Australian Crawl are coming back to New Zealand for the first time in 40 years, with a three-date tour confirmed for March 2027.
Presented by The Sound, the run marks a genuine reunion: founding members James Reyne, David Reyne and John Watson will share a stage again for the first time in four decades, joined by Brett Kingman, Josh Owen, Andrew McIvor, Sean Johnson, Melinda Jackson and Nicole Kurta.
The Melbourne band built their name fast in the late 1970s and early 1980s off the back of hits including ‘Reckless (Don’t Be So…)’, ‘The Boys Light Up’, ‘Downhearted’ and ‘Errol’, before splitting in 1986. A decade later they were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
The dates:
- Friday 5 March – The Powerstation, Auckland
- Wednesday 10 March – Meow Nui, Wellington
- Friday 12 March – James Hay Theatre, Christchurch
Tickets go on sale at 10am today, Thursday 10 September, through australiancrawlband.com.au.
Formed in Melbourne in 1978, Australian Crawl packed an outsized run into a short career. Debut album THE BOYS LIGHT UP reached number four on the Australian charts, and the two records that followed, SIROCCO (1981) and SONS OF BEACHES (1982), both went to number one. The 1983 SEMANTICS EP produced one of the band’s signature singles in ‘Reckless’.
Frontman James Reyne looked back on how it all started: “One can only shake one’s head at the sometimes wonderful inventions of folly in all its guises and forms for the trip was a blast; such fun and high spirits were had that upon return we decided we should perhaps give this thing a year, before we returned to our studies; just to see what happens. What a ride.”
Original drummer David Reyne remembered the band’s earliest shows on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula:
“Back in 1979, a bunch of us from the beaches of the Mornington Peninsula twanged some guitars, banged some drums, blended together some tunes and played a gig or two for the local board riders’ club. They swung from the rafters, stomped the floorboards and drank an Army’s worth of beer… Australian Crawl was born. What a delight it will be to do it all again with those of us from the original gang who haven’t yet propped permanently at Heaven’s Bar.”