British legends Groove Armada and Rudimental to rock the Australian Open

There will be a revamped music offering at the Australian Open next year. These are all the major acts set to appear.

Groove Armada are one of the big acts that will play at the Australian Open. Picture: Jeff Camden

Aussie and international acts will rock Melbourne Park in a major shake up of music served up at next year’s Australian Open.

The Herald Sun can reveal British legends Groove Armada and Rudimental as well as Aussie hit makers DMA’s will headline a revamped music offering at Melbourne’s Grand Slam.

Sydney band DMA's will also headline. Picture: Supplied

For the first time, two different music festivals will form part of the two week tournament.

There will be 10 nights of live performances before every Rod Laver Arena night session, including singers Mitch Tambo, Casey Donovan and opera tenor Diego Torre.

And a new look “AO Finals Festival’’ will be moved to John Cain Arena from Kia Arena after selling out last year, with 9000 seats to be sold to open air concerts from the second Thursday of the event.

It will see 17 bands and artists perform over three days in the biggest concert series John Cain Arena has seen.

Other acts to take the stage will include Ruel, The Jungle Giants, US singer and DJ Yaeji, Peach PRC and Tash Sultana.

But the popular “AO Live State” which has played host to the likes of Fatboy Slim, Billy Idol and Craig David, will not return for the fourth year straight.

Casey Donovan is a local act set to perform. Picture: Karen Watson

Australian Open director Craig Tiley said: “Music has been a big part of the AO for many years now, and we are always open for new ways to make the AO bigger and better.

“The return of the AO Live Stage is always on the cards.”

The Live Stage, which has not been staged at the Open since 2020, used to operate in conjunction with Mushroom music acts championed by the late Michael Gudinski.

Tennis Australia now has a music contract with Untitled Group, the Australian company which recently brought Christina Aguilera to Melbourne.

Untitled Group music programmer Pia Del Mastro said: “The Australian Open is one of the most loved events on Melbourne’s calendar.

“So there is no better time to bring together tennis and some of the best global music to the stage, right in the heart of summer’s favourite tennis tournament,”

Ruel will take to the stage. Picture supplied

The music makeover is attempt by event organisers to attract young and old audiences to the Open – and try and set a new crowd record.

Tennis Australia chief commercial officer Cedric Cornelis said the success of last year’s AO Finals Festival made it “a very easy decision for us to move it to a bigger venue to meet the demand.’’

“What we also found with the event last year is it brought a whole new audience to the Australian Open, and we want to continue that this year,’’ he said.

In a statement, DMA’S said: “Can’t wait to return to the iconic Australia Open.

“See you on the court.’’

Tickets to the Finals Festival will go on sale via Ticketmaster on Wednesday.

mailto:[e-mail]