Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE are taking their creative partnership on the road, announcing a run of Australian and New Zealand headline shows in May that will arrive just weeks after the release of their highly anticipated collaborative album. The tour marks one of the more compelling live propositions in underground hip hop this year, pairing two artists whose chemistry has been building quietly for over a decade.
The run opens in Auckland at Studio The Venue on May 22, before moving to Melbourne’s The Timber Yard on May 23 and Brisbane’s The Tivoli on May 27. A headlining set at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Vivid LIVE festival on May 24 rounds out the schedule. Support at selected dates will come from C.FRIM and Chef Chung.
A joint album years in the making
The tour serves as a live extension of POMPEII // UTILITY, a collaborative double album from Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE and New York collective SURF GANG, due April 3 via 10k and Tan Cressida Records. The lead single Minty // Earth has already offered a glimpse of what the project holds, and early response suggests the full release will be worth the wait.
The two artists have been circling each other creatively for years. Their previous work together includes appearances on MIKE’s 2020 album Weight of the World and on VOIR DIRE, Earl Sweatshirt’s acclaimed 2023 collaboration with producer The Alchemist. POMPEII // UTILITY feels less like a side project and more like the natural destination of a friendship that has always had music at its center.
Earl Sweatshirt’s path to this moment
Earl Sweatshirt first appeared on the national radar at 16 as a member of the Odd Future collective, the Los Angeles rap group that reshaped the early 2010s cultural conversation. His debut solo album Doris, released in 2013, debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 and topped the Top Rap Albums chart, announcing him as one of the most distinctive voices of his generation.
The records that followed, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside in 2015 and Some Rap Songs in 2018, both charted within the top 20 of the Billboard 200 and earned him a reputation for dense, introspective work that rewards close listening. His most recent solo album Live, Laugh, Love arrived in August 2025, adding another chapter to one of the more quietly consistent careers in contemporary rap.
MIKE and the underground catalog that demands attention
MIKE has spent the better part of the last decade building one of the most prolific and respected bodies of work in underground hip hop, releasing music at a pace and quality that has earned him a devoted following well beyond New York. His 2025 album Showbiz! was widely regarded as one of the year’s strongest releases, further cementing his reputation as an artist operating at a high level with little interest in chasing mainstream attention.
Together, the two bring a combined catalog and a shared sensibility that makes POMPEII // UTILITY feel like an event, and the Australian tour like the kind of live experience that tends to leave a mark long after the lights go down.
