Florence, Lorde and Rod Stewart are coming to Australia as more big gigs roll into town

Check out the huge international pop and rock stars coming to Australia and how you can still get tickets to their shows.

Australia’s stadiums may have shut up shop to pop superstars as the 2023 football seasons kick off but our endless summer of concert champions rolls on.

Our outdoor venues, indoor arenas, parks and wineries have proved to be happy hunting grounds for international artists and promoters since the second half of 2022.

Demand at the concert box office hit pre-pandemic levels with the arrival of Elton John back in Australia for his final leg of shows here for the never-ending Farewell Yellow Brick Road world tour.

Elton John’s shows in Australia put him on top of the global box office in January. Picture: Markus Ravik

The Rocketman had the biggest grossing tour in the world in January courtesy of his Australasian shows with Billboard reporting he earned almost $62 million from the eight stadium shows he performed in Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Christchurch.

With Ed Sheeran breaking box office records in Melbourne – he performed to 214,000 fans across two MCG shows and another 170,000 at his two Sydney gigs – and Harry Styles also drawing crowds of up to 70,000 per show, both those artists should dominate the global Boxscore charts for February from their Australian tours alone.

Ed Sheeran performs for 108,000 people at the MCG in Melbourne on March 2. Picture: Michelle Couling Photography

Demand to see the Sheeran and Styles stadium shows revved up when both English artists arrived in Australia as fans who had been on the fence about going because of cost-of-living pressures snapping up the last remaining tickets.

And that consumer ticket-buying behaviour is expected to continue in 2023 with few of the big gigs completely selling out as soon as they go on sale.

Box offices are doing a steady trade on show night as fans make last-minute decisions to go see their favourite performers.

Commanding east coast arenas and wineries this week are English indie queen Florence and the Machine and Kiwi pop shapeshifter Lorde.

Florence and the Machine at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne on March 8. Picture: Jonathan White / Supplied.

Florence Welch and her band have sold more than one million albums in Australia and this is their first performances here in four years.

While Lorde’s tour in support of her third record Solar Power has suffered from post-pandemic postponements, she finally returned to Australia for the first time in six years with an opening concert in Brisbane last week before heading to play two shows each in Melbourne and Sydney.

Rod Stewart doubled his concert appeal by booking Time After Time pop legend Cyndi Lauper to come to Australia with him for his nine arena and winery concerts.

The 78-year-old Stewart has dangled the carrot to his Australian fans that this tour will be the last time to see him perform a “rock” show as he plans to indulge his love of American standards on future record releases and live performances.

Rockin’ Rod Stewart is doing his last nig rock tour of Australia. Picture: NCA.

The March concert calendar has something for everyone’s musical taste.

American rockers My Chemical Romance return for their first shows in Australia since the 2012 Big Day Out, opening at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Monday before heading to Melbourne and Sydney.

Other international acts playing here this month include pop chart slayers OneRepublic, Canadian pop queen Carly Rae Jepsen, vocal groups Clannad and Pentatonix, heavy metal rock gods Slipknot debut their Knotfest festival and country music superstar Morgan Wallen has arena-sized sideshows after playing the annual CMC Rocks festival in Queensland.

The gig good times keep rolling in April with several artists stepping off for side shows around the annual Bluesfest in Byron Bay.

Lorde heads to Sydney this week. Picture: Lachlan Douglas

Beck will play intimate solo shows in Sydney in early April while tickets are selling fast to the headlining concerts by Grammy winning blues superstar Bonnie Raitt while Buddy Guy’s farewell shows are almost all sold out.

One of the hottest tickets in town in April are the shows by controversial English indie rockers The 1975 who only have handfuls of seats still available for their shows.

Veteran singer songwriter Jackson Browne, electronic music party starter Fatboy Slim and American roots rockers Counting Crows are also proving popular at the box office for their April gigs.

Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy and other Bluesfest sideshows tickets https://www.bluesfesttouring.com.au/

For Slipknot tickets, https://knotfest.com/australia/

For The 1975, Ruel, Peach PRC tickets, https://www.secretsounds.com/tours/

For Rod Stewart, My Chemical Romance, OneRepublic, Counting Crows, Clannad, Pentatonix tickets, https://www.livenation.com.au/

For Lorde, Florence and the Machine, Carly Rae Jepsen, Morgan Wallen, Jackson Browne, Fatboy Slim, Beck tickets, https://www.frontiertouring.com/

Originally published as Florence, Lorde and Rod Stewart are coming to Australia as more big gigs roll into town