US pop star Chappell Roan will headline next year’s Laneway festival in Australia and New Zealand – another coup for the festival, which was headlined by Charli xcx this year.
In exclusive appearances for Laneway, this will be Roan’s first New Zealand show ever, and her first Australian shows since her global ascension in 2024. The 27-year-old artist will perform the full 90-minute production that pulled the biggest crowd at Reading and Leeds festival last month, complete with fantasy castle stage set, an all-female band and gothic fairytale costumes heavily indebted to drag.
The scale of these shows will be in stark contrast to 2023, when the artist toured small venues on Australia’s east coast after the release of her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. Hits including Pink Pony Club, Good Luck Babe and the recent The Giver have seen Roan graduate from camp cult favourite to bona fide superstar, headlining Coachella and Lollapalooza, and drawing record crowds with shows that are high on energy, sex and maximalist theatrics.
“Charli xcx may have inaugurated a Brat summer,” wrote Kitty Empire in 2024, “but Chappell Roan picked up that lime-green sequined baton and tossed it sky high, celebrating the liberation in hedonistic femme fun.”
Joining Roan on the lineup is breakout indie group Wet Leg, with sideshows yet to be announced. London rockers Wolf Alice, bedroom pop singer Role Model, British singer PinkPantheress and Swedish rappers Yung Lean & Bladee are also on the lineup, exclusive to Laneway. They’re joined by Charli xcx collaborator the Dare, as well as Lucy Dacus, Alex G, Cavetown and Mt. Joy.
Since its debut as a boutique indie festival in Melbourne’s Caledonian Lane in 2005, Laneway has expanded across Australia and into New Zealand, and boasted increasingly starry line-ups, with recent headliners including Stormzy, Fred Again and Haim. But with Charli last year and now Chappell, the festival has entered its supersized era.
Australian acts this year include Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, Blusher, Shady Nasty, Armlock, The Belair Lip Bombs, and Djanaba. The festival kicks off in Auckland on 5 February, before heading to Gold Coast (7 February), Sydney (8 February), Melbourne (13 February), Adelaide (14 February) and Perth (15 February).
Presale registration has opened, with a 24-hour presale beginning at 11am AEST on 23 September, with general sales opening the following day.
