Suki Waterhouse is bringing her Loveland Tour to Australia, announcing a four-date December run — her first Australian shows in support of the new album.
The tour opens Dec. 8 at the Sydney Opera House Forecourt as part of the venue’s On the Steps series, before Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall on Dec. 9, Adelaide’s Hindley St. Music Hall on Dec. 11 and Melbourne’s Festival Hall on Dec. 12. General tickets go on sale Thursday, Sept. 24 at 10 a.m. local time, following artist, Mastercard and Live Nation presales from Sept. 23.
The dates land at a high point for the London-born artist, who has engineered one of the more unlikely pivots in recent pop — from model and actress (Daisy Jones & the Six) to a genuine chart presence, largely on the back of a song she originally released in 2017. “Good Looking,” a moody slice of dream-pop, sat dormant for five years before exploding on TikTok in 2022, eventually reaching No. 14 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart and earning a platinum RIAA certification.
She has built on it steadily since. Her 2024 double album Memoir of a Sparklemuffin — written largely during her first pregnancy and named after an obscure Australian spider — pushed her toward bigger rooms, and this year’s Loveland, her third album and first for Island Records, leans into a warmer, more rock-inflected sound partly shaped by new motherhood. Waterhouse marked the release with her debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, performing the album track “Weirdo” days before announcing the Australian leg.
With more than 1.75 billion global streams and festival sets at Coachella and Lollapalooza behind her, Waterhouse has become a reliable live draw, having opened for both Taylor Swift and Laufey. She is set to support Sombr on his U.K. arena tour next year.
SUKI WATERHOUSE — THE LOVELAND TOUR, AUSTRALIA 2026
Dec. 8 — Sydney — Sydney Opera House Forecourt (On the Steps)
John Farnham will not be present at the sold-out concert built to honor his half-century career, his family confirmed the day before the Melbourne event, citing a decline in his health that has kept the details largely private until now.
In a statement shared to social media by wife Jill and sons Robert and James, the family explained the decision to go public.
“Many people have been asking whether John will be involved in the concert or attending Sunday night to watch it all happen. Unfortunately, he will not be able to attend, and as a family, we feel it is important to provide an update on John’s health to help explain why,” they wrote. “John’s health has deteriorated in recent months. He now requires continuous oxygen support and uses a wheelchair for mobility. It has also become necessary for John to receive 24-hour nursing care at home.”
The family added that they’d “kept these matters private while our family has adjusted to John’s changing needs,” but felt it was time for fans to understand his circumstances.
The decision to keep him home was framed as protective rather than reluctant. “As a family, we have decided that it’s best for John to remain at home, where he can be safe and comfortable,” the statement continued, noting that Farnham was nonetheless “deeply moved” by the effort put into the show and had wanted, in another world, to thank everyone involved in person: “He would undoubtedly have been a little overwhelmed by all the fuss, but he would also have wanted to thank everyone involved.”
The concert, The Songs of John Farnham: A Living Legend, sold out quickly ahead of Sunday’s (Sept. 20) show at Rod Laver Arena and features 120 performers Farnham personally selected, including Jimmy Barnes, Tina Arena, Keith Urban, Jessica Mauboy and Kate Ceberano, with Celine Dion and Hugh Jackman appearing via satellite.
Proceeds benefit Head and Neck Cancer Australia, the organization that supported Farnham through treatment following his 2022 oral cancer diagnosis, which required a 12-hour surgery involving 26 surgeons.
He was declared cancer-free in 2023 but has made only rare public appearances since, and previously confirmed that singing again is “just not possible.”
Ed Sheeran needed to address the situation before he could start playing guitar. It wasn’t how he wanted to start his show, and he’s made it abundantly clear that the last thing he wants around him is controversy or, in his words, to be an “activist musician.”
But here he was, at the first show after his opener and friend Macklemore was kicked off the tour, following pressure by a group of venue owners led by Robert Kraft who took issue with Macklemore’s statement of support toward Palestine. That led to the rest of the tour’s openers and even Sheeran’s backing band for the tour dropping off the tour in solidarity with Macklemore — all of which became a huge news story and PR nightmare for the usually very un-controversial Sheeran. And though he had already made one highly scrutinized statement online while the news story was at its most potent, Sheeran felt the need to address the crowd at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday night (Sept. 19) in person, before the show really started.
“I’m used to my music being criticized, and I’m always happy to take that because I’m lucky a lot of you like my stuff, and to be honest, I’m surprised,” Sheeran said. “I’m not surprised that other people don’t. It’s normal. But this week, the criticism was about something much more important, and I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I’m so, so sorry.
“What happened in Israel at the Nova music festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is is happening in Gaza is catastrophic, unjustifiable, and disproportionate,” Sheeran continued. “My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, of children’s lives. And the systemic injustice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.
“I am already speaking to people across the spectrum to work out how to make a contribution that helps victims of these terrible times, and listening and learning because I do not know enough,” he concluded. “I honestly am so grateful that you’re here tonight with me. This concert is still a place where everyone is welcome, and everyone here can stand beside people that have opposing views. Everyone here can stand by people that they don’t agree with on everything, and they can all agree on singing these songs. And these songs are about love, hope and unity.”
The crowd in Philadelphia – a nearly full Lincoln Financial Field – enjoyed that, and there was little sign of any controversy from that point on in the stadium. Any protests outside of the venue had disappeared by the time most of the crowd had shown up, and if there was heightened security as reports had suggested, it wasn’t obvious. There were maybe a few extra news crews reporting on the show as people filed in and out, but if Sheeran hadn’t brought it up, the crowd did not seem like one particularly anxious about any elephant in the room.
Sheeran’s “Loop Tour” centers around his performances mostly entirely alone, using a loop pedal to create backing tracks each night and mostly spending time on stage alone. But now without openers and the backing of Irish band Beoga, who pulled out of the tour out of solidarity with Macklemore and empathy toward Palestinians, Sheeran’s solitariness was magnified. At the break in the show where he would have typically gone to a separate “B stage” setup, Sheeran explained that that part of the show had been scrapped for safety, as he was concerned about “what might happen if [he] stood in the middle” of the crowd.
Without directly calling out Beoga — and assuming the crowd either knew the full story or didn’t need to know that detail if they weren’t privy to it — he introduced his backing musicians for the evening, led by violinist Alicia Enstrom, who has toured with Sheeran in the past, and proceeded with the section of the show that included the Ireland-set ÷ hit “Galway Girl.” Sheeran didn’t elaborate whether this last-minute backing band would stick around for later dates on the tour.
It was mostly business as usual after that first statement, with Sheeran only occasionally letting on that things were different. Before introducing “Old Phone,” he joked that “until this week,” the only time he appeared in the news was if he was in court. Earlier, he jokingly asked if the crowd enjoyed the openers. Such comments were subtle enough that if an audience member, especially one of the many kids in the crowd, weren’t in on it, it might just go over their heads and they’d move on. If you didn’t get it, don’t worry about it.
Before the big finale, though, Sheeran took a seat on the edge of the stage and made his lengthiest statement of the night, even longer than the one at the beginning, which was clearly being carefully referenced from a teleprompter. This one was a little more off-the-cuff and maybe even slightly less prepared.
“The last week of my life has been one of the worst weeks of my life, and today has been one of the weirdest days of my life. Tonight has been honestly the best show of my life,” Sheeran declared. “I really didn’t know whether this tour would carry on, I really didn’t know whether I’d get on stage again, whether I even wanted to be an artist at all. But, you know, in these situations, you really find out who your friends are. And it’s been a weird week. I just feel like everything happened very quickly. And the whole time I have so many people telling me to cancel this tour, and I have so many people falling out of my life that I’ve known for years and years and years, people just kind of backing away.”
Sheeran said that the reaction from his audience strengthened his resolve to make sure the show, and tour, went on.
“I saw ticket sales for this gig, and I didn’t see cancellations, I saw people buying tickets. I’m there, and everyone’s telling me to cancel, and I’m feeling all of my friends and family and people I know abandon me. And I look at the end of the week, and I see 50,000 people who haven’t abandoned me. People will say what they want, but I’m doing this for you. I love you. I love this. I love the unison we have here. I love the feeling this concert brings. I love bringing people together of all races, all religions, all political ideas.”
He finished by leaning back into something reflective of his original statement online and the commitment to unity — apologizing for the fact that he had to make a statement and take something resembling a stance at all, in his eyes complicating what should be a simple night of music free of any argument or tension.
“A lot of people here have differing opinions, and we’ve had a great night. And you are standing next to people and dancing with people who you may disagree with. And you probably understand them better by being, you know, one and love. I have had so many opinions on this. But the root of it is love. And if this tour ends, love doesn’t win. Love doesn’t win. You know? I can’t let you guys down. That’s why I’m here tonight, on my own, for you guys.”
Sheeran then wiped his eyes, stood up, and then he went into the last few songs of his set, complete with pyrotechnics, like nothing had even happened.
aespa brought its SYNK : COMPLæXITY tour to UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York, for the first U.S. date of a live trek running through February 2027, with the quartet delivering a 23-song set focused on their biggest singles and material from their most recent releases.
Karina, Winter, Giselle and Ningning opened the tour this past August with two nights at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome, drew more than 21,000 in São Paulo, and sold out dates in Santiago, Lima and Mexico City before crossing into the States. The excitement follows the group’s second full-length album, LEMONADE, which debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 in June and marked their best sales week since 2022.
According to SM Entertainment, SYNK : COMPLæXITY is billed as a creative reset for aespa rather than a continuation of their past three SYNK tours — new performances, new stage design, new visual storytelling, all deliberately built to look nothing like the SYNK : æXIS LINE tour that wrapped at the Tokyo Dome this past April. The clearest evidence of the commitment to the four new solo tracks the members debuted at the tour’s opening date in Seoul and released as digital singles earlier this month: Karina’s “16 Bit,” Winter’s “Saddle Up,” Giselle’s “BYEB4HELLO” and Ningning’s “I Love You But I Gotta Let You Go,” each one showcasing a member stepping out of the group’s shared mythology and soundscape to showcase more of their own identity, confidence and emotion on their own terms.
From New York, aespa heads to Washington, D.C. (for a Sept. 22 show), Atlanta (Sept. 24), Miami (Sept. 26), Dallas (Sept. 29), Los Angeles (Oct. 3), Oakland (Oct. 6) before wrapping up in the States with an Oct. 9 show at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, with the UK and Europe set for January and February.
“Until we come back next time, you can wait for us, right?” Karina asked the crowd during a finale chat, indicating this show was far from the last time the U.S. will see aespa in person. Giselle reaffirmed that sentiment, adding, “We’ll definitely be back, so don’t worry, just wait for us.”
But before aespa returns with a new show, check out the best moments from the first U.S. show of the SYNK : COMPLæXITY World Tour at New York’s UBS Arena.
A medical emergency involving bassist Tobin Esperance has knocked Papa Roach out of its scheduled appearance at Louder Than Life, the band confirmed Friday (Sept. 19), just hours before they were due onstage in Louisville.
The group framed the decision as guided by doctors rather than choice. “After careful consideration and advice from medical professionals, Papa Roach bassist Tobin Esperance will be unable to perform this weekend due to an unexpected emergency,” the band said in a statement via social media, adding that his health was their “immediate concern” and asking fans to respect his privacy.
“Therefore, we will not be able to perform at this year’s Louder Than Life festival, and wish everyone the best. Right now, Tobin’s health is our immediate concern. We look forward to welcoming him back on stage in November and appreciate the continued support and respect for his privacy during this time.”
The cancellation costs the band its planned closing date of a U.S. run — the Sept. 19 Louder Than Life slot was set to be their final American show before crossing the Atlantic. That festival itself is no small affair: more than 200 acts are playing across the four-day event, including My Chemical Romance, Iron Maiden, Tool and Limp Bizkit.
Esperance has been part of Papa Roach’s rhythm section since the band formed in 1993, playing on every studio album and co-writing much of its catalog alongside frontman Jacoby Shaddix. That run has produced four Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1s — “Kill the Noise,” “No Apologies,” “Help” and “Born for Greatness” — plus the band’s breakthrough “Last Resort,” which spent time on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2000 and remains one of the era’s defining nu-metal singles.
Assuming Esperance recovers on schedule, the band picks back up Nov. 1 for its Rise of the Roach tour, opening at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro and moving through Dublin, Birmingham, Manchester, London and Cardiff before a run of mainland European dates that wraps Dec. 6 in Lyon.
Macklemore has been one of music’s most vocal stars when it comes to supporting Palestinians amid the conflict in Gaza over the past three years, but his stance on the issue ended up sparking a major controversy surrounding the U.S. leg of Ed Sheeran‘s Loop Tour.
Leading up to the debacle, the two musicians had been friends for more than a decade. The pair and Ryan Lewis released a song together in 2015 called “Growing Up,” and the year prior, Macklemore and the British pop A-lister had taken the stage together at the iHeartRadio Music Festival to perform the rapper’s hit “Same Love.”
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Ed Sheeran Has No Tour Openers Left After Finneas & Lukas Graham Drop Out Over Macklemore ‘Free Palestine’ Controversy
That’s partially why it reverberated so intensely when Macklemore was bluntly dropped from his opening stint on Sheeran’s trek, a decision that came after the former called for a “free Palestine” and performed “Hind’s Hall,” a politically charged track in which Macklemore makes clear his stance that Israel has been committing genocide against Palestinians ever since the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks of 2023. (At the time of the performance, the Palestinian death count as a result of the violence had surpassed more than 73,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The United Nations has declared Israel’s actions as genocidal, but the country and its allies, including the United States, deny this.)
As both Macklemore and Sheeran have shared their sides of the story, more and more notable voices have also spoken out, including Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft and other Loop Tour opening acts such as Finneas and Lukas Graham.
Below, find a timeline of everything that’s unfolded since Macklemore declared his support of Palestinians while opening for Sheeran — and check back for updates as new developments occur.
