The Aristocrats Announce ‘Duck’ Australian TOur 2025

News

11 Sept

The instrumental three-piece are playing their first Australian shows in eight years.

Rock fusion trio The Aristocrats return to Australian shores in 2025 with their first national tour in eight years.

The group, comprising guitarist Guthrie Govan, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Marco Minnemann, are touring in support of their new album, Duck. The instrumental three-piece will be performing a load of new songs from Duck alongside classic cuts from their extensive discography.

Speaking on their Australian return, the band says: “It’s been eight long years since we last toured Australia, and we had a wonderful time then making our way from one coast to the other with five great shows. Clearly it’s been far too long since then, so we can’t wait to come back for another five nights of musical mayhem – and this time we’re bringing our DUCK with us!”

The Aristocrats Duck tour takes flight in 2025, with their first show booked for the Rosemount Hotel in Perth on Monday, February 24. This is followed by performances at The Gov in Adelaide (Wednesday, February 26), Princess Theatre in Brisbane (Friday, February 28) and Max Watts in Melbourne (Saturday, March 1), before the final concert at Sydney’s Manning Bar on Sunday, March 2.

Support for all shows will be provided by Australian act Toehider performing in solo mode. The collaborative project between multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Mike Mills and illustrator Andrew Saltmarsh are one of the country’s most prolific prog rock acts whose most recent album, Rediscovery, was released earlier this year.

Tickets for all five shows are on sale now via The Aristocrats website.

The Aristocrats’ latest release is a wild concept album about a duck from the Antarctic fleeing to New York while being chased by a penguin policeman. As you can imagine, the album is a sonic assault of jazz, pop, rock and metal influences that shouldn’t work but somehow it all comes together, resulting in a fulfilling and cohesive record.

Speaking on the album, Beller says: “It's a novel concept, to be sure - an instrumental concept album about a wayward duck. The music gives some hints, but also leaves a lot to the imagination. So, for the curious who want to dig deeper into our duck's journey, we thought it would be fun to provide a nine-chapter novella, with each chapter correlating to a song on the album. Can he find his way home again?” You can give the novella a read here.

Fresh from touring the States, The Aristocrats are excited to be making the journey Down Under, with drummer Minnerman commenting: “I cannot express more how much I look forward to presenting our most recent offerings to all of you wonderful people around the globe.”

Catch The Aristocrats at The Gov on Wednesday, February 26. Tickets on sale now via Oztix.