March might just be Melbourne's best festival month.
Brunswick Music Festival
Brunswick Music Festival is back from March 3-11. Yothu Yindi, WITCH, Wednesday and Gut Health lead the 2024 lineup, while the suburb’s best live music venues, bars, nooks, crannies and creative crevices are set to host music in all its conceivable forms.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival will be back for more laughs in 2024, from Wednesday 27 March – Sunday 21 April 2024. Building on the record-breaking success of the 2023 Festival, which boasted the highest ticket sales ever, the 2024 edition promises to be even bigger and better with a stellar lineup of international comedians such as Atsuko Okatsuka, Carl Donnelly, David O’Doherty, Fern Brady, Larry Dean, Chloe Petts, Rob Auton, Julia Masli, and Lara Ricote.
Electric Gardens
Electric Gardens is making a triumphant return in 2024 after a three-year hiatus, promising electronic music enthusiasts an unforgettable experience across the Easter Long Weekend. With events scheduled for Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth on March 30th, 31st, April 6th, and April 7th respectively, Electric Gardens is gearing up to captivate audiences with its one-stage, open-air extravaganza.
Sonder Festival
Sonder is a place of connection through music, in an intimate setting of Victorian/Taungurung bushland, the old Boogie festival spot. Featuring the likes of Moktar, C.Frim, Ajak Kwai and more. 29th — 1st April.
Dekmantel Festival
In an electrifying turn of events for techno enthusiasts in Melbourne, the cult-favourite Dutch techno festival, Dekmantel, is set to return to Australia with a four-day party running from March 28 to 31 2024. Known for pushing the boundaries of electronic music and curating cutting-edge lineups, Dekmantel has become a global beacon for techno heads.
New Bloom Fest
With a focus on shining a spotlight on the brightest up-and-coming artists, this festival’s inaugural events next March promise an unforgettable start, featuring a stellar lineup that’s sure to leave Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne shaking to their core. Citizen, Movements and Touche Amore to headline the first iteration at Melbourne Pavilion on March 17.
Aireys Inlet Music Festival
Some of Victoria’s favourite festival acts including Matt Walker and Ashley Davies, Henry Wagons and Kylie Auldist will headline the 18th Aireys Inlet Music Festival, from March 15-17. The boutique festival, now in its 18th year, takes place in six venues across the town, including the Aireys Pub, Great Ocean Road Gin Tasting Room, Sunnymead Hotel, The Captain of Aireys and the Lighthouse Tea Rooms. Great Ocean Road Mini Golf will once again will host the best local developing bands on the Push FReeZA stage.
Flavour Fest
The best food and music festival in Melbourne’s West – Flavour Fest – is back and better than ever with a delicious blend of taste sensations, kids activities and chart-topping music artists to take centre stage on Saturday 2 March, 12pm to 9pm. With sweet sounds kicking off from 3pm at the Main Stage, artists include the Pierce Brothers, Steph Strings, Kitschen Boy, Mitch Santiago, and D’Arcy Spiller.
Brighter Days Festival
A three day family fundraising event held annually on the March Labour Day weekend in the town of Bright. Friday features Black Dog, Chocolate Starfish, Kate Ceberano. Saturday features Cherry Chain, The Piano Men Show (Playing Elton John / Billy Joel, Jason Singh (Playing 25 Years Of Taxiride), Russell Morris, Rogue Traders. Sunday has Brightstars, Bob ‘bongo’ Starkie’s Skyhooks Show, Ross Wilson, Boom Crash Opera, Screamin’ Eagles with Mahalia Barnes.
Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC)
Melbourne’s ACMI is set to host the highly anticipated Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) from March 3rd to 6th, 2024. The event promises an exhilarating exploration of the documentary landscape, featuring a vibrant line-up of 70 stimulating speakers. Among them are luminaries such as the Oscar-nominated Mstyslav Chernov (UA), Kaouther Ben Hania (TNSA), and industry powerhouses Rachel Perkins (AU), R.J. Cutler, and Trevor Smith (USA), to name a few.
FUSE Festival
With a packed program of local talent, the free and all-ages event welcomes audiences to the Bundoora Homestead Art Centre for a day of music, food, and community fun. An exciting live music line-up will be announced shortly, hosted by the legendary DJ JNETT.
Stellar Short Film Festival
Now in its fifth anniversary, the Stellar Short Film Festival is set to illuminate the night sky once again at the breathtaking McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery in Langwarrin on Saturday, March 2nd, 2024.
