Birdsville Big Red Bash: Another major music festival cancelled, a devastating blow to Australia’s live music scene

Another major Australian music festival has been cancelled in a devastating year for an already struggling entertainment industry.

Birdsville Big Red Bash 2025 will not take place next year as event organisers said the festival will be put on hiatus until 2026.

The event takes place at Big Red Dune, 35km west of Birdsville in Queensland’s Simpson Desert. near the Northern Territory and South Australia borders — and has been operating continuously since 2013, prior to the COVID-19 closures.

“The iconic Birdsville Big Red Bash music festival will take a breather in 2025,” the Outback Music Festival Group (OMFG) said in a statement on Thursday.

‘After eleven successful years of organizing the event and overcoming so many challenges and obstacles along the way, our wonderful team needs a break to reset and recharge. That’s why we’re taking a “breather” in 2025.

‘This is not a decision we have taken lightly and we know it will cause disappointment to those with the Big Red Bash in their travel plans for 2025 and to the businesses in Outback Queensland who benefit from the influx of travellers the event brings to the region.’

This year, thousands of festival-goers flocked to the country’s interior to attend the world’s most remote music festival.

Birdsville Big Red Bash hosted a successful festival this year with 14,000 attendees and a packed entertainment programme.

Australian artists Tina Arena and Jon Stevens joined an epic cast of over 30 performers.

Former Men at Work frontman Colin Hay kicked off the festivities with a lively rendition of the band’s Australian anthem, Down Under.

Meanwhile, music legend Shane Howard opened the main stage with covers of his hits, including “Solid Rock” and “Razors Edge.”

Throughout the day, sets were also performed by ARIA Award-nominated country rock artist Casey Barnes, folk duo Pierce Brothers, synth-pop group Mi-Sex and Furnace and the Fundamentals.

Dozens of well-known Australian artists took to the stage over the next two days, including Tim Finn, Jon Stevens, Ian Moss, Vanessa Amorosi, Mark Seymour, Richard Clapton, Chocolate Starfish and many others.

Other performers included Diesel, Baby Animals, Bjorn Again, The Rolling Stones Revue starring Phil Jamieson, Tex Perkins and Tim Rogers, Ash Grunwald, Fanny Lumsden, Sarah McLeod, Hayley Mary, Steve Balbi and Amy Ryan.

Away from the stage, indoor activities with an interior theme also ensured that attendees were not bored.

DInside was a painting of Esert flowers featuring Two Sisters Talking by Joyce Crombie and Jean Barr Crombie, traditional owners and Wankangurru/Yarluyandi women from Birdsville.

More activities like Nutbush City Limits’ world record dance attempt, morning yoga, bathroom door painting, comedy, film screenings, helicopter sightseeing flights, camel rides and charity initiatives all take place outdoors.

At last year’s festival, 5,467 people broke the world record for the largest human image of a country by gathering to create the shape of Australia from above.

The Birdsville Big Red Bash is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and is featured on the It’s Live! Queensland events calendar.

The festival generates more than $20 million in economic benefits for outback Queensland and has raised a massive total of more than $1 million for the Royal Flying Doctors cause since 2016.

The three-day festival was established in 2013 and is now considered a “must-attend event” for Australian music lovers.

The group also organises the annual Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash in far west New South Wales.