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Kate Miller-Heidke

Music

Ancient and urgent: Kate Miller-Heidke's The Kiss and The Abyss comes to Adelaide

Friday 18 September 2026 – Sunday 20 September 2026UKARIA Cultural Centre

Kate Miller-Heidke performs across a three-night run (18-20 September 2026) at UKARIA Cultural Centre, drawing heavily from her album The Kiss and The Abyss, which pairs folk instrumentation with contemporary anxiety about technology and digital culture. Longtime guitarist Keir Nuttall accompanies her, with electric violinist and singer-songwriter Xani Kolac opening each night.


Kate Miller-Heidke has never been content to sit still musically, and The Kiss and The Abyss is proof of that restlessness. The album pulls her back towards the folk sounds of her early songwriting years, but filters them through a darker, more seasoned perspective. Where her youthful work leaned on wide-eyed storytelling, this record turns its gaze to the anxieties of the Internet Age: its distortions, its seductions, and what it's doing to us all.

For these Adelaide shows, Miller-Heidke will be joined by longtime collaborator Keir Nuttall on guitar, a partnership that's shaped much of her catalogue over the years. Expect a set that draws heavily from the new album, some tracks performed live for the first time, alongside the songs that have built her reputation as one of Australia's most consistently interesting contemporary musicians.

What makes The Kiss and The Abyss compelling on record is its refusal to sit in one lane. Old-world instrumentation and mythological imagery butt up against sharply modern unease, producing something that feels simultaneously ancient and urgently current. The vocals are intricate, the folk textures rich, and the soundscapes lean cinematic without losing their grounding. It's a record that rewards close listening, and a live setting should only sharpen that.

Opening each night is Xani Kolac, an electric violinist and singer-songwriter whose work moves fluidly between art pop, folk, rock and jazz. Kolac's résumé speaks for itself: she's performed alongside John Cale, opened for Hania Rani, and picked up an Australian Music Prize nomination for her 2025 rock album Keep Moving. It's a support slot that promises more than a warm-up act, and pairs neatly with Miller-Heidke's own genre-blurring instincts.

The run spans three nights, from 18 to 20 September 2026, with pre-concert dining available for those wanting to make an evening of it, and bus transfers arranged for patrons. For anyone who's followed Miller-Heidke from her cabaret and pop years through to her more recent theatrical and orchestral projects, The Kiss and The Abyss marks another interesting turn, and one well worth seeing performed live.

Details are correct at the time of publishing. Events can change or be cancelled, so please confirm dates, times and prices with the venue or ticket seller before booking.

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