What's on in Brisbane
Brisbane's calendar is gearing up with activities, music, eating, theatre and sports galore. To help you stay in the know, we’ll keep you updated on what’s on around Brisbane and what local businesses are good to go.
EAT STREET IS BACK! | Every Fri & Sat 4pm to 10pm, Sunday 4pm to 9pm
Food lovers rejoice! The ultimate foodie haven is reopening it’s fairy-lit gates so we can all get our food-coma’s back on. Head back to Eat Street Northshore for all the food truck goodness. Reopening for weekends from Friday December 4th.
GIGS & PICNICS| MARCH 27 - Last Saturday of every month
Gigs & Picnics is returning to The City on March 27! Held on the last Saturday of every month in Brisbane City's beautiful Botanic Gardens, get together with friends and family to enjoy this free event with food trucks and live music.
Get ready to explore Brisbane’s creative neighbourhoods with Brisbane Art Design in May 2021. With a focus on art and design across the city, Brisbane Art Design 2021 promises a stunning festival with an expansive program of tours, talks, workshops and exhibitions.
Presented by TAB, enjoy a grand show of the best of Australasia’s thoroughbred horse racing, accompanied by culinary delights, elegant fashion and sensational entertainment from 1 May to 12 June 2021.
Dine BNE City is a celebration of The City’s best restaurants and bars 🥂 From 13-30 May, this first-of-its-kind event will tempt taste buds with 80+ exclusive offers and experiences hosted at 50+ renowned venues. Mark it in your calendar, ready your appetite and indulge in food & drink pairings, multi-course meals and bar tours!
The 45th Paniyiri Greek Festival will be celebrated over the weekend of May 22 and 23 within The Greek Club precinct and online; the program a combination of real, virtual and livestreamed experiences that will deliver the essence of the famous celebration in a COVID-safe way. Featuring Greek cooking classes, a traditional taverna night, a hosted food adventure evening, a day of Greek dance and music, cultural experiences and a honeypuff pop-up, the mostly free tickets are NOW available – click here.
City Winery and Tivoli have joined forces to bring you an immersive new dinner & a show sensory experience! Picture the Tivoli transformed into an ethereal woodland with woodsy candles, live art, food featuring the freshest autumnal produce and themed music - headlined by WOODES! Get your tickets here.
Secure your tickets to Brisbane’s own CrossFit Games Oceania semi-final from 28 - 30 May and watch the top athletes from Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific battle it out for their place in the CrossFit Games Final!
Synthony is bringing the party back to Brisbane! The sell-out success, Synthony, returns to Brisbane for a ‘One Night Only’ epic outdoor show at Riverstage on Saturday 29th May. The ultimate celebration of the last 30 years of dance music, Synthony is a unique collaboration between Orchestra, DJs, live vocalists and feature musicians.
If you have a taste for all things seafood then Sea to the City – Brisbane’s Bug and Oyster Trail is made for you! After being cancelled in 2020 due to COVID the event is back again to celebrate all things fresh seafood against the spectacular backdrop of the Brisbane River. The one-day event is held along City Reach – from Eagle Street Pier to Customs House running from 11 am – 6 pm Sunday 30th. Expect an afternoon filled with pop-up stalls from Brisbane’s best riverfront venues. Stroll along the river and enjoy the freshest seafood dishes, bars, live music, and beautiful river views.
MELT | 19 - 30 MAY
Brisbane is set to sizzle. Now in its sixth year, MELT – the Festival of Queer Arts and Culture – will bring both sparkle and substance to Brisbane Powerhouse, with a mix of theatre, cabaret, music, visual arts, storytelling, forums, panels and conversations.
Designed to celebrate LGBTIQ+ arts and culture and promote visibility and inclusivity among the queer community, MELT will rase the curtain on another program full of spectacular events, dazzling performances and provocative discussions from 19-30 May.
CUSTOMS HOUSE VEUVE CLICQUOT IN THE SNOW | 3 JUNE
Veuve Clicquot In The Snow is returning to Customs House for the chilly season! Sip champagne and enjoy an enticing menu in your cosy igloo overlooking the Brisbane River. Get your bookings in here!
Available Thursdays and Fridays from 4:00–9:00 pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00–9:00 pm
For the first time ever, The Winter Village is coming to Brisbane this June. The alpine-inspired winter wonderland will be open daily and will run for three months, from 3rd June – 29th August.
The Winter Village will transform the Northshore Riverfront Event Site into a 3900m2 winter wonderland, complete with an ice skating rink, an igloo village, daily snow showers and food & drink pop ups serving the ultimate cosy comfort food.
Brisbane’s epic events calendar isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon – sometimes literally. Ever since the legendary Robert de Castella blazed across the line to win Gold at the 1982 Commonwealth Games, the marathon has held a special place in Brisbane’s heart, and the Brisbane Marathon Festival is the City’s ultimate celebration of fun, fitness and human endurance.
A world-class event attracting elite athletes as well as recreational runners who just want to get out and get active while enjoying Brisbane City, the Brisbane Marathon Festival will feature races for competitors of all ages and abilities from 5-6 June.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience works by the likes of Van Gogh, Monet, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Raphael, Caravaggio, Turner, Fra Angelico and Titian, direct from The Met’s collection – one of the finest collections of
European paintings in the world, the majority of which rarely leave the permanent display in New York.
