Nelly, Ja Rule, & Ne-Yo Are Touring Australia To Satisfy Your 2000s Nostalgia

We already know that fans of clanging guitars, frantic drums, and Alex Turner’s buttery vocals will be well-taken care of when UK rockers Arctic Monkeys tour Australia in January 2023. But those who lean towards something a bit closer to hip hop, R&B, and pop mightn’t want to kick off the new year by jumping around a mosh pit to ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor.’ If that sounds like you then Juicy Fest Australia is right up your alley.

Also scheduled for January 2023, the new hip hop and R&B festival will be headlined by the likes of Nelly, Ja Rule and Ne-Yo, with the rest of the lineup perfectly aligned with the whole late 90s/early 2000s vibe, featuring the likes of Mya, Bow Wow, Pretty Ricky, Xzibit, and Twista.

Yeah, for hip-hop purists, this one might be a bit of a hard sell. We aren’t getting the likes of Nas, Ice Cube, Kendrick Lamar (who’s touring Australia in December), or J Cole out here. But Juicy Fest Australia seems to be geared towards the space occupied by nostalgic radio-hit festivals like Supafest – which may or may not exist anymore – and Made in the 90s – which still exists and recently toured with headliners BLACKstreet. Besides, I don’t know any discerning hip-hop fan who would pass on Twista or, to a lesser extent, Xzibit.

Fyre Festival’s Ja Rule seems to be the biggest pull for those who were glued to their radio throughout the 2000s, although Nelly and Ne-Yo are also fairly big-ticket plays for the inaugural festival which is presented by possibly the only clothing brand that makes sense for this type of lineup (I’ll leave that one up to your educated guesses).

While promotional material is promising “additional acts” to be announced closer to the date, the first line-up announcement should be more than enough to see plenty of tickets pumped out when the first allocation goes on sale on Wednesday, June 15th.

Interestingly, New Zealand will be getting more love from Juicy Fest than Australia does. While the hip hop and R&B tour will first land across the ditch for five shows across New Zealand, Australia will only be getting three shows. First, Juicy Fest will land in Brisbane for a show at Eatons Hill Outdoor on January 13th, then it’s off to Sydney at a TBA outdoor location and finally Melbourne at Burnley Circus Park on January 15th.

Whether you’re more there for ‘Adrenaline Rush,’ or if you’d prefer something like ‘Dilemma,’ in all likelihood Juicy Fest is going to go down as smoothly as a sugary Vodka Cruisier as 2023 begins to build up as a cracker year for live music across all genres.

Although, I’d be selling you short if I didn’t mention the elephant in the room. The fact that organisers haven’t even locked in a Sydney venue isn’t promising. And the lineup – well, lineups of that nature always tend to fall apart at the last minute, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a few changes or cancellations in the lead-up. It’s safer to take a more “buyer beware” approach right now, so do make sure you’ve got some insurance in case things don’t materialise come January 2023.

Whatever ends up happening with Juicy Fest Australia, we’ll be updating this post with any news as it comes out.

Juicy Fest Australia Tour 2023

Friday, January 13th – Eatons Hills Outdoor Field, Brisbane
Saturday, January 14th – Sydney (Venue TBA)
Sunday, January 15th – Burnley Circus Park, Melbourne

General admission tickets go on sale Wednesday, June 15th.