Kane Brown and Kacey Musgraves are heading to Australia for the launch of LONGHAUL, a new country music festival arriving in January 2027.
The inaugural festival will stop in three cities across one weekend, beginning Friday, Jan. 22, at Melbourne Showgrounds, before heading to Sydney Showground on Saturday, Jan. 23, and Brisbane RNA Showgrounds on Sunday, Jan. 24.
Brown and Musgraves will headline the new event in what are billed as their only Australian shows. The lineup also features Charles Wesley Godwin, Margo Price, Maddox Batson, Ava Hall and James Barker Band, alongside Australian artists Beau Shearer, Denvah, Nathan Lamont, Taylor Moss and Tyla Rodrigues.
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Presented by LONGHAUL Touring and powered by TEG Live, the festival is entering the market at a time when country music’s Australian audience is becoming harder to ignore. The bill brings together arena-level U.S. names, Americana favorites, emerging international acts and local artists, pointing to a wider version of country than the genre’s traditional festival lane.
“We have been working very hard on this festival concept for a number of years and so it is incredibly exciting to finally launch the inaugural LONGHAUL Festival with an awesome lineup of international and domestic artists, headlined by superstars Kane Brown and Kacey Musgraves,” Tim McGregor, global head of touring at TEG Live, said in a statement.
“LONGHAUL Touring is just getting started with this flagship festival and there is a lot more in the pipeline to share with you all very soon,” McGregor added. “In the meantime we look forward to welcoming fans to LONGHAUL Festival next January for what will be a great summer’s day out in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.”
Brown brings major Billboard history to the lineup. In 2017, he became the first artist to top all five of Billboard’s main country charts at the same time, leading Top Country Albums, Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay, Country Digital Song Sales and Country Streaming Songs in the same week.
Musgraves arrives with her own chart and awards résumé. Her 2024 album Deeper Well debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales, Top Country Albums, Americana/Folk Albums, Vinyl Albums, Top Current Album Sales and Tastemaker Albums charts. Her 2018 album Golden Hour won album of the year at the 2019 Grammy Awards.
The rest of the bill leans into country’s broad current moment. Godwin has become one of the genre’s fastest-rising live acts, Price remains a key Americana voice, and Batson represents a younger wave of country artists building global audiences online.
Afterpay will serve as the official presale partner for LONGHAUL. The Afterpay presale begins Friday, July 24, at 12 p.m. local time and runs until Monday, July 27, at 12 p.m. local time. Other presales begin Monday, July 27, at 1 p.m. local time, before general tickets go on sale Friday, July 31, at 2 p.m. local time via Ticketek.