Record Store Day live sets down under
Record Store Day on April 18 is lining up in‑store live performances across Australia, with Hermitude and Kee’ahn among the artists scheduled to play at indie shops — a sign RSD this year is leaning into events as much as rare vinyl drops. ( )
On Saturday, April 18, Record Store Day in Australia is turning record shops into mini venues, with live in-store sets announced alongside the usual limited vinyl drops. The official Australian site lists events from Bondi Junction to Adelaide and Melbourne, all tied to the same one-day celebration of independent stores. (recordstoreday.com.au 1) (recordstoreday.com.au 2) The shift is easiest to see in Sydney, where Hermitude is not just playing one stop. Heavy Mag reports the duo plan to visit eight record stores in 24 hours to mark their new album *EIGHT*, turning Record Store Day into something closer to a citywide crawl than a single shop opening. (heavymag.com.au) One of those Sydney stops is Bondi Records in Bondi Junction, where the official event page lists Hermitude, Egoism, DJ St Croix Music, and DJ MOTO on the bill from 9:00 a.m. The same page also advertises more than 350 Record Store Day exclusive titles, an Audio-Technica giveaway, and gift bag extras, so the performance is being used to pull people in before the rare records are gone. (recordstoreday.com.au) Kee’ahn is part of the national push too, with Australian music outlets including Blunt and The Music Network highlighting her among the artists booked for this year’s in-store program. Those reports frame April 18 as a day built around musicians physically showing up in shops, not just fans queueing for special pressings. (bluntmag.com.au) (themusicnetwork.com) Melbourne’s program shows how broad that idea has become. Rocksteady Records is hosting live performances from DC Cross, Merpire, Billy Cart, Nat Pavlovic, Big League and Comedy, plus disc jockey sets, starting at 9:30 a.m. upstairs in Mitchell House on Lonsdale Street. (recordstoreday.com.au) Other stores are leaning into a market feel instead of a standard gig format. My Dead Grandpa in Adelaide says it will run from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with guest sellers, disc jockeys, collectors and an $800 vinyl door prize, turning the shop into what it calls a vinyl market rather than just a checkout line. (recordstoreday.com.au) Record Store Day started as a global retail event, and the Australian site still describes it that way: a yearly celebration on the third Saturday of April for independently owned record stores. In 2026, the Australian calendar suggests the stores are selling a day out as much as they are selling records. (recordstoreday.com.au 1) (recordstoreday.com.au 2) That matters in a music market where streaming gives listeners instant access but no physical meeting place. A live set in a shop does something streaming cannot do: it puts the artist, the staff, the racks, and the buyers in the same room for an hour, which is exactly the kind of community role The Music Network says Record Store Day is trying to spotlight in 2026. (themusicnetwork.com)
