Festival Calendar 2024: The Best Queensland Music Festivals

Festivals are well and truly back and we couldn’t be more ready to be out and about in the sunshine, under the stars, amongst people and most importantly… amongst the music!

With entertainment and the arts returning to normal, we’re beginning to plan out our festival calendar, so we thought we’d share the best events on track for 2024 through 2025.

From the major players like Splendour In The Grass and CMC Rocks to the lesser known (or brand new!) festivals, we’ve found a mix of the best Queensland music festivals on the radar.

From the outback to the shores of Byron Bay, these music festivals are spread across the region and range from country to soul and hip-hop.

There’s something on offer for every kind of music lover. So keep on scrolling and start getting your playlist ready for the road trip, it’s time to plan out your Queensland festival calendar for the next few months!

Open Season

After a successful first year of events, Open Season has cemented itself as part of The Tivoli’s annual programming, and we’re giddy with glee about it. This festival is spread across the two venues and spans over thirty performances from local and international acts.

2024’s lineup sees an eclectic mix of live music, performance art and laneway parties come to life. Combined with the old-world glamour of two of Brisbane’s most iconic venues, this premier arts festival will be one to add to your calendar year after year.

Monday 20th May to Saturday 24th August 2024

The Princess Theatre, 8 Annerley Road, Woolloongabba

The Tivoli, 52 Costin Street, Fortitude Valley

Brisbane Festival 2024

Brisbane Festival returns and we’re ever so ready for it! Celebrating the lifestyle, persona and energy of our river city, these highly anticipated events bring an enormous calendar of performance, art and culture back to our doorsteps.

From light shows to renowned artist performances and incredible installations, this is the best time of year to explore the growing pace of Brisbane’s arts and cultural scene. With some of the Festival’s installations beginning from August, the program will be in full swing from September 1st and we recommend booking tickets now to prevent any disappointment, as events will sell out fast!

Saturday to Sunday 31st August

Sweet Relief!

For iconic party vibes, head down to Ballymore Stadium for nostalgia-filled dance floor hits from none other than Y2K R&B royalty Kelis (whose milkshake brought the boys to the yard), The Presets, Eurovision-dominating duo Electric Fields, electro-pop icons Haiku Hands and genre-bending DJ dameeeela.

Sweet Relief! is an inclusive festival at the heart, ensuring accessibility and a safe space for everyone who steps onto the dance floor. Explore art, music and performance at this not-to-be-missed Brisbane Festival 2024 event.

Saturday 7th September, 12:00pm

Ballymore Stadium, 91 Clyde Road, Herston

Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers

Toowoomba’s most exciting event of the year happens each September, and if you haven’t yet attended, you’ve certainly heard of it. The Carnival of Flowers showcases incredible floral displays, garden tours, live music and of course the grand parade. Whether you’re a green thumb or simply an admirer of beautiful things, it’s the best time of year to visit Toowoomba and soak up the food, florals and culture that come to life.

If you’re searching for things to do in Toowoomba, you’ll find the widest variety of events occurring throughout October, from food and wine festivals, live music from your favourite bands and arts and crafts workshops so you can make a little bit of magic to remember your trip by. The programme changes each year and accommodation books out months in advance, so make sure you’ve planned and prepared accordingly!

Friday 13th September - Monday 7th October, 2024

Various locations across Toowoomba

Listen Out Festival

Need to shake some stress out of your system? The dance festival of the year is the perfect place to let off some steam and dance like none of the thousands of other festival-goers are watching.

Set at the iconic Brisbane Showgrounds, there’ll be plenty of room to stretch your legs or rest your worn-out party feet on the grandstands at this Queensland music festival. Stay tuned, the lineup will be announced soon!

Friday 5th October 2024

Brisbane Showgrounds, 600 Gregory Terrace, Bowen Hills

Promiseland

A cutting-edge, multi-genre festival experience returns to the Gold Coast in 2024, blending the intersecting rhythms of Afrobeats, Reggae and R&B. Promiseland promises an effervescent new experience by delivering a cultural melting pot of global music, culture and energy.

This Queensland music festival offers more than tunes, with unique brand activations, market-style shopping plus some surprises along the way!

The 2022 debut of Promiseland was a breakthrough event for the African and Polynesian people in our communities, celebrating and sharing their culture with this landmark new event. Stay tuned, the lineup will be announced soon!

Friday 4th October to Sunday 6th October 2024

Doug Jennings Park, Main Beach

Savannah In The Round

Don your Akubra and boot scoot your way down to the Mareeba Rodeo Grounds for Savannah In The Round, a three-day festival with over thirty artists on the bill! Located in the Atherton Tablelands of Tropical North Queensland, you can easily combine your trip up north for this music festival with a vacay to Cairns or Port Douglas.

Featuring heavy-hitting major acts like The Living End, Hoodoo Gurus and Troy Cassar-Daly this year, lovers of country, blues and roots will be in their element in this beautiful pocket of Tropical North Queensland. Opt to glamp, camp, snuggle in a swag or stay a little further afield with shuttle buses running daily.

Friday 11th October to Sunday 13th October 2024

State Route 27, Mareeba

Good Things

One of the newer kids on the festival scene is Good Things, a punk, rock and hardcore festival that is simultaneously proficient in bringing nostalgic vibes whilst embracing new and emerging artists on the scene!

Pulling huge international acts such as Bring Me The Horizon and Deftones as headliners in past years, the organisers behind this Queensland music festival are keeping us hanging at the moment. We recommend signing up online for updates, as official headliners and dates are yet to be confirmed. Don your Doc Martens, and we’ll catch you in the mosh!

Sunday 8th December

CMC Rocks 

Howdy ma’am, it’s time to pull on your boots and jeans and get ready for Australia’s biggest country music festival.

The country music scene is a touch underserved when it comes to live music, so CMC is the best Queensland music festival to see multiple major country acts all in one location. In its 17th year of rocking the lives of country music fans across the nation, the Southern Hemisphere’s largest international country music festival found its home at Queensland’s Willowbank Raceway near Ipswich.

Prepare to dance the nights away from Friday 21st March to Sunday 23rd March 2025 when CMC Rocks QLD returns to Ipswich for one showstopping weekend.

Friday 21st March to Sunday 23rd March 2025

Willowbank Raceway, 38 Champions Way, Willowbank

OUT 2 LUNCH FESTIVAL 

A brand new festival is coming to Coolangatta Beach this May, brought to you by world-renowned local DJ FISHER and TEG Live.

Dance your cares away to energetic live performances by Flight Facilities, Little Fritter and Shimmy on the beachfront of Coolangatta, for Euro summer vibes like no other. Plus, $1 from each ticket sold will be donated to the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

2025 Dates TBC

Coolangatta Beachfront, Coolangatta

With such a full calendar of diverse Queensland music festivals, we couldn’t be more thrilled to see the music and entertainment industry revived and thriving. Prep your skin for the festival season with these new beauty products that we’re currently loving! If festival season sets off your wanderlust, check out these dreamy day trips from Brisbane that will scratch your travel itch. See you under the stars!