Melbourne Women in Film Festival (MWFF)
The Melbourne Women in Film Festival (MWFF) is back for its eighth annual celebration of women and gender-diverse filmmakers, set to take place at ACMI from March 21st to 25th, 2024. This year’s festival will shine a spotlight on how filmmakers respond to their environments through storytelling, featuring works by notable directors including Jazz Money, Jeni Thornley, and Kitty Green.
Moomba
Moomba attracted more than 1.3 million visitors last year, and crowds are again expected to enjoy a kaleidoscope of activities including the Moomba parade and carnival, the Birdman Rally, nightly fireworks, the water sports competition and more. It will run from March 7-11 this year.
Knotfest
Pantera and Disturbed to headline, plus Lamb of God, Halestorm, The Hu, Asking Alexandria, Wage War, Escape The Fate, Thy Art Is Murder, Skindred, Speed, Windwaker, Brand Of Sacrifice, King Parrot. It’s coming to Flemington Racecourse on March 21.
Melbourne Fashion Festival
Australia’s largest consumer fashion event, the festival offers a 15-day program of over 100 unique events, featuring a mix of premium and independent runways, talks, exhibitions and performances, workshops and tours, shopping and screenings.
Holi Festival
One of the most significant events on the Hindu calendar, Holi Festival brings three days of culture, colours, food, song and dance, live performances, and much, much more to Docklands from March 29-31.
Treaty Day Out
On Sunday, March 2, fans will gather at the Ballarat City Oval for a huge celebration of First Nations music and culture, with Jessica Mauboy, Electric Fields and Mo’Ju leading a packed lineup.
M-Lane at the Australian Grand Prix
Birds of Tokyo (Sunday), Hayden James (Saturday) and Jungle Giants (Friday) headline a packed lineup of music happening after-hours across the Grand Prix weekend, from March 21-24 to compliment one of the fastest races on earth.
Homegrown Festival
On Saturday, March 23rd, Ballarat will play host to Homegrown at Kyral Castle, featuring headliners Slowly Slowly and Kisschasy. Joining them on stage will be a lineup of sensational acts including The Getaway Plan (performing ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’ in full), Press Club, Lashes, and Catholic Guilt.
ENDOVIT
Next month, the Melbourne music community is coming together to raise awareness for the condition and show support to those who may be suffering in silence. Taking place at the Gasometer, ENDOVIT features a lineup of artists who have all had experience with endometriosis, whether they’ve had it themselves or had a loved one suffer from it.
Touch Bass
Get ready for bass you can feel in your bones, because Australia’s annual bass showdown Touch Bass has just dropped an earth-shaking lineup for 2024. Flowdan, Kanine and Wilkinson lead Touch Bass’ 2024 lineup: the festival will return this Easter, still setting the pace on all things low-end and finally bringing it to Melbourne Pavilion on March 29.
Esoteric
Over 105 talented international and local artists across seven stages have joined the fray and are ready to cause chaos throughout the Esoverse with many beats, blends and drops to suit all sonus tastes. Expect jaw-dropping visuals, art, forest lighting, décor, food and market stalls, lifestyle workshops, exciting secret areas and most importantly bigger and badder banging tunes in the thumping temples of stomping, featuring cutting-edge acts from March 8-12 near Donald, in regional Victoria.
Blak & Bright Literary Festival
Hailed as the largest festival of its kind in Australia, Blak & Bright is gearing up for its fourth instalment since its inception in 2016, and this year’s lineup is set to be the most extensive yet. 13-17 March. Key venues include The Wheeler Centre, The Capitol, Fed Square, and State Library Victoria.
Metal Forces
Metal Forces is the hard-hitting metal festival bringing legends Anvil and Ross The Boss Friedman to Northcote Theatre on Saturday March 9. The full lineup features Anvil, Ross The Boss, The Rods and Butterfly.
Golden Plains
The full Golden Plains 2024 lineup has been revealed with The Streets, Yussef Dayes, King Stingray, Jeff Mills and more leading the line. Golden Plains’ sweet 16th iteration goes down on March 9, 10 and 11 at the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre.
Melbourne Food & Wine Festival
Melbourne Food & Wine Festival returns in 2024 with a program that will expand your eating and drinking horizons, running from 15 to 24 March with 300 events across Melbourne. The 2024 edition has dropped 10-day program packed with adventures in eating and drinking all over Melbourne, including the World’s Longest Lunch and Brunch.
PHOTO 2024
Australia’s largest photography festival returns for its third edition. PHOTO 2024 International Festival of Photography presents an art trail of 100 free photography exhibitions and outdoor art installations to explore across Melbourne and Victoria from March 1 – 24 this year, presented