Queens of the Stone Age - Melbourne: Dates, Tickets & Venue (Melbourne)

One Sunday, one arena

Josh Homme’s band plays Melbourne on one night. Queens of the Stone Age take the stage at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday, December 13, 2026. The arena is the centrepiece of Melbourne Park, on the river side of the city between the CBD and Richmond.

It is the same bowl that hosts the Australian Open finals each January. In December the tennis court is gone and the floor is cleared for a rock show. You walk in under the arena’s wide entrance canopy, and the tiered seating rises steeply around a flat floor.

Tickets are sold through the arena’s authorised ticketing channels. Resold tickets from anywhere else carry the usual risk of being cancelled at the gate.

A desert band in a tennis bowl

Queens of the Stone Age came out of Palm Desert, California. Homme formed the band in 1996 after the breakup of Kyuss, the band that helped define “desert rock”. The sound is heavy but tightly locked, riffs built to repeat until they hypnotise.

The catalogue runs deep. Rated R (2000) gave the world “Feel Good Hit of the Summer”. Songs for the Deaf (2002) carried “No One Knows” and “Go With the Flow”. …Like Clockwork (2013) showed a darker, slower side, and Villains (2017) leaned into swing and groove.

Songs like “No One Knows”, “Little Sister” and “Make It Wit Chu” have long been fixtures of their live sets. No setlist for this show is given here, so treat those as history rather than a promise. Homme’s own stage presence, dry and conversational between songs, is part of what people come back for.

Floor or tiers: picking your view

The arena splits into two very different nights. The general admission floor is standing room, packed tight towards the stage and looser at the back near the sound desk. The tiered seats wrap around three sides, and they climb high.

Here is how the two usually play out:

• Floor: closest to the band and the loudest. Fans who want the barrier usually queue outside well before doors.
• Lower tier: a clear, raised sightline without the crush. A good pick for anyone with a bag or a bad back.
• Upper tier: the full light show in view, with the band small below you. The steep rake keeps heads out of the way.

Earplugs are worth carrying for any of them. Arena rock at this volume rings for days.

Getting to Melbourne Park

The arena sits on Olympic Boulevard, inside the city’s sporting precinct. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is next door, and Birrarung Marr park runs along the river towards the CBD.

The main ways in:

• Tram: Route 70 runs along Flinders Street and Batman Avenue onto Olympic Boulevard, stopping right by the arena.
• Train: Richmond station is roughly a ten-minute walk. Jolimont station sits on the other side of the MCG.
• On foot from the city: from Flinders Street station, the path through Birrarung Marr and over the footbridge takes about 15–20 minutes.

Driving is the hard option. Precinct car parks fill on event nights and the exits jam once the show lets out. Most concertgoers leave the car at home.

The Sunday night, Monday morning problem

This show falls on a Sunday. That changes the last part of the night more than anything else.

Sunday evening public transport in Melbourne runs on a thinner timetable than Friday or Saturday. After an arena show, thousands of people head for the same trams and the same platforms at once. Crowds usually split between the Route 70 stop and the walk to Richmond, and Richmond tends to absorb the overflow faster.

Many interstate and regional fans book a room for the Sunday night rather than face a late drive home. The CBD and Southbank sit within walking distance. Locals with work on Monday often skip the post-show drink and head straight for the train.

How the arena crowd moves

Australian arena gigs follow a few habits that are easy to fall into.

Payment at the bars and merch stands is overwhelmingly by card or phone; tapping is the norm. Tipping is not expected at the bar. Drinks are served in plastic cups, and staff check ID for anyone who looks young, so fans carry photo ID.

Bags go through security at the gates, and the arena limits size. Fans travelling light move through the lines much faster. The merch stand is busiest straight after doors and in the rush at the end, so many people buy their shirt while the support act plays.

On the floor, the crowd sorts itself. The front is tight and physical during the faster songs. Those who want room drift back towards the sound desk, where the mix is usually at its best anyway.

Before the doors and after the encore

The river is the easiest place to fill the hours before the show. Birrarung Marr has open lawns sloping down to the Yarra, and Federation Square sits at its city end. There you’ll find the Ian Potter Centre, part of the National Gallery of Victoria, and plenty of places to sit.

Swan Street in Richmond is the other pre-show strip. It’s lined with pubs, Vietnamese and Greek places and bottle shops, and it sits close to the station you will probably use going home. Fans heading for Richmond after the encore often stop on Swan Street for food.

December is early summer in Melbourne, and the city is known for weather that swings within one day. A warm afternoon can turn into a cool, windy night by the river, so a light layer earns its place in the bag.