Music lovers in and around Brisbane are about to be spoiled for choice with this year’s Brisbane Festival, which stretches from 8th to 29th September, book-ended by an opening night and closing night that both feature massive line-ups taking to the Riverstage. The former will be headlined by Ball Park Music and San Cisco in addition to Ruby Fields and Tia Gostelow, while the latter brings in Violent Soho with Meg Mac, Methyl Ethyl and WAAX, a program that’ll no doubt be extra special thanks to the night-sky backdrop of Sunsuper Riverfire.
That’s definitely not all though. Over the few weeks of the festival, venues around the city will welcome in some of the finest live acts in Australia, and a few special international guests, with stages ranging from Treasury Brisbane Arcadia on South Bank’s Cultural Forecourt, populated by bars, food stalls and multiple venues, including the always popular The Courier-Mail Spiegeltent, to Brisbane’s beloved The Tivoli.
You can peep the full venue-by-venue breakdown of who is performing below, but just know you’ll be running around frantically trying to catch sets from the likes of Canada’s Destroyer, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Jen Cloher, The Teskey Brothers, Touch Sensitive & CC:Disco, and Tkay Maidza in the Spiegeltent; Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Struggle With Glory (a new project from Cat Empire frontman Harry James Angus), and Yothu Yindi & The Treaty Project at The Tivoli; and more.
Bound to be special parts of the festival will be intimate “In The Round” sessions (also at The Tivoli) with the likes of Sarah Blasko, Gareth Liddiard (The Drones), and Polish Club, as well as unconventional performances at QPAC, which include an emotive musical production title Gratitude & Grief, starring Katie Noonan’s Exlir alongside Michael Leunig and Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, Camerata, who will also be teaming up on another night for a special performance with Eskimo Joe.
“Brisbane loves music and Brisbane Festival reflects that spirit with a line-up of some of our greatest local bands alongside other top Australian and international acts,” said Brisbane Festival’s Artistic Director David Berthold. “We’re thrilled that we can offer two, brilliant mini-festivals at Riverstage to mark our opening and closing night, each led by bands that make Brisbane proud. And between those two concerts we have a mix of great music, often in energising one-of-a-kind presentations such as our “In The Round” at The Tivoli, and the Touch Sensitive/CC:Disco B2B, and the Camerata collaborations”.
With a reputation for thinking outside of the box with live music, it should be another incredibly successful Brisbane Festival for 2018. You can grab the full details of what’s in store over at brisbanefestival.com.au
Brisbane Festival 2018
Dates: 8th – 29th September
Riverstage Opening Night Concert
Ball Park Music
San Cisco
Ruby Fields
Tia Gostelow
Riverstage Closing Night Party
Violent Soho
Meg Mac
Methyl Ethel
WAAX
QPAC
Gratitude & Grief – Katie Noonan’s Elixir, Michael Leunig and Camerata
Eskimo Joe w/ Camerata
Treasury Brisbane Arcadia / The Courier-Mail Spiegeltent
Destroyer
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
Jen Cloher
The Teskey Brothers
Tkay Maidza
Touch Sensitive / CC : Disco B2B
Tivoli
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Harry James Angus – Struggle With Glory
Yothu Yindi and The Treaty Project
Pub Choir
Tivoli in the Round
Sarah Blasko
Gareth Liddiard
Polish Club
Tickets and more details: brisbanefestival.com.au
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