Sold-Out John Farnham Tribute Concert to Be Broadcast Live in Cinemas Across Australia

Australian audiences will be able to watch the sold-out John Farnham tribute concert live from cinemas around the country, with The Songs of John Farnham: A Living Legend – The Celebration Concert set for a nationwide theatrical broadcast.

Announced Thursday, the concert will be transmitted live from Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena into participating Hoyts cinemas on Sunday, Sept. 20.

The cinema event comes after tickets to the Melbourne concert sold out, providing fans unable to attend in person with another way to watch the celebration as it happens.

The concert will bring together a significant line-up of Australian artists to perform songs from across Farnham’s catalogue, celebrating the career of one of the country’s most enduring performers.

Jimmy Barnes, Jessica Mauboy, Guy Sebastian, Delta Goodrem, Daryl Braithwaite, Kate Ceberano, Richard Marx, Human Nature, Jon Stevens and Anthony Callea are among the artists scheduled to perform.

They will be joined by the John Farnham Band, with Farnham’s longtime musical director Chong Lim leading the concert.

The live cinema broadcast is being presented through a partnership between Hoyts, Cochrane Entertainment and TEG Dainty.

Farnham’s career spans more than five decades, but his defining commercial breakthrough came with 1986 album Whispering Jack. The record became one of the biggest-selling Australian albums of all time and produced “You’re the Voice,” a song that has remained an enduring fixture of Australian popular culture.

His catalogue also includes tracks such as “Pressure Down,” “Age of Reason,” “Two Strong Hearts” and “That’s Freedom.”

The celebration follows several years in which Farnham has largely remained away from performing after being diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and undergoing surgery to remove a tumour from his mouth.

His life and career have nevertheless continued to resonate with Australian audiences.

The 2023 documentary John Farnham: Finding the Voice became a major Australian theatrical success, charting his rise from teenage pop singer to one of the country’s most recognisable voices.

The upcoming concert will again put Farnham’s music at the centre of a major national event, this time extending a sold-out Melbourne show beyond Rod Laver Arena and into cinemas across the country.

The Songs of John Farnham: A Living Legend – The Celebration Concert will be broadcast live at participating Hoyts cinemas on Sunday, Sept. 20.