Melt Festival is BACK in Brisbane – queer your calendars, assemble the crew, and start planning your looks.
Melt Festival will feature hundreds of performances and events at more than 60 venues across 18 days, once again seeing Australia’s LGBTQIA+ community and allies come together to revel in inclusivity, community, diversity and creativity.
“The next chapter of Melt turns the volume up on Queer joy, protest and pride. We’re celebrating the full spectrum of LGBTQIA+ voices, from bold new talent to iconic artists who continue to break boundaries with this diverse program. Melt is a love letter to our community and everyone’s invited to the party,” Melt Executive Producer Emmie Paranthoiene says.
Miss First Nation 2025 will lead the charge down the Melt catwalk. It’s the fiercest Blak drag pageant taking over Brisbane for the first time.
Renowned contemporary artist Gerwyn Davies will collaborate with trans and gender diverse young people from Open Doors Youth Service for Shimmer, a bold exhibition of photographic portraits on display at Museum Of Brisbane. It will feature vivid visuals and sculptural costumes and celebrate Queer identity, self-expression, resilience, and the power of chosen visibility.
Iconic stage and screen stage Bernadette Peters will take to the stage, in a night exclusively for Melt in Brisbane, at Brisbane Convention Centre.
River Pride Picnic - Image © Brizzypix
River Pride Parade returns as the Brisbane River flows rainbow. You can jump aboard the Pride Ride or join the River Pride Picnic at New Farm Park.
‘Sugar’, from Tomáš Kantor, follows a radiant, gender-fluid Twink navigating transactional love, and is packed with charisma and pop hits.
One of the country’s favourite comedians Urzila Carlson will hit Melt for two encore shows, following her ‘Just Jokes’ tour. Come for a show, leave with a sore face from all the LOLs.
Audience favourites will make their returns with bold new works, like ‘BRIEFS: Jealousss’, and cult hit ‘Queer PowerPoint’, returning by popular demand.
Meanwhile, new this year is the Melting Pot, a pop-up venue pulsing at Brisbane Powerhouse each weekend of the festival. It’ll feature Miss First Nation heats, Quiet On Set with Hope D, Queer line dancing with Saddle Club, and more.
Briefs - 'Jealousss'
For those with rugrats in tow, ‘Play Date’ is a joyful, high-energy disco packed with music, dancing, and fun for families and children aged two to seven. It’s scheduled perfectly alongside the River Pride Parade so you can see the show and then join the Pride Picnic for a full day of fun.
‘Meltdown’ will bring it all to a close in a debaucherous finale curated by the infamous GoGo Bumhole and Shandy. Audiences can expect a wild night of pop-up performances, hot DJs, and unpredictable delights.
“Melt Festival is a celebration of the bold, creative, and inclusive spirit that makes Brisbane shine,” Chair for Community and the Arts Councillor Vicki Howard says. “From world-class performances to vibrant community connections, this festival embodies our city’s heart and is part of what makes us the lifestyle capital of Australia. We’re proud to support events that bring people together and create more to see and do in our suburbs.”
Tickets are on sale now.
Melt Festival is on in Brisbane 22 October-9 November.
This story originally appeared on our queer sister site, FROOTY.
