Lineup revealed for Hills festival’s tenth year
More than 65 per cent of tickets to Handpicked were pre-sold before the lineup even dropped. Today, we’ll let you in on the big acts coming to Langhorne Creek.
Set in an iconic Langhorne Creek location at Lake Breeze Wines, Handpicked will return for its 10th year on November 14.
And with 65 per cent of tickets sold before a single artist was announced, 2026 may be the festival’s biggest yet.
CityMag can today reveal that amongst the fully Aussie lineup is Adelaide’s own Guy Sebastian, plus Missy Higgins, Kita Alexander, The Living End, Old Mervs and The Tesky Brothers.
The idea for the festival was formed in 2014 by sisters Kate Cooper and Lauren Maxfield, whose grandparents own the winery.
They wanted to showcase the location and family wines, inspired by other music festivals like A Day on the Green and Sounds by the River.
It was something they thought would amount to a “small event,” Kate tells CityMag.
“Something just to get people to drink the wine, and come and visit our backyard,” she says.
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The inaugural event saw 1400 people attend the family’s winery, and since then, Kate says, “it just got bigger and bigger”.
Last year’s festival brought in a record crowd of 9000, generating around $1.7 million to $2.4 million for the local economy.
12 years on and preparing to celebrate the festival’s tenth year, Kate says that she “never could have predicted it would be like this”.
“I feel pretty lucky that my family have backed it for so many years now, because it’s certainly an expensive and risky industry to be in,” she says.
Kate hopes the festival is bringing more people to the little-known region year-round.
“We definitely hope we’re painting a good picture of the region, and you know, leaving people with a pretty good taste in their mouth so that they do want to come back,” she says.
Kate says that the festival’s longevity is down to its “loyal customers”.
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“We’ve definitely got people that have been to every single festival, one of them even has had three kids,” she says.
“65 per cent of people will always come,” she says.
“Then that newer part of the audience are coming for the artists, and the experience”.
When asked about her favourite memories of the festival, Kate says “it’s always Grandpa that pulls my heartstrings”.
She recalls once, in the early stages of the festival, taking him for a walk around the festival site.
“He was just so happy, he normally has his cows in the paddock out there, and he was like, look at all these happy people in my backyard,” she says.
“This is a man who does everything he can to help local businesses,” she says.
“He felt really good that he was bringing people to his backyard, but more so to the region.”
She recalled another “adorable moment” which involved her grandpa playing frisbee with artist Matt Corby.
“Matt Corby had just been on stage sound checking, and he got off and started chilling out on the grass,” she says.
“He started playing frisbee with some of his bandmates, so Grandpa went over and started playing frisbee with them.
“Anyway, half an hour later, Grandpa comes back and he’s like, ‘Oh, that was a bit of fun.’ I’m like, ‘Grandpa, you were just playing frisbee with Matt Corby!'”
The Handpicked Festival will kick off on Saturday November 14th at Lake Breeze Wines, Langhorne Creek. Find out more here.
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