The Bend Classic 2026: Country, Camping and a Race Track

Country music at a motorsport park is possibly the most Australian sentence I've typed all year, and I run a ticketing company. Boots and burnouts, an hour out of Adelaide, for three days in October. My wife asked if we were going. I said "we'll see," which after twelve years of marriage she correctly translated as "yes, and I've already looked at the camping."

The facts, up top

• What: The Bend Classic, a country music festival (and motorsport park, so yes, there's a track)
• Where: Shell V-Power Motorsport Park, Tailem Bend, South Australia, about an hour from Adelaide
• When: 2 to 4 October 2026
• Tickets: via classic.thebend.com.au

The line-up

Lee Kernaghan headlines, with James Johnston co-headlining, and the bill runs deep from there: James Blundell, Andrew Swift, Robbie Mortimer, Tori Darke, Denvah, El Coyote, Drew Akin, Jo Page, William Millard, and more still to be announced. If you grew up with 'Boys From The Bush' on in the car, this is a nostalgia ambush with a mechanical bull energy.

Here's a taste of what the paddock's in for:

More than the main stage

The Bend isn't just one stage and a hot chip queue. There's a Coach Stage running Saddle & Stomp line-dancing and an Old Town Country Road DJ dance party, plus an Acoustic Stage over at the Welcome Centre. Five camping sites means you can make a proper weekend of it, which is the correct way to do a country festival. Day-tripping a three-day event is like leaving the footy at three-quarter time. Technically allowed. Deeply wrong.

How to actually do it

A festival on a racetrack an hour from town rewards a bit of planning:

• Buy direct. classic.thebend.com.au is the official seller. For camping especially, book early, because five sites fill in the order people get organised, and country crowds get organised.
• Sort the camping with the ticket, not after. Same trip, one decision, no 3am "where are we sleeping" conversation.
• Pack for a South Australian October. Warm days, cold nights, and one of you will forget a jumper. It won't be the one who reads to the end of guides like this.

Here's the honest bit, and the festival's own pitch. The CEO, Alistair MacDonald, put it plainly: "At a time when fans are losing festivals, we're building The Bend Classic for the long haul." He's not wrong about the losing part. Aussie festivals have folded at a rough clip lately, and the ones that last are the ones that treat punters fairly and get the money side right. So back the ones building something, buy direct, and if you want more live music near you, there's always more on Ticketted.

Three days, one racetrack, a great many akubras. Get the tickets, get the camping, and pace yourself, because The Bend Classic is built for the long haul, and it'd be rude not to match it.