Barry Can't Swim and Richie Hawtin headline Bizarro's 2026 Australian festival run

Three cities, one long weekend

Bizarro's 2026 Australian festival run is shaping up as one of the more ambitious electronic music events the country has seen in a while. Barry Can't Swim, Interplanetary Criminal and Richie Hawtin (performing as Plastikman) lead the headliner slots across three consecutive nights this coming October, according to Billboard. Each night lands in a different city, with a lineup sculpted around its specific venue and crowd.

The schedule runs as follows:

• Overtone (presented by Bizarro), Friday Oct. 2 at Musgrave Park, Gold Coast/Kombumerri
• Freeform (presented by Bizarro in collaboration with Crown Ruler), Saturday Oct. 3 at Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne/Naarm
• Mode (presented by Bizarro), Sunday Oct. 4 at Cockatoo Island/Wareamah, Sydney/Eora

Bizarro describes the three events as sharing the same DNA, celebrating electronic music on day-to-night dancefloors, while being individually shaped by each city and space.

A festival scene in flux

The announcement arrives at a complicated moment for Australian live music. Long-running events like Bluesfest and Splendour in the Grass have either paused or folded. Dance music, though, appears to be operating on a different logic. Creative Australia's Soundcheck report from 2024 found that dance music was the top genre among the country's festivals, accounting for almost one in every four events nationwide. That appetite is not slowing down.

Further evidence came this week when homegrown act Dom Dolla sold out his homecoming show at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium, a milestone that promoters Untitled Group and Frontier Touring described as historic for electronic music in Australia.

Support acts and tickets

Beyond the three headliners, the bills include Avalon Emerson, Ben Ufo, Two Shell, Memphis LK, Ron Trent and a long list of regional and international names spread across the three nights. Full lineups for each event differ slightly depending on the city.

General on-sale for all three festivals opens Thursday, June 11. Early access registration begins the day before, on Wednesday, June 10.