From country to blues, to indie and even rockabilly, we’ve put together all the big music events happening across Queensland Australia each year. Check it out below.
CMC Rocks QLD
Brisbane
(March)
CMC Rocks is Australia’s Biggest International Country & Roots Festival. The 2019 lineup featured Florida Georgia Line, Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett; a must-see for any self-respecting country music fan.
Big Pineapple
Sunshine Coast
(May)
Big Pineapple Music Festival is an over 18s one-day camping event held on the Sunshine Coast, QLD. The festival’s name was inspired by the tourist attraction situated across from the festival site.
Surfers Paradise Live
Gold Coast
(May)
Surfers Paradise Live is the award-winning four-day music festival which takes over Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast each May.
Featuring live music acts on over 40 stages and multiple venues throughout the Surfers Paradise precinct, the family-friendly festival is a calendar highlight for locals.
The festival has hosted The Living End, Hoodoo Gurus, The Screaming Jets, Daryl Braithwaite, Jebediah, Reece Mastin, Thirsty Merc, Chocolate Starfish, Boom Crash Opera, and Bachelor Girl in the past
Queensland Music Festival
Queensland
(July)
Queensland Music Festival takes place every second year, in July, delivering the best of local, national and international talent.
Taking place in Brisbane, and in regional and remote centres from Thursday Island to the Gold Coast, the festival is predominantly free to attend with no music genre left unticked.
Blues On Broadbeach Music Festival
Gold Coast
(May)
Four-day blues and roots extravaganza, the Blues on Broadbeach Festival, is Australia’s largest free music festival. Think food for the soul, and the best of local blues to jam to, this is one Queensland festival that has to be experienced to understand the hype.
Noosa Alive!
(Noosa)
(July)
NOOSA alive! is a 10-day festival of theatre, literature, music, dance, film, visual arts, cuisine and “barrier-breaking forums” – all hosted at one of Australia’s most picturesque destinations: Noosa Heads, Queensland.
The festival was founded by Australian playwright David Williamson, author Kristin Williamson, internationally renowned violinist Brett Dean, environmental activist Dr Michael Gloster, restaurateur Leonie Palmer-Fisher together with Rick Clayton and Ros McCauley.
Cooly Rocks On
Gold Coast
(June)
Get ready to rock. Cooly Rocks On is Australia’s favourite nostalgia festival celebrating the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. Think music, retro markets, dancing, car cruises, nostalgia and good old-fashioned family fun all on the main drag in Coolangatta.
Woodford Folk Festival
Woodfordia
(Dec-Jan)
Woodford Folk Festival is an iconic cultural, music, arts environment and performance event featuring more than 2000 performers, 35 venues and 438 acts. Running annually from December 27 until January 1, the festival takes over Woodfordia for 100,000 people near the semi-rural town of Woodford for six days and nights.
Live music, dance, indigenous performances, theatre, comedy, film, street performances, visual arts, sustainability forums and so much more comprise a festival for everyone.
Yarrabah Music & Cultural Festival
North Queensland
(June)
Drawing crowds of up to 4,000, Yarrabah Music and Cultural Festival is one of Australia’s most idyllic coastal festivals. Teaming together local music from some of Australia’s brightest stars, visual arts and flavours, the community event encourages local Indigenous artists to take to the stage. Past performers include Baker Boy, Yothu Yindi and Thandi Phoenix.
Hosted in the beachside town of Yarrabah in Tropical North Queensland, Yarrabah Music and Cultural Festival is a place to immerse yourself in local arts.
River Sessions
Mackay
(June)
Mackay’s River Sessions Festival has seen both Queensland and Australia’s biggest names play since its inception in 2009. As Queensland’s largest non-touring single day music festival, River Sessions showcases the best local talent from dance, hip hop and rock/indie circles, all in the boutique setting of Mackay’s Queens Park.
Birdsville Big Red Bash
Birdsville
(July)
Family-friendly, uniquely Australian and a ‘must-do’ bucket-list event; the Big Red Bash is an outback experience which combines desert camping and concerts.
Iconic Aussie musicians like Midnight Oil, Kasey Chambers and The Living End have all headed to Birdsville in previous years to perform under a star-speckled canopy on the edge of the Simpson Desert in south-west Queensland. The three-day festival has been labelled the world’s most remote concert.
Listen Out
Brisbane
(September)
Listen Out is an Australian hip hop and dance music festival held in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane. The event has hosted international multiple big name international acts as well as Australian talent.
Winton’s Way Out West Fest
Winton
(April)
Winton’s Way Out West Fest is one of the newest additions to Queensland’s festival landscape. With its inaugural run in 2018 to mark the reopening of the iconic Waltzing Matilda Centre, the festival boasts 170 hours of music (or four jam-packed days) across eight stages.
The camping festival is for fans of country, pop, rock and blues, with past performers including Amy Shark, John Williamson, Missy Higgins, Brett Eldredge, San Cisco, and Lime Cordiale.
Village Fest
Logan Village
(August)
The all-ages Village Fest features Australian rock legends Choirboys, and local Logan talent. Family-friendly and sponsored by the local City Council, the event is held at the Logan Regional Producers Market on the Green.
