Knotfest Australia promised fans a return in 2027. More than a year later, no dates or lineup have been announced. Corey Taylor says Slipknot’s first show will be in July, while the festival’s usual February and March window is filling with other tours.
When Knotfest Australia announced its 2026 hiatus in September 2025, organisers promised fans it would return the following year.
The statement from Knotfest Australia, Destroy All Lines and TEG said the break would allow them to return in 2027 with the “best Knotfest Australia yet.” They thanked fans for their patience and loyalty, and said they couldn’t wait to share what came next.
As of 1 November 2026, BLUNT has found no announced dates, venues, ticket sales or artists for the return. Thirteen months after that statement, fans are still waiting to learn when and where it will happen.
Organisers never promised a February or March 2027 date. Still, those are the months Knotfest has traditionally occupied, and the touring calendar is filling up without it.
Slipknot’s 2027 plans point elsewhere
As BLUNT reported in September, Slipknot announced its ‘(sic)est Stadium Tour’, beginning at Wembley Stadium on 3 July 2027, followed by North and South American dates. No Australian dates accompanied the announcement.
Corey Taylor has been more explicit. In a BBC Radio 1 interview clip posted on 28 September UK time, which was 29 September in Sydney, he was asked about Slipknot’s plans for 2027.
“I am so proud to say our first live show will be at Wembley in July.”
Knotfest’s own announcement describes the 3 July Wembley show as “kicking off the band’s live run for the year”. This is stronger evidence than a gap in the tour calendar: Taylor was describing the band’s first live show in response to a question about 2027. A February or March Australian appearance would require a change to those stated plans.
Knotfest doesn’t need Slipknot to go ahead. The 2024 Australian edition ran without them, with Pantera and Disturbed among its biggest names. But if Slipknot’s live schedule begins in July, who would headline an earlier Australian edition, and when would it happen?
The old venues are filling up
Then there’s Kings of Leon’s newly announced outdoor tour with Ocean Alley.
It’s booked for Centennial Park in Sydney on 28 February, Brisbane Showgrounds on 3 March and Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on 5 March 2027. Those are the three locations Knotfest used in 2025.
Sydney’s Centennial Park is also hosting The Strokes, Beck and Courtney Barnett on 20 February. Greater Sydney Parklands describes Sydney Summertime as a concert series running across consecutive weekends in February and March 2027, rather than a single competing show.
Flemington also lists Australian Guineas Day on 27 February and Super Saturday on 6 March. But Kings of Leon is booked for 5 March, the day before Super Saturday. Racing dates alone plainly do not rule out a concert at the precinct.
A festival would need room for staging, load-in and load-out, but the public calendars don’t show exclusive site access or unpublished venue holds. These bookings raise questions about the usual route. They do not establish that Knotfest has lost its venues or cannot use other dates.
Knotfest’s own promoters are selling other tours
Destroy All Lines, which promotes Knotfest Australia alongside TEG, has just announced Weezer’s Australian arena tour with Third Eye Blind and Fountains of Wayne. The tour begins on 24 February and runs into early March, right in Knotfest’s usual window.
TEG is behind System of a Down’s January and February stadium shows with Faith No More, with Australian dates on 22 January, 27 January and 1 February. Other promoters are filling the calendar too: Marilyn Manson has February dates through Premier Artists and The Phoenix, while Disturbed returns in April and May through Live Nation. Disturbed adds to the broader competition for ticket spending, but is not a March scheduling clash.
Major promoters routinely run several tours at once, so these announcements don’t rule out Knotfest. They do mean fans have plenty of other expensive tickets competing for their attention.
Lamb of God and Trivium’s Australian run was in October 2026. Deftones visited in May, and Avenged Sevenfold in October. Those recent tours matter commercially, but they don’t prove an artist is unavailable. Nor has our reporting ruled out Korn or Bring Me the Horizon. Neither has been announced for Knotfest Australia 2027.
This isn’t the first time BLUNT has asked
We’ve been here before. Earlier in 2025, BLUNT questioned Knotfest’s future when its usual post-festival announcements failed to appear. Organisers later issued the September statement confirming that 2026 would be skipped and 2027 would be the comeback year.
The previous rollouts offer two different comparisons. The 2024 lineup was announced on 20 November 2023, so the festival has previously launched its main campaign later than this point in the calendar.
But on 11 March 2024, organisers had already confirmed Slipknot would headline the 2025 edition. Existing and new 2024 ticket holders were promised priority access to 2025 tickets. The next festival was being used to promote the current one, not merely floated as a future possibility.
The full 2025 lineup followed on 16 October 2024. That early headliner announcement was specific to Slipknot’s anniversary return, not a deadline every subsequent edition had to follow. It nevertheless shows how much more concrete the previous comeback campaign was.
Fans were promised a 2027 return. With that year approaching, they still don’t know what it will look like.
So, is the February and March return falling apart?
Taylor’s comments point away from a Slipknot-headlined February or March edition. The venue bookings and other tours add scheduling and commercial questions, but they don’t establish whether organisers are assembling a different bill or working towards a later return.
That isn’t confirmation of cancellation. Knotfest could move to later in 2027, find other venues or go ahead without Slipknot. Nothing announced publicly establishes that the festival has been abandoned.
Destroy All Lines, TEG and Knotfest made the promise together. If plans have changed, fans deserve an update instead of having to piece things together from tour announcements and venue calendars.
Is Knotfest Australia still returning in 2027? And if the traditional February and March window is no longer the plan, why haven’t organisers told the fans?
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