Back in late August, Linkin Park announced a return to Australia in 2026, but refrained from naming the support act for those dates. This naturally prompted discussions amongst excited Australian fans about who it could be, and not without reason: the country has produced some formidable rock and metal talent over the past decade. But, after three whole months, Linkin Park keeps us waiting no longer, announcing that Polaris will be opening during the Australian run. Hailing from Sydney, NSW, Polaris began making waves in the metalcore scene with their 2017 debut album, the critically-acclaimed and ARIA-nominated The Mortal Coil. The album spawned the Gold-selling single "The Remedy", and marked Polaris as a serious heavy act on the rise. 2020's follow-up album The Death of Me continued this ascent, securing Polaris another Gold certification for the hook-laden single "Masochist", a song which displays the band's more melodic side. Polaris' third full-length, Fatalism, arrived in late 2023 amidst a lot of hype as one of the leading names in Australian metalcore. The band has been on tour since then, including a headline tour leg in the U.S. and many European festival slots. In March 2025, Polaris also performed as part of the Knotfest line-up which toured around Australia. This is not the first time the Linkin Park and Polaris worlds have collided: in 2023, during a visit to Australia, Mike Shinoda made a stop in Sydney, where he assembled a super-group of Australian musicians to record a live performance of his then-upcoming solo single "Already Over". The line-up included Polaris member Daniel Furnani, who spoke very highly of the experience in a press statement: Fittingly, Polaris has retweeted Linkin Park's newest announcement with a comment that calls this support slot opportunity "the honour of a lifetime". The 2025 From Zero World Tour dates have seen Linkin Park tapping major names like Architects, Spiritbox and (for the most recent tour leg) Poppy. Fans worldwide have embraced the opening artists throughout this tour cycle on a level never before seen for this fanbase. The openers have, in turn, made appearances on-stage as guests during Linkin Park's headline sets, creating moments like the LP / Poppy crossover you never imagined you would see. With acts like Polaris for the Australia shows, 2026 seems to be following suit. Source: Linkin Park on Twitter
Since nobody else is commenting, I love Polaris! A few of their tracks are the highlight of my gym playlist. Linkin Park has knocked the opener choices out of the park this tour. I saw PVRIS in Toronto and my friends and I were blown away by their performance. My only disappointment came the next day when I tried listening to their studio work and found the songs were lacking the same punch. The guitars have much greater presence live.
Polaris is a familiar name to me, since they've had such a prominent presence in Australian heavy music, but I've only just been digging into the albums now and I think they're really good EDIT: liked Fatalism the most, I think "Nightmare" and "Parasites" are my favourite cuts after one listen-through
Oh. This is really cool. Saw Polaris live a few years ago and thought they were fantastic! Awesome for them getting the opportunity to play on such a huge stage!