreek VIC
Tix from here.
