Entertainment
28 March, 2026
Festival’s lead acts announced
AUSTRALIAN music icons Icehouse and US singer-songwriter Don McLean will headline this year’s Savannah in the Round, with organisers unveiling the first acts for the four-day festival in Mareeba.
The event will return to the Mareeba Rodeo Grounds from 8-11 October, with the headline announcement marking the first stage of the festival’s 2026 rollout.
Icehouse, led by Iva Davies, rose to prominence in the late 1970s and 1980s with hits including ‘Great Southern Land’, ‘Electric Blue’ and ‘Crazy’ and remains a mainstay of the national music scene.
They will be joined by Don McLean, whose career spans more than 50 years and includes the global hit ‘American Pie’. McLean is a Grammy Award honouree and inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, with other well-known songs including ‘Vincent’ (‘Starry, Starry Night’) and ‘Castles in the Air’.
Sound Australia festival director and chief executive officer James Dein said the announcement reflected the scale and direction of the event.
“These headline acts set the tone for the entire weekend,” Mr Dein said.
“They are artists people will travel for and they sit at the centre of a program that is designed to deliver four full days of live music and entertainment.”
Mr Dein said the festival’s success was built on consistency and encouraging visitors to experience the region.
“They camp, they explore the region and they make Savannah part of a broader trip, which is good for the festival and good for Mareeba.”
Independent analysis of the 2025 event found Savannah in the Round generated more than $7.4 million in direct and incremental expenditure for the Mareeba Shire and more than $12 million for the Queensland economy.
The festival attracted almost 12,000 individual attendees, totalling more than 30,000 across four days, driven largely by visitors staying multiple nights.
Queensland Tourism Minister Andrew Powell said the announcement was an important milestone ahead of the 2026 event.
“Savannah in the Round continues to demonstrate the strength of Queensland’s regional events calendar, drawing more than 10,000 visitors to the region and delivering strong economic benefits,” he said.
More artists will be announced in the coming months, with tickets and camping information available online at: www.bit.ly/4rRtAaO.
