Nando's turned its Fitzroy chicken shop into a secret micro-festival for live music

Step up Nando's long-running music-support strategy into a platform giving emerging artists a centre stage and young people live music they can still afford, built with independent agency Reconnected.

Bus guests to a 'secret location' that turns out to be a Nando's restaurant, and run a micro-festival of emerging and established artists inside the chicken shop.

The first-ever Chicken Shop Sessions took over Nando's Fitzroy on Smith Street, Melbourne: Nina Las Vegas opened as DJ and MC, 20-year-old singer-songwriter ISHAN played tracks from his debut EP, multi-genre artist CHAII performed, and Perth reggae-rock band Coterie headlined.

The first session filled the Fitzroy store, and Nando's announced plans to take Chicken Shop Sessions to New Zealand to showcase local artists. No attendance or sales figures were reported.

Over the weekend before 14 August 2026, independent full-service agency Reconnected partnered with Nando's Australia to launch the first-ever Nando's Chicken Shop Sessions at the Nando's Fitzroy store on Smith Street, Melbourne.

The night was an electrifying micro-festival: guests were bussed to a secret location revealed as the Smith Street Fitzroy store, where DJ and dance producer Nina Las Vegas kicked off the evening as MC. Emerging 20-year-old singer-songwriter ISHAN performed tracks from his debut EP — his unreleased tracks had already drawn 18 million views on social media — multi-genre artist CHAII played her distinctive sound, and Perth reggae-rock band Coterie, hailed as one of the fastest rising bands in Australia and New Zealand, closed the night.

The context is a live-music squeeze: festival cancellations (Splendour among them) and the mass closure of venues, with young people increasingly priced out of gigs. Head of brand and marketing Tom Blackburn framed the sessions as giving emerging artists centre stage and young fans access to live music, extending Nando's decades of supporting artists 'from Ed Sheeran to Post Malone'. Nando's plans to bring Chicken Shop Sessions to New Zealand next.

The venue twist is the hook: a secret bus ride ending at a functioning chicken shop converts a sponsorship gesture into a story.

It answers a real cultural problem — festival cancellations, venue closures, price-excluded young fans — rather than inventing an occasion.

The artist line-up skews emerging (ISHAN, CHAII), matching the brand's stated role as a ladder for acts on the way up.

It scales a long-standing habit (Nando's feeding artists) into a named, repeatable platform with cross-Tasman expansion plans.

When a cultural infrastructure collapses, a brand with spare physical space can step into the gap — and the rescue IS the marketing.

Nando's announced plans to bring Chicken Shop Sessions to New Zealand to showcase local emerging and established artists in the near future. No figures from the first session were reported.