St Kilda Festival returns in February with more than 100 acts across Australia's biggest free music event.
Forty-five years in and St Kilda Festival still knows how to throw a party. The annual foreshore takeover is back for 2026 with a lineup that spans ARIA Hall of Famers making a comeback, Eurovision royalty and enough emerging talent to keep the New Music Competition’s legacy intact.
More than 350,000 people are expected to descend on the beachside suburb across the two-day event, which remains entirely free.
St Kilda Festival 2026
- St Kilda Foreshore
- 14-15 February
- Free entry
- Full program announced 14 January
Check out our gig guide here.
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St Kilda Festival 2026 runs across 14-15 February, kicking off with First Peoples First on the Saturday before Big Festival Sunday takes over. The Sunday headliners include Mental As Anything, who are returning to the festival for the first time in 25 years. Original founding members Peter O’Doherty and Reg Mombassa are reuniting for what marks a quarter century since their last St Kilda Festival appearance. The band, inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, racked up 25 Top 40 hits in Australia including Live It Up, which still gets regular airplay across the UK and Europe.
Jessica Mauboy joins the Sunday bill bringing nearly two decades of pop and r&b credentials. She made history as the first Indigenous Australian solo artist to debut at number one on the ARIA Album Chart, has toured with Beyoncé and represented Australia at Eurovision in 2014. Sneaky Sound System round out the Sunday headliners, with the ARIA-winning duo continuing to fill dancefloors at festivals and headline shows across Australia, New Zealand and Asia.
20 years of First Peoples First
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First Peoples First celebrates its 20th edition in 2026, spanning two stages at South Beach Reserve and O’Donnell Gardens. BARKAA, who took home an ARIA Award in 2025, headlines alongside rock outfit Selve. The day features the Kummargii Yulendji Gadabah Sunset Ceremony overseen by N’Arweet Carolyn Briggs of the Boonwurrung Land & Sea Council, plus workshops, markets and a full day of dance and cultural activities at the Palais Forecourt run by Indigenous Outreach Projects.
The New Music Competition returns with a lineup that includes MAGNETS, OSITA, Wild Gloriosa, The Carp Factory and Sunsick Daisy. The competition has previously helped launch Missy Higgins, Baker Boy and Client Liaison.
For more information, head here.