Spanning 500 years of masterpieces, it’s a breathtaking journey from the 1420s and the emerging Renaissance to the height of early 20th century post-impressionism, including portraiture, still-life, landscape and figure studies.
This Australian-exclusive exhibition – a must-see for art lovers and anyone with any interest in history, society, beauty, religious iconography, mythology and symbolism – will be held at GOMA from 12 June to 17 October.
Regional Flavours is back, but reinvented! Secure tickets to South Bank’s new foodie event, Grazed and Grown, featuring your favourite celebrity chefs, a bustling marketplace, impeccable bites, live music and premium ticket add-on experiences.
Best clear the diary from June 26 through to July 4, and for the weeks leading up for that matter, because in 2021 the famous Scenic Rim Eat Local Week returns for its 10th year, featuring the biggest program in the event’s history with over 125 events across 48 locations.
It’s been an incredible decade of deliciousness and more of the region's signature unique foodie experiences are on the way, with tickets on sale NOW! The program features festivals, farm-gate events and culinary experiences for foodies of all ages, from Jamming with the Lambs at Towri Sheep Cheeses, Breakfast with the Jersey Girls at Tommerup’s Dairy Farm and Beer & Banter at the Scenic Rim Brewery, to long lunches and degustations under the stars, to the Kalbar-BQ, Kalfresh Carrot Day and the Winter Harvest Festival, to wine tastings, cocktail masterclasses and sunset experiences.
And now for something completely different. Brisbane Comedy Festival returns in 2021 with a hand-picked selection of the funniest folk in the country, bursting at the seams with comic musings, side-splitting stories and tear-inducing tales.
Held across Brisbane Powerhouse, The Tivoli and The Fortitude Music Hall, this multi-venue laughter extravaganza will feature everything from stand-up to improv and sketch comedy with the most hilarious national and local comedians from 16 July to 8 August.
Street art is popping up around Brisbane and Ipswich. Six walls around Ipswich have been transformed as part of the Brisbane Street Art Festival, with a seventh currently being worked on by local Indigenous artist Rachael Sarra.
Bauhaus Now brings to life the story of how revolutions ideas of the Wiemar Republic in Germany influenced modernist art, design, architecture right here in Brisbane.
Free live music by local performers in The City? Sounds like City Sounds. Check out the gig guide here.
Be spellbound by ‘Ai Weiwei’s Boomerang 2006’, an immense object made of 270 000 crystal pieces that fill the soaring space of the QAG’s Watermall.
Our teller of Brisbane’s stories, the Museum of Brisbane, has reopened with the launch of The Storytellers free exhibition, which uncovers Brisbane’s histories, myths and tales through fact, fiction, interpretation and creative narrative as told by nine of the city’s top wordsmiths. It features stories by Victoria Carless, Simon Cleary, Matthew Condon, Trent Dalton, Nick Earls, Benjamin Law, Hugh Lunn, Kate Morton and Ellen van Neerven.
Explorers can also rejoice - the Clock Tower Tours and Brisbane City Hall Tours have recommenced, as have new walking tours of the city.
Customs House's winter pop-up has arrived - a French Alp-style winter paradise complete with individual pop-up Igloo chalets, Veuve Clicquot by the glass or bottle, cocktails and a mild-winter menu which is partly inspired by local seafood.
River Quay
Sit back and relax while tuning into the smooth vocals and unique sounds of Brisbane’s celebrated up and coming artists, surrounded by panoramic parkland views. Pack your own spread or purchase a takeaway bite from the surrounding precinct eateries. And if you’re attending a Sound Society at River Quay, a sundowner is your perfect sunset accessory with the venue licensed from 10am - 8pm daily.
Our two favourite things are together at last. Join Beer Yoga is on the Felons Brewing Co lawn at Howard Smith Wharves each Wednesday from 5.30pm-6.15pm. BYO mat.
Parents can rejoice with the news that free Kids Collective activities, designed to educate, entertain and develop children through music, games, craft, storytelling and more, have returned to Thursdays at South Bank.
Chose from a premium selection of farm fresh produce, premium local meats, artisan goods, trawler direct seafood, authentic baked goods and more right in the heart of Brisbane City - Wednesdays at Reddacliff Place, Thursdays at Cathedral Square.
Enjoy this fabulous sunset cruise on the Brisbane River with Mirimar Cruises. Receive a complimentary cocktail on boarding and take a leisurely cruise to the Brisbane Powerhouse where a welcome drink, appetizer and backstage tour await before a return cruise amid the dazzling city lights.
Jan Power Farmers' Markets at The Brisbane Powerhouse
Make tracks for the Brisbane Powerhouse on Saturday mornings where you'll find fresh produce, handmade products, artisan wares and delicious food.
If you've got the mobile munchies, head to the Brisbane Powerhouse on Sunday afternoons to seek out sought-after food trucks and music by the Jazz Music Institute.
You'll be on Cloud Nine with Cloudland's Brunch with Bite, a decadent brunch hosted by spicy drag performers.
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