Courtney Barnett Announces Solo Tour of New Zealand

Did somebody say "Trans-Tasman bubble"? We're thrilled to share the news Melbourne icon Courtney Barnett has leapt at the opportunity to cross the ditch and treat Aotearoa fans to extensive solo tour in July, playing her first live shows in over 12 months. Beloved for her incisive and poetic lyrical prowess, evident on such classic albums as 2015's Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, 2018's Tell Me How You Really Feel and her collaborative album with Kurt Vile Lotta Sea Lice, the globally acclaimed Australian artist will play songs from throughout her back catalogue in intimate settings armed only with her guitar, ahead of the launch of a brand new record later in 2021. Super city readers frantically scanning the dates below will note that no central Tāmaki Makaurau dates have been announced [Update: they have now, see below] — time to try out the new train line to Hamilton? 

UPDATE: Courtney Barnett will be joined on her solo tour of Aotearoa by special guest Emily Edrosa (Street Chant)...

Courtney Barnett
with special guest Emily Edrosa

Thursday 8th July – Cabana, Napier* [sold out]
Friday 9th July – San Fran, Wellington [sold out]
Wednesday 14th July – The Boathouse, Nelson [sold out]
Friday 16th July – Blue Smoke, Christchurch [sold out]
Saturday 17th July – Glenroy Auditorium, Dunedin (all ages) [sold out]
Sunday 18th July – Sherwood Hotel, Queenstown [sold out]
Wednesday 21st July – Leigh Sawmill, Leigh [sold out]
Thursday 22nd July – Totara St, Tauranga
Friday 23rd July – Clarence St. Theatre, Hamilton (all ages)
Saturday 24th July - Raglan Club, Raglan [sold out]
Sunday 25th July - Elemental Nights, Auckland Town Hall, Auckland (Tickets available HERE)

*16+ with parent or legal guardian

Tickets on sale via courtneybarnett.com.au

There are memorable lines aplenty in Barnett's day tripping 'Depreston', from Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit...

Experience 2019 footage of Barnett performing Seeker Lover Keeper's 'Not Only I' with Marlon Williams for MTV Unplugged Live In Melbourne...

Press release:

Courtney Barnett announces she will be undertaking a solo tour around Aotearoa this July, in her first live shows in over 12 months. Tickets go on sale this Friday.

Having been grounded in 2020 care of the global pandemic, Barnett made the best of a bad situation and wrote and recorded a new record. That drops later this year, but before it does the maestro is touring her solo show to all corners of Aotearoa – a country she's adored touring in the past and a place she considers herself lucky to have the opportunity to return to.

With nine dates at some of New Zealand's favourite venues, local audiences are in for a treat as Barnett dials things right down and prepares to deliver gems from her catalogue in an intimate setting. After years of touring with her thunderous band around the globe, the performer recently found herself craving the simplicity of her early days as a straight up singer-songwriter.

Armed with just a guitar, her renowned banter and some of the best indie folk songs of the past decade, she toured North America throughout the pre-pandemic months of 2020 like she had never done before.

Those shows saw Courtney at both her most raw and personal. She played town halls, barns, churches, dive bars, haunted hotels, ski-lodges, theatres and studios, all to enraptured audiences, who couldn't quite believe they were watching the artist in this mode.

For Courtney, the simplicity and honesty of performing solo was an inspirational salve; a way to fall back in love with the art and craft of song. This is the Courtney Barnett New Zealand gets to witness in July, on what will be an unmissable tour.