Audible Edge '26 — a festival of exploratory music

“The best thing in Boorloo every year.”

“The only festival I’ve been to that leaves me with more energy after a set than when I arrive.”

“Just joyful. I could not fault anything with the way it was run.”

AE is an artist-led, international festival of exploratory music. It’s held annually on Whadjuk boodja since 2017. It includes delightfully strange songs, forward-thinking club sets, brazenly weird experiments, bracing noise, virtuosic improvisation, anti-virtuosic improvisation, listening through dancing, new directions for ancient music, dinners, treats and strolls.

Our mission is to make a low pressure, fun atmosphere, and a powerful, attentive listening culture. We carefully curate a program of stuff that is really good, putting little-known experimentalists on a prominent stage. We invite you to experience a festival with no headliners, that is more about realness, kindness and building culture together.

In a radical and unprecedented turn (🤪), AE’26 is all in one venue: Victoria Hall in Walyalup. We’re taking over the whole space, with room for impromptu participatory play, resting or dining between sets, courtyard boogies or massive sets in the main hall. If AE has a theme this year it is “ease”: the festival is still Quite The Journey, but everything you need is close to hand.

Program

The program will go live at 6PM AWST on April 9, 2026. Program launch event announced soon.

Accessibility

• Victoria Hall is an 8 minute walk from Fremantle Station (about 550m) over footpaths and paved roads. 915 and 502 bus routes stop immediately outside the venue.

• Victoria Hall is wheelchair accessible. Some steps separate the bar from the outdoor courtyard, however there is an alternative accessible pathway around the other side of the main hall. We’re currently looking into a ramp for these steps. 

• The music in the festival is extremely diverse, ranging from extremely quiet, minimal music to loud, repetitive and rhythmic music, noise and drone. Each set is succinctly described in the program to help you decide whether something is for you.

• Lighting is a mixture of natural light and warm, ambient light. No lights flashing faster than 5Hz, projections, or strobe lights are used in the festival.

• There is a dedicated quiet, low-stim space in the venue. There are also indoor and outdoor social spaces which can be used for a rest between or during sets.

• Snacks are available during morning programs, and dinner is available for purchase inside the venue in the evenings. Lunch is best found by going for a short stroll, there’s plenty close by in Fremantle.

• We have a small accessibility budget set aside for any attendees who need financial assistance in order to attend. That could be to pay a support person to come with you, or to get an uber to and from the venue door. We encourage disabled folks to get in touch with us to have a chat if you require financial support in order to make your attendance more comfortable.

Acknowledgments

Audible Edge is a project of Tone List, a Boorloo-based label for exploratory music founded in 2016.

Tone List operates on Whadjuk Noongar boodja: sovereign Country for eternity. We pay respects to Elders and custodians across time. We dream of a culture of sounding & listening which supports restorative justice and the Lore of the land.

Aboriginal and Palestinian folks are welcome to flexible-price or free tickets to our program as a token of our acknowledgment of their continuing struggles for justice.

Tone List and AE26 are principally sponsored by the WA government through the Department of Cultural Industries, Tourism & Sport (CITS), with additional support from the City of Fremantle, Liquid Architecture, the Audio Foundation, Culture Ireland, and Fremantle Small Projects.

Graphic design by Michael Gunson (Mike Midnight).