Pula Arena, the Roman amphitheatre on Croatia's Istrian coast, has booked a big one: Russell Crowe will bring his music project Indoor Garden Party to the ancient stadium on 27 June 2027, and organisers are calling it the biggest European stop on his 2027 tour.
If you only know Crowe from the movies, the concert format might come as a surprise. Indoor Garden Party started in 2009 and is less a conventional gig than a rolling musical get-together. Crowe describes it as part band, part event, with a rotating cast of guest musicians joining him on stage each time. The sound stretches across rock, blues, folk and country, and storytelling between songs is part of the appeal — expect anecdotes as much as setlists. Crowe won his Oscar for Gladiator, but music has run alongside his film career for decades, and the project has grown into an international live format with a different line-up at every show.
The venue alone justifies the trip. Pula Arena is one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres anywhere, sitting at the heart of Pula on Istria's southern tip. It doubles as one of Croatia's flagship concert venues in summer, and the 2027 show is being pitched as a regional draw — organisers expect crowds not just from Croatia but from Slovenia, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina and further afield in Europe.
Details on tickets and the supporting line-up haven't been released yet, so anyone keen to go should keep an eye on announcements over the coming months. Given the arena's track record of hosting major summer concerts, availability is likely to tighten once tickets go on sale.
For travellers, this is a neat excuse to build a holiday around a one-night event. Istria in late June means warm evenings, coastal towns like Rovinj and Motovun within easy reach, and Croatia's truffle-and-seafood food scene at its best. Fly into Pula itself or nearby Zagreb, Ljubljana or Trieste and combine the concert with a few days on the Adriatic.
