Iron & Wine | CREDIT: Carlos Gonzalez/Rolling Stone via Getty Images.

Port Fairy Folk Festival 2026 Line-Up: Iron & Wine, The Swell Season + More

July 16, 2025

Port Fairy Folk Festival has announced its first batch of artist for 2026, with the regional multi-day festival set to return to regional Victoria next March. 17 acts make up the first announcement, featuring artists from the US, Ireland, Iceland, Scotland, England, Sweden and Canada. The full first announcement for the festival, as well as ticketing information, can be found below.

Heading up the announcement is Iron & Wine, the beloved North Carolinan indie-folk project headed up by singer-songwriter Sam Bean who first toured Australia in 2003. In addition to performing at the festival for the very first time, the band will also be returning to Australia for the first time in nearly seven years – having last toured in 2018 around their appearance at that year’s Vivid Sydney, in support of 2017’s Beast Epic. Since he was last here, Beam has released two further studio albums with Iron & Wine: 2019’s Years To Burn, an album with Calexico, and last year’s Light Verse.

Iron & Wine – ‘Boy With A Coin’

Also appearing will be The Swell Season, the Irish duo of The Frames‘ Glenn Hansard and Markéta Irglová best known for the 2007 film Once. This month sees them release Forward, their third studio album and first in 16 years following 2009’s Strict Joy. Hansard was in Australia earlier in the year with The Frames, performing exclusively at Dermot Kennedy‘s Misneach Festival in Sydney.

“This first line-up truly reflects the spirit of Port Fairy – global, diverse, and deeply rooted in the joy of live music,” said Justin Rudge – the festival’s Program Director – in a press statement. “We can’t wait to welcome these incredible artists and music lovers from near and far to Port Fairy. They’ll be joined by hundreds more come March, in a gathering of artists spanning genres from traditional to contemporary. [We’re] enticing audiences of all ages to enjoy the Folkie, and the many activities we have planned for music lovers.”