The Whitlams
The Triffid, 7-9 Stratton Street, 4006 Newstead Directions
Fri 23.10.2026 19:30
Join The Whitlams this October as they embark on an old-fashioned East Coast pub run.
“Return to Rock Island” takes the band back to its favourite rock rooms, where if only the walls could talk about the joyful two, three and four night residencies over the decades. Long sweaty nights at these pubs formed the bedrock of The Whitlams’ reputation as a memorable force in the Australian live scene.
What better way to mix things up after the elegance of the celebrated Orchestral ’26 tour, with its eight symphony orchestras, 30,000 people, and concert halls across the country. Now it’s back to the pubs where the audience is standing up close.
Joining the bill for the whole tour is William Crighton with band, promoting his 4th studio album, ‘Colonial Drift’. The pioneer of Bush-Psych and a bold voice of Australian folk rock, Crighton weaves stories of land, spirit, and struggle with raw intensity.
The tour opens at two pubs where the band held Sunday afternoon residencies back in 1994 - Hotel Brunswick just north of Byron Bay, and the Hoey Moey in Coffs Harbour.
From there, multiple nights at The Triffid in Brisbane and The Corner Hotel in Melbourne, before a long- awaited return to Sydney’s Metro Theatre, the venue where the band filmed its live DVD performance in 2004.
The set list will tend towards the high energy side of the seven album repertoire - loud, and built for a crowd with nowhere to sit.
Tim Freedman is joined by stalwarts Terepai Richmond on drums and Jak Housden on guitar, with Ian Peres returning on bass and keys.
"The songs splash colours across a portrait of a lonesome, inner-city suburbia that few others can match for original detail and authenticity.... The Whitlams have never sounded even mildly like anybody else."
- The Newcastle Herald, 2022
Performers
-
The WhitlamsThe Whitlams are an Australian Indie rock band formed in late 1992. The original line-up was Tim Freedman on keyboards and lead vocals, Andy Lewis on double bass and Stevie Plunder on guitar and lead vocals. Other than mainstay Freedman, the line-up has changed numerous times. From 2001 to 2022, he was joined by Warwick Hornby on bass guitar, Jak Housden on guitar and Terepai Richmond on drums – forming the band's longest-lasting and best-known line-up. Four of their studio albums have reached the ARIA Albums Chart top 20: Eternal Nightcap, Love This City, Torch the Moon and Little Cloud. Their highest charting singles are "Blow Up the Pokies" and "Fall for You" – both reached number 21. The group's single, "No Aphrodisiac" was listed at number one on the Triple J Hottest 100, 1997 by listeners of national radio station, Triple J. In January 1996 Stevie Plunder was found dead at the base of Wentworth Falls. Andy Lewis died in February 2000.
-
William CrightonARIA Award–winning singer-songwriter William Crighton will release his fourth studio album, Colonial Drift, on March 20, 2026. A pioneer of Bush-Psych and a vital voice in Australian music, Crighton weaves stories of land, spirit and struggle with raw intensity. His music carries the weight of ancient winds, grounding modern truths in timeless song. Leading the release is the first single, Further Down the Road, written by Crighton, his wife Julieanne, and bandmate Luke Davison. Experiencing time as linear makes history a fading memory and the future an uncertain beast. The song comes from nights alone outside the world of clocks and modern man, in the bush, experiencing the cyclic nature of time and reconnecting past, present and future. Sex, Death and Choices, a B-side born when the world felt like it was splitting in two – one half chasing immortality in space, the other half sitting barefoot in the dirt trying to remember what it means to be human. A collage of people I’ve loved, mistakes I’ve made, and the strange era we’re stumbling through. Recorded at The Grove Studios by Damian Charles, with a portion crafted in Crighton’s home studio, Colonial Drift stands as his boldest work yet - expansive, uncompromising and unmistakably his. Renowned for powerful live performances, Crighton has toured with Midnight Oil and The Dead South and appeared at major festivals including Glastonbury, carving a uniquely Australian sound: fierce, grounded, wholly his own.