After tantalising the internet with several tasty post-TayTay reveals, Grammy Award-winning producer Fred again.. addressed music’s worst-kept secret. On Tuesday morning, the producer, real name Frederick John Philip Gibson, confirmed rumours that he was planning to play a surprise show at the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday 27 February. Yep, the British DJ extraordinaire gave Aussie fans just a few short hours to lock in tickets, and they didn’t disappoint.
The British producer confirmed his arrival Down Under with a social media post that showed him standing atop the Sydney Harbour Bridge, looking down at the instantly recognisable Opera House with a link to purchase tickets. It followed a week of social media teasers from Fred, including the odd appearance of Vegemite in his stories, an impromptu performance of the Australian national anthem and the unmistakable image of the Flying Kangaroo. Eagled-eyed fans were cautiously optimistic that the British artist was headed to Australia but it wasn’t until the ticket link was posted online that things suddenly got real.
According to Warner Music Australia, Fred again..’s local label, more than 125,000 people jumped into the virtual queue following the announcement. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the ticket allocation for the Sydney Opera House show was exhausted within minutes, leaving many fans to count their losses and begrudgingly join the cancellation waitlist.
For fans of Fred again.. the latest Sydney show was a long time coming. After a breakout debut Australian tour back in January 2023 that included spots at Laneway Festival, acclaimed headline shows and a string of unique pop-up shows, some that sold out in under five seconds, the producer has become one of the country’s most revered artists. Internationally, the response has been similarly fanatical. In recent months, the producer has set venue records; selling out Madison Square Garden with Skrillex and Fourt Tet in four minutes and securing five sold-out shows at London’s Alexandra Palace.
According to Gibson, the Fred again.. Sydney performance was a special one-off stripped version of his live show with the producer teasing “no lights, one small screen, me, Tony, and maybe the most beautiful venue in the world”.
