Queer your calendar, assemble your crew, and start planning your fiercest festival looks, Brisbane/Magandjin’s boldest celebration of LGBTQIA+ art, identity and pride, Melt Festival, returns to venues across the city from 22 October to 9 November 2025.
Featuring hundreds of performances and events at over 60 venues across 18 days, Melt will once again see Australia’s LGBTQIA+ community and allies come together to revel in inclusivity, community, diversity and creativity as the city sings with pageants, parades and protest, musical theatre, comedy, a monumental choral installation, burlesque, visual arts, theatre and so much more!
“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,” said Melt Executive Producer, Emmie Paranthoiene.
Leading the charge down the Melt catwalk, Miss First Nation 2025 – the fiercest Blak drag pageant is in Brisbane for the first time! After an all-stars edition at Sydney World Pride 2023, they’re returning – bigger, bolder, and more fabulous than ever. Who will take the crown in 2025?
Renowned contemporary artist Gerwyn Davies will collaborate with Trans and gender diverse young people from Open Doors Youth Service to create Shimmer – a bold exhibition of photographic portraits on display at Museum of Brisbane and amplified city-wide through a large scale outdoor installation. Featuring vivid visuals and sculptural costumes, this powerful exhibition celebrates Queer identity, self-expression, resilience, and the power of chosen visibility.
Iconic star of stage and screen Bernadette Peters will perform a selection of her favourites, for one night only and exclusively for Melt! Set to be Peters’ first Australian performance in over a decade, and a major cultural moment for theatre and music lovers alike, An Evening with Bernadette Peters will hit the Brisbane Convention Centre on Friday 24 October.
After making a spectacular splash in 2024, the Brisbane River/Maiwar will once again flow rainbow as River Pride Parade returns on Saturday 8 November with an even more fabulous flotilla from West End to Brisbane Powerhouse. No boat? Jump aboard The Pride Ride or join the free, family-friendly River Pride Picnic at New Farm Park, complete with food trucks, live music and rainbow fireworks.
Superstar in the making Tomáš Kantor’s award-winning debut Sugar follows its namesake, a radiant gender fluid twink navigating transactional love with Pretty Woman as their guide. Packed with charisma and pop hits from the likes of Melt Fest alum Chappell Roan, this electric cabaret explores sex, power and luxury, all atop a grand piano.
Winner of the 2024 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award, Malacañang Made Us by Jordan Shea, will make its world premiere at Queensland Theatre’s Bille Brown Theatre, La Boite Theatre presents Griffin Theatre Company’s Whitefella Yella Tree by Dylan Van Den Berg at the Roundhouse Theatre, while The Lucky Country takes a fearless look at protest, power and national identity.
One of the country’s favourite comedians, Urzila Carlson, will return to Brisbane for two special encore shows following her hugely popular Just Jokes 2024 Australian tour. Come for a show and leave with a sore face from laughing so hard.
Diving deeper into the bold, diverse and electric spirit of Melt, the festival welcomes the return of some audience favourites and the debut of bold new works. BRIEFS: Jealousss storms the stage with high-octane drag, circus and mischief, while the infamous Briefs Bus hits the streets for guided tours of Brisbane’s Queer history, equal parts education and outrageous entertainment. Cult hit Queer PowerPoint also returns by popular demand, where everyday icons present hilariously personal, delightfully low-stakes slideshows with maximum Queer heart.
New in 2025 is Melting Pot – a pop-up venue pulsing at Brisbane Powerhouse each weekend of the festival, created in collaboration with Queer music collective QUIVR. It’s set to be a riot of performance, music and community featuring Miss First Nation heats, Quiet on Set with rock-pop powerhouse Hope D, Queer line dancing with Saddle Club, plus Melt Artist showcases, QUIVR DJs and surprise pop-ups. Think late-night energy, underground flavour and full-spectrum Queer joy.
The boundary-pushing continues with Rhythmology – a bold, genre-blending theatrical performance that centers around the theme of a “factory reset”, a return to core values and creative identity, while Melt audiences will be left speechless by Reuben Kaye’s glamour, brilliance and wit in Reuben Kaye: enGORGEd.
For those with rug rats in tow, Play Date is a joyful, high-energy disco packed with music, dancing, Auslan-friendly moves and crafty fun. Perfect for families and children aged two to seven. Scheduled perfectly alongside the River Pride Parade; see the show and then join the Pride Picnic for a full day of fun for Brisbane’s rainbow families.
And that’s not all! Melt Festival will also feature the triumphant return of Shandy and GoGo Bumhole when they wrestle it out at Hole-Mania 2: The Second Coming, the seductive burlesque spectacle of Reverie, and Valencia Low-Fi, Amaro Mayfair and Sutro will stage the Architects of Sound comeback no-one asked for, but everyone deserves!
Sports fans can catch the high-energy Brisbane Spikers Volleyball Summer Meltdown Tournament, community favourites Tropical Fruits and QUIVR will present some of the finest DJs of the Northern Rivers and Magandjin, or be part of something unforgettable as 1000 Voices come together in unity to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community during the final weekend of Melt.
CULT will serve up a showcase of the finest artists in the game of burlesque, sideshow, drag, performance art & more at their final show of the year. And Zelphia Mann, Magandjin’s muscled up hottie is back at Melt again with another instalment of King for a Day Workshop expanding on their sold-out event in 2024.
Close out Melt with Meltdown – a debaucherous finale curated by the infamous GoGo Bumhole and Shandy. Expect a wild night of pop-up performances, hot DJs, and unpredictable delights as we blow the roof off the festival in true Melt style.
Chair for Community and the Arts Councillor Vicki Howard said the festival would showcase the incredible arts scene in Brisbane. “Melt Festival is a celebration of the bold, creative, and inclusive spirit that makes Brisbane shine,” said Cr Howard.
“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.”
With a program that’s bursting with pride, protest and pure Queer joy, Melt 2025 promises to be another unforgettable moment in Australia’s cultural calendar. See you on the dancefloor, the riverbank and everywhere in between!
The Melt Festival runs 22 October to 9 November 2025. For more information and full program, visit: www.melt.org.au for details.
Images: Brisbane’s Story Bridge (supplied) | Bernadette Peters – photo by Andrew Eccles | Malacañang Made Us – photo by Sam Scoufos | Reuben Kaye stars in enGORGEd – photo by Claudio Raschella | 1000 Voices (supplied)