Australia Day LIVE! “Revitalised” With New Stage & Dance Focus As Concert Artists Announced For 2025

SHEPPARD, Paulini, William Barton, Emma Pask, Ben Lee, James Morrison, Dragon, the New South Wales (NSW) Public Schools Choir, Burn The Floor, Clarissa Spata & Sync Or Swim will star in a “revitalised” Australia Day LIVE! concert in 2025 on the Southern Forecourt of the Sydney Opera House with a new stage & the introduction of a focus on dance.

Sync Or Swim are a rock band created through the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Television (ABC TV) series, Headliners, whose members all having a lived experience of disability. Clarissa Spata is a soprano while Burn The Floor are dancers who have reinvented ballroom dancing globally & their performance will mark the introduction of dance as a new focus of the concert, which previously focused solely on music, apart from the Circular Quay activities. This is part of why the concert has been “revitalised”. The other reason is because a new innovative stage design will be introduced.

The NSW Public Schools Choir will perform from the Monumental Steps.

It was also announced the concert will, once again, be hosted by Australia Day In Sydney creative director, John Foreman with Jeremy Fernandez & for the 1st time, ABC Classic Breakfast host, Megan Burslem.

Other musicians to feature include Junkyard Beats, Véronique Serret, Cameron Leon, Rruwan Maymuru, Djakapurra Munyarryun, Australian Guitar Quartet, Cianna & Olivia, David Pritchard Blunt (musical director) & the Australian Pops Orchestra while other dancers to feature include Sundowners & Burrundi Dance Theatre For Performing Arts.

Free tickets for Australia Day LIVE! are available here from 10am Australian Eastern Daylight Time, today (Wednesday the 15th of January). They are expected to sell out quickly as the capacity is just in the thousands.

If you miss out on a ticket, you can still watch the fireworks, projections, lights, aerial & on-water action from Circular Quay, with its capacity of 55,000.

For those who are unable to make it to Circular Quay, Australia Day LIVE! will be broadcast live on ABC TV & iView from 7:30pm.

Meanwhile, during Harbourfest‘s Ferrython, representatives from NSW Police, Fire and Rescue NSW, Ambulance NSW & the NSW State Emergency Service will this year be onboard the 4 ferries, probably an emergency agency per ferry for extra competition!

Free tickets for Ferrython are available here from 10am Australian Eastern Daylight Time, today (Wednesday the 15th of January). They are expected to sell out quickly as the capacity is just in the thousands.

Australia Day In Sydney is held on the 26th of January.

Sydney locals & visitors want to spend Australia Day in a way that’s meaningful to them. This program allows them to do just that. The other great thing about this program is that it’s all free so families dealing with the cost-of-living crisis can have a fun & meaningful day out without blowing the budget.

John Graham, NSW Tourism & Jobs Minister

A deep respect for Aboriginal culture is infused into everything that we undertake as part of our programming for Australia Day In Sydney & we’re committed to continually evolving the program to ensure it is appropriate, respectful and reflects modern Australia.

Yvonne Weldon, Australia Day Council Of NSW Chair

The line-up this year is the best yet featuring iconic Australian band Dragon, Ben Lee, Paulini & SHEPPARD. We look forward to seeing Circular Quay & the Sydney Opera House forecourt come alive with tens of thousands joining together, sharing the cultural landscape, enjoying this unforgettable Australia Day LIVE concert & epic fireworks display.

William Barton, ‘Australia Day LIVE!’ Co-Creative Director