Sixteen years is a long time to make people wait, but Erykah Badu has never been interested in moving on anyone else’s clock — and that’s exactly why her return to Australia this April feels like an event rather than just another tour announcement.
Badu doesn’t tour so much as she arrives. When she steps onstage, time bends a little. The songs stretch, the grooves breathe, and suddenly you remember why calling her the Queen of Neo Soul isn’t hyperbole, it’s just accurate. Australia hasn’t seen her in more than a decade, and for an artist who’s shaped modern R&B more profoundly than most of her peers combined, that absence has been felt quietly but deeply.
Her five Grammy Awards are almost beside the point now. The real legacy is how often her fingerprints show up in the work of everyone from Rapsody to Teyana Taylor, how her sound continues to echo through contemporary soul without ever sounding dated itself. From the moment Baduizm rewired what R&B could be, she’s been allergic to the safe option. Even Mama’s Gun, which many still swear is her masterpiece, wasn’t built for radio — it was built for people who listen closely.
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Fresh off a US tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of Mama’s Gun, Badu is clearly in that reflective, locked-in phase artists sometimes reach when they know exactly who they are and don’t need to prove it. Those shows reportedly leaned into looseness and groove rather than nostalgia, which bodes well for Australian audiences about to witness her in peak form rather than greatest-hits autopilot.
There’s also the tantalising possibility of something new. It’s been 16 years since Badu released a full studio album, but Abi & Alan, her long-rumoured collaboration with producer The Alchemist, is finally slated for release this year. If she decides to test-drive some of that material onstage, expect something moody, textured and completely uninterested in chasing trends. Badu has always preferred to haunt the future rather than race toward it.
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Her Australian run is compact but significant. She’s already locked in for Bluesfest over Easter, but she’ll also headline two major standalone shows — Wednesday 1 April at Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena on Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Land, and Saturday 4 April at ICC Sydney Theatre on Gadigal Land. In between, she’ll bring her singular energy to Byron Bay Bluesfest on Friday 3 April, performing on Bundjalung Land.
Presented by Double J, the shows feel thoughtfully placed, almost curated for listeners who understand that a Badu concert isn’t about screaming along to choruses — it’s about surrendering to the vibe and letting her take the wheel. Tickets go on sale from Tuesday 27 January, and history suggests hesitation will not be rewarded.
Personally, I’m just glad she’s coming back at all. In an era where so much live music feels rushed, compressed, and algorithm-friendly, Erykah Badu remains gloriously uninterested in any of that. She takes her time. She trusts the audience. And when she finally shows up after all these years, it feels less like a tour stop and more like a reminder of what soul music can still do to you if you let it.