Join The Whitlams this October as they embark on an old-fashioned East Coast pub run.

“Return to Rock Island” takes the band back to its favourite rock rooms, where if only the walls could talk about the joyful two, three and four night residencies over the decades. Long sweaty nights at these pubs formed the bedrock of The Whitlams’ reputation as a memorable force in the Australian live scene.

What better way to mix things up after the elegance of the celebrated Orchestral ’26 tour, with its eight symphony orchestras, 30,000 people, and concert halls across the country. Now it’s back to the pubs where the audience is standing up close.

Joining the bill for the whole tour is William Crighton with band, promoting his 4th studio album, Colonial Drift. The pioneer of Bush-Psych and a bold voice of Australian folk rock, Crighton weaves stories of land, spirit, and struggle with raw intensity. 

The tour opens at two pubs where the band held Sunday afternoon residencies back in 1994 - The Brunswick Hotel just north of Byron Bay, and the Hoey Moey in Coffs Harbour.  

From there multiple nights at The Triffid in Brisbane and The Corner Hotel in Melbourne, before a long- awaited return to Sydney’s Metro Theatre, the venue where the band filmed its live DVD performance in 2004.  

The set list will tend towards the high energy side of the seven album repertoire - loud, and built for a crowd with nowhere to sit.

Tim Freedman is joined by stalwarts Terepai Richmond on drums and Jak Housden on guitar, with Ian Peres returning on bass and keys.

"The songs splash colours across a portrait of a lonesome, inner-city suburbia that few others can match for original detail and authenticity.... The Whitlams have never sounded even mildly like anybody else." 

- The Newcastle Herald, 2022

The Whitlams formed in late 1992 in Newtown, Australia. As a three piece with no drummer, Tim Freedman, Stevie Plunder and Andy Lewis developed their songs acoustically on Saturday afternoons at the Sandringham Hotel in King Street. So followed the usual formative months of beer, bonding and dodgy shows. In early 1993 they discovered that with their gear, they could all fit into a Kingswood station wagon. Taking turns lying on the piano in the back, they headed off every six weeks to Byron Bay and Brisbane and Melbourne and became a band to be reckoned with.

The original line up of Tim Freedman on piano, Stevie Plunder on guitar and Andy Lewis on double bass played mainly around Sydney’s inner west, a jaunty acoustic act in the midst of the grunge movement.

The band’s name was chosen out of admiration for former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and his wife Margaret.

Over the following two years, The Whitlams performed over 300 shows across Australia and released a mini-album “Introducing The Whitlams” (1993) and their first full-length album “Undeniably The Whitlams” (1995). Both Plunder and Freedman shared the songwriting and singing on these albums with Lewis contributing heavily to the scrappy, melodic aesthetic.

Stevie Plunder died the following year, but Freedman decided to keep the band going with a revolving group of respected musicians, and after a four-month break started work on the band’s biggest album “Eternal Nightcap”.

In 1998, the album went double platinum and The Whitlams won ARIA Awards for Group of the Year, Best Independent Release (“Eternal Nightcap”) and Song of the Year (“No Aphrodisiac”).

In 1999 The Whitlams signed a three album deal with Warner Music, and the follow-up album “Love This City” was released with “Blow Up The Pokies”, and “Thank You (For Loving Me At My Worst)” charting well in the ARIA singles chart, and the album going double platinum. Freedman recruited noted Sydney musicians Terepai Richmond (D.I.G.), Jak Housden (The Badloves) and Warwick Hornby (The Lab) to join him in the band.

In 2002 The Whitlams fifth album, “Torch The Moon” debuted at number one on the ARIA charts. With no hit single it nevertheless became their third platinum album in a row. The Whitlams intersected with the classical music world when composer Peter Sculthorpe sneaked Freedman into an Australian Chamber Orchestra end-of-tour party in 2002.

The next year Freedman, with Richmond on drums, toured with the ACO playing a programme of Whitlams tunes and Arvo Pärt. The West Australian Symphony Orchestra was next on the phone and The Whitlams became Australia’s first symphonic indie act with two concerts at Kings Park, Perth in 2004.

Since then they have played with all the state symphony orchestras, including 12 sold out shows over the years at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. The track ‘Keep the Light On’ from their “Best Of” compilation is a live take from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra concert in 2007.

Their collaborators have included some of the best composers and arrangers in Australia including the late Peter Sculthorpe, Brett Dean, Sean O’Boyle, and Jamie Messenger.

In 2006 they released their sixth album “Little Cloud” which documented Freedman’s time in New York and his return to Sydney. Produced by indie maestro J. Walker, it was their most critically acclaimed album and achieved Gold status soon after release.

They completed their stint with Warners in 2008 with a “Best of” compilation “Truth, Beauty, and a Picture of You”.

In 2014 Freedman wrote and performed a one-man show in theatres around the country based on the life and work of Harry Nilsson titled “Everybody’s Talkin’ ‘bout Me”.

Since then The Whitlams have completed laps of Australia annually,  playing their favourite pubs and theatres. TICKETS HERE for all shows.