Record Store Day live sets in Australia
Record Store Day on April 18 will include in‑store live performances across Australia — acts like Hermitude and Kee’ahn are lined up to play indie retailers that day. (Blunt Magazine and HEAVY Magazine both list live sets and broader indie‑store programming for April 18 in Australia.) (bluntmag.com.au) (heavymag.com.au)
On Saturday, April 18, Record Store Day in Australia is turning indie shops into tiny venues, with artists playing inside the same stores selling the day’s limited vinyl drops. The official Australian site lists live events nationwide, and music outlets say acts including Hermitude and Kee’ahn are part of the lineup. (recordstoreday.com.au) (bluntmag.com.au) This is not a side feature tacked onto a sales day. Record Store Day Australia says the event is about independently owned record stores and the people around them, and the 2026 edition falls on the global Record Store Day date of Saturday, April 18. (recordstoreday.com.au 1) (recordstoreday.com.au 2) The live-programming push is unusually broad this year. HEAVY Magazine says the calendar stretches across city and regional communities, with live instores, artist appearances, signings, giveaways, listening parties, and special events packed into one day. (heavymag.com.au) (recordstoreday.com.au) Hermitude’s plan shows how aggressive some stores are getting with the format. HEAVY reports the duo will visit eight record stores in 24 hours tied to their new album *EIGHT*, ending with a live appearance at Bondi Records in Sydney’s east. (heavymag.com.au) (recordstoreday.com.au) Bondi Records is not just booking one act and calling it a day. The official event listing says Hermitude, Egoism, and in-store disc jockey sessions are scheduled from 9:00 a.m. on April 18 at 258 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction. (recordstoreday.com.au) Melbourne stores are using the same idea in a different way. Rocksteady Records is advertising a full in-store bill with DC Cross, Merpire, Billy Cart, Nat Pavlovic, Big League, and Comedy, plus disc jockey sets, starting at 9:30 a.m. upstairs at Mitchell House on Lonsdale Street. (recordstoreday.com.au) Other shops are building mini-festivals around the records. Soundmerch in Collingwood is listing The Gnomes, Public Figures, Owelu Dreamhouse, and The Antics, along with food and drinks, while My Dead Grandpa in Adelaide is pairing live disc jockeys with a vinyl market and an $800 door-prize giveaway. (recordstoreday.com.au 1) (recordstoreday.com.au 2) The other half of the draw is still the records themselves. Record Store Day Australia says there are more than 200 exclusive 2026 releases, and they are sold over the counter only through independent record stores on the day. (recordstoreday.com.au) That over-the-counter rule is the whole point of the setup. If a fan wants one of the limited releases, they have to show up at a physical shop, and once they are there the shop can turn a queue for vinyl into a room for a live set. (recordstoreday.com.au) (themusicnetwork.com) So April 18 in Australia is shaping up less like a normal retail promotion and more like a one-day circuit of pop-up gigs inside record bins. The stores get foot traffic, the artists get face time, and the customers get a day that streaming services cannot copy from a phone screen. (bluntmag.com.au) (recordstoreday.com.au)
