Svavar Knútur, Icelandic song-poet and raconteur,returns to Australia following his 2024 Woodfordia Festival of Small Halls Tour where he also performed at Prot Fairy Folk Festival and National Folk Festival.
Svavar is a master storyteller and self professed public‑health troubadour whose hauntingly beautiful folk-infused songs explore grief, hope and redemption. Drawing inspiration from Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell, and other masters of the troubadour art, his emotive vocals weave humour into tales of the northern wilds. With his recent double‑album Ahoy!, he continues a 15‑year musical odyssey through the storm ridden way of waves of the human heart.
Expect an intimate live experience: songs of darkness and light delivered with heartfelt wit, as Svavar Knútur never lets his audience sink into darkness without humorous stories and anecdotes to lighten up the moment. —“a night with Svavar will bring you to hell and back… smiling and laughing all the way,” as Australian musician Pete Uhlenbruch puts it. Catch this Nordic troubadour on tour across Australia in February–March 2026—prepare for a night of raw emotion, laughter and unforgettable storytelling.
Support D.C Cross
Australian guitarist and songwriter crafting a distinctive acoustic sound inspired by the American and British folk traditions of the 1960s and ’70s—John Fahey, Leo Kottke, Elizabeth Cotten, Nick Drake, Bert Jansch—while forging his own path.
“I’ve released seven solo acoustic albums and toured extensively across Australia and Europe, including a 19-show tour across Germany, France, and Belgium in 2025. Along the way, I’ve shared stages with Ed Kuepper, Jim White, Xylouris White, Marissa Anderson, The Apartments, and Messesque, and supported Ed Kuepper (The Saints) on his 2025 East Coast tour”.
His latest album, Open Guitar (Volume One), showcases his focused and expressive approach to instrumental acoustic music. With over 25 years of music-making behind him, he has released 17 albums since 1998, spanning work with Gerling, Jep and Dep, and his solo projects.
“Open Guitar offers a sense of peace through the beauty of instrumental acoustic music.” — Glenn Kimpton
“D.C. Cross walks in the footsteps of John Fahey and stands alongside contemporary fingerstyle guitarists, all while following his own path.” — Holger Adam, Skug Musikkultur
“Compositions like ‘Rhinestones in Black and White’ update and enrich the fingerstyle guitar repertoire.” — Holger Adam, Skug Musikkultur
“An incredibly impressive display of solo acoustic guitar… Fingerpickin’ like this is an extremely exact and demanding art… and D.C.’s got all of that." — Clinton Walker
Darren “D.C” Cross (Gerling, Jep and Dep) is an Australian guitarist and storyteller.
Cross music is inspired by the 1960s and 1970s mainstays of American and British acoustic guitar (John Fahey, Roy Harper, Leo Kottke, Elizabeth Cotton, Nick Drake, Bert Jansch) but he is consciously forging his own musical identity within an Australian landscape.
Cross has been creating music for the last 25 years, from Gerling to Jep and Dep, and has written songs with Kool Keith, Kylie Minogue. He played shows with artists ranging from Beastie Boys, Beck, and Happy Monday to Johnny Marr, Courtney Barnett, Ryley Walker, Smog, Will Oldham to recently Ed Kuepper and Jim White, Mess-esque, Marissa Anderson, Lost Ragas and the Apartments.
Cross is fiercely independent, totally devoted, loves telling a story and is always threatening to conquer up something magical with the guitar.
