We called this one. Empire of the Sun is coming to Auckland.

Back in September, we traced a quiet ad campaign back to Empire of the Sun’s management and said something was coming. Today, Frontier Touring made it official.

Empire of the Sun will play Spark Arena on Friday 19 February 2027, the opening date of a six-city Ask That God: Afterlife tour across Australia and New Zealand, their largest run of the region to date. Tickets go on sale Friday 18 September, with a Frontier Members presale running 48 hours earlier from Wednesday 16 September.

If that timeline sounds familiar, it’s because we flagged it first. Weeks before this was public, we noticed Firebird, Empire of the Sun’s management and marketing partner, running Meta ads specifically targeted at New Zealand, driving signups through a Laylo page with no date attached, just a “new zealand up next…” tease. We traced the ad back through Meta’s Ad Library, confirmed Firebird’s involvement, and reported it as a strong signal, not a confirmed date, because that’s what the evidence actually supported at the time.

It held up. Auckland isn’t just included, it’s the tour opener, ahead of every Australian date.

What’s actually happening

Spark Arena, 19 February 2027, licensed all ages. It’s the first of six stops, with Brisbane’s Riverstage, Sydney’s Afterpay Arena, Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Adelaide Entertainment Centre and a Perth homecoming at RAC Arena following through into March.

This is billed as the final chapter of the Ask That God story that began with the 2024 album and tour, described by Luke Steele as “a tour of unknowns and possibilities.” Empire of the Sun has sold over 400,000 tickets on this album cycle alone, and the reimagined production leans into the scale and theatre the band’s known for, five million albums, six billion streams, eight ARIA Awards deep into their career.

Getting tickets

Frontier Member presale opens 1pm Wednesday 16 September, running 48 hours or until allocation runs out. General public sale begins 2pm Friday 18 September via Ticketmaster NZ. Buy only through official channels, Frontier’s own advisory is explicit that they can’t guarantee anything bought elsewhere.

Why this matters to us

We don’t say this to pat ourselves on the back. We say it because the method is repeatable, and it’s exactly what a music outlet like ours should be doing: watching ad activity, tracing it back to real industry entities, and reporting honestly on what the evidence supports rather than what would make the better headline. We got it right by being careful, not by guessing loudly and hoping.

See you at Spark Arena in February.