Opera At Jimbour
Jimbour Homestead
(July)
Opera at Jimbour is a country experience with a classical twist. Presented by Queensland Music Festival, Western Downs Regional Council, Opera Queensland and Russell Pastoral Company, the event is held every second year at Jimbour Station, featuring live music, wine, and food in an amphitheatre outdoor setting.
Set against the backdrop of Jimbour House, the event features hundreds of local produce stalls, along with including wine and gourmet picnic baskets to purchase.
Stradbroke Chamber Music Festival
North Stradbroke
(July)
The Stradbroke Chamber Music Festival is hosted in one of the world’s most naturally magnificent locations on Stradbroke Island, 30 kilometres southeast of Brisbane.
Enriching island community life, the festival features world-class musicians playing chamber music masterpieces in intimate settings.
Groundwater Country Music Festival
Gold Coast
(July)
Groundwater Country Music Festival is a free event held on the Gold Coast over 3 days in July, Featuring local and international talent in a beachside setting at Broadbeach, the festival has come to be a calendar highlight with past headliners including Lee Kernaghan, Beccy Cole, Granger Smith and The McClymonts.
Gulf Country Frontier Days Festival
Burketown
(August)
Frontier Days Festival is Australia’s largest Indigenous Rodeo, Arts, Music and Cultural Festival, and Home of the Indigenous Rodeo Championships. Hosted annually in Burketown, in Gregory Downs, Frontier Days is a celebration of everything uniquely Australian.
Australian Festival Of Chamber Music
Townsville
(July – August)
The Australian Festival of Chamber Music North Queensland Ltd (AFCM) was established in 1991 by the then Vice Chancellor of James Cook University, Professor Ray Golding. Created to enhance the cultural environment of Townsville and North Queensland, the festival presents 30 to 40 internationally acclaimed musicians to audiences with 30 concerts hosted over a 10 day period.
As part of the Festival’s commitment to the region concerts are also held in surrounding centres with past events taking place in Charters Towers, Mount Isa, Ayr, Karumba, Magnetic Island and Orpheus Island and Radical Bay.
Jumpers & Jazz Festival
Southern Downs
(July)
Quirky, colourful and a good yarn (get it?), the Jumpers and Jazz Festival in Warwick brings the local community together to change their streetscape by jumpering trees in textiles and hosting over 30 jazz performances over 10 days in winter.
Gympie Music Muster
Sunshine Coast
(August)
Queensland country institution the Gympie Music Muster sees thousands of punters make the pilgrimage to Gympie each year to celebrate blues, roots and most importantly, country music.
The festival site spills out over 50 hectares of bushland every August for four days of music and mateship at the Amamoor Creek Forest.
Horizon Festival
Sunshine Coast
(Aug – Sept)
10 full arts-fuelled days makes Horizon Festival one of the Sunshine Coast’s premier multi-arts festivals. Horizon features visual art, music, performance, words + ideas, film and creative workshops.
Bigsound Festival
Brisbane
(September)
Bigsound is an annual Australian festival of new music and music industry conference held in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.
As Australia’s biggest music industry conference, it’s your annual opportunity to discover the future of Australian music. Running over four September days and nights, Brisbane comes alive with a global gathering of musicians, industry, brands, media and music lovers.
In 2018, Bigsound contributed $2.79M to the Brisbane economy, cementing its place on Australia’s cultural calendar as the place where the shape of future business is forged.
Mitchell Creek Rock N Blues Festival
Sunshine Coast
(September)
Mitchell Creek Rock ‘N’ Blues Fest is hosted on a private 100 acre property up in Noosa Hinterland’s beautiful Mary Valley. Catch 150 artists over three days and nights with free-camping available.
Caloundra Music Festival
Sunshine Coast
(October)
Sun, surf and soul. The annual Caloundra Music Festival held over the October long weekend sees Kings Beach and surrounds come alive with Australian music and international talent. The not for profit family-friendly community event celebrates the environment, cultural achievements and community pride of the Caloundra area.
Island Vibe Festival
Brisbane
(October)
Island Vibe is a destination festival that takes place on the stunning North Stradbroke Island in south-east Queensland. It’s a festival unlike any others in the country, bringing punters an exciting and interactive program of music, arts and culture in October.
The carefully curated lineup of world class musicians are as diverse as they are talented, bringing a huge range of musical stylings to the festival.
RedFest Strawberry Festival
Cleveland
(September)
Redland City’s largest annual festival RedFest is an annual two-day music and cultural festival held each September in Cleveland, just 25 minutes east of Brisbane on beautiful Moreton Bay.
Boasting live music, kids entertainment, food stall, fireworks, rides, showbags, and the renowned Strawberry Eating Competition, RedFest is a jam-packed blaze of colour and culture.
Airlie Beach Festival Of Music
Airlie Beach
(November)
Taking over Airlie Beach, on the northern bite of the Whitsunday Islands, this tropical getaway of a festival is a beach jam session like no other.
Airlie Beach Festival Of Music is held over three days in November, to see over 200 musicians play over 17 stages at the Heart of the Great Barrier Reef.
