The Strokes Hint at Australian Return with Possible Harvest Rock Festival 2025 Headline Slot
Indie rock icons The Strokes may be making their long-awaited return to Australia, with Adelaide’s Harvest Rock Festival heavily teasing the band as a headliner for its 2025 edition.
As reported by The Music and Rolling Stone Australia, the festival was set to reveal its lineup on Tuesday, 12 August, but delayed the announcement. In place of the full reveal, organisers dropped a cryptic teaser post that sent fans into overdrive.
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The image — posted to Harvest Rock’s Instagram — showed a festival crowd with the text “IS THIS IT?”, referencing The Strokes’ legendary 2001 debut album. The caption read:
“We know you were expecting the Harvest Rock lineup today so, is this it? Not quite yet It’s hard to explain, but the lineup is still coming 👀 more soon.”
The nod to Is This It was all fans needed to start speculating, with Instagram comments ranging from “I’m going to vomit, am I actually going to see The Strokes?” to “Skinny jeans are back!!!”.
If confirmed, this will be The Strokes’ first Australian shows in three years. The band last visited in 2022, headlining Splendour in the Grass and playing a run of sideshows.
Whether their appearance will be exclusive to Harvest Rock — as with past headliners like Jack White, Beck, and Jamiroquai — or part of a full Australian tour remains to be seen. Previous years have seen mixed arrangements, with 2022’s Crowded House also playing outside the festival and acts like Sam Fender and The Black Crowes doing national dates.
Harvest Rock Festival will return to Rymill and King Rodney Parks in Adelaide on Saturday, 25 October and Sunday, 26 October 2025. Organisers have already confirmed local favourites Teenage Joans for the bill, with the full lineup expected soon.
Past lineups have brought huge names to Adelaide, including Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Groove Armada, Ocean Alley, Tash Sultana, and Jamiroquai. According to South Australia’s Minister for Tourism, Zoe Bettison, the festival has contributed more than $34.5 million to the state’s economy since its debut in 2022.
Festival Director Ryan Sabet says Harvest Rock is committed to delivering “global stadium-sized artists” while championing South Australia’s renowned food, wine, and culture.
More details — and potentially the confirmation of The Strokes — will be revealed soon via harvestrock.com.
