Peter Garrett is heading back to the pub – with Martin Rotsey, Kram from Spiderbait and a few Midnight Oil classics in the setlist

Peter Garrett has spent 2026 chairing Landcare Australia and leading a crowd-funded public inquiry into the $368 billion AUKUS submarine deal. But the man who once commanded the biggest stages in Australian music has not forgotten where it all started – and this November, he is heading back to the pub.

Garrett has announced a rare handful of intimate live shows in Sydney, southeast Queensland and Brunswick Heads, leading into a co-headlining slot at the Queenscliff Music Festival. They will be his first pub gigs in years, and tickets are expected to move very quickly.

The band he is bringing with him is worth the price of admission alone. The Alter Egos feature Midnight Oil’s legendary guitarist Martin Rotsey – which immediately elevates the possibility of hearing some very familiar riffs – alongside Kram from Spiderbait on drums, Heather Shannon from The Jezabels on keyboards, Zoe Hauptmann (who has played with Missy Higgins, Neil Finn and Ian Moss) on bass, and backing vocals from Grace and May Garrett, Peter’s daughters, who perform together as Raintalker.

The setlist will draw from Garrett’s two solo albums – A Version of Now and The True North, both of which topped the ARIA Australian Albums chart – alongside what the announcement describes as “the odd Midnight Oil classic” and a few left-field choices, including his well-received 2025 cover of World Party’s God On My Side.

For anyone who saw the Oils in their prime and wonders whether the energy is still there, Garrett’s own words are reassuring.

“You don’t have to doom scroll for too long these days to know that we urgently need to change how we treat our country and each other,” he said. “Music has always been a vital way to express thoughts and feelings about the world around us and while a fair bit of my time is now spent on these other roles I really can’t wait to get back onstage for a few nights and make some sweet noise with my mates.”

At 73, Garrett remains one of the most compelling live performers this country has produced. The combination of Rotsey’s guitar, Kram’s drums and the intimacy of a pub stage is the kind of thing that does not come along often.

Tour dates

Friday 20 November — Mona Vale Hotel, Sydney NSW
Thursday 26 November — Distillery Road Market, Eagleby QLD
Friday 27 November — Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads NSW
Saturday 28 November — Queenscliff Music Festival, VIC

Tickets go on sale Tuesday 30 June at 10am AEST via petergarrett.com.au/tour

Do not sleep on these. Pub shows with this lineup will not last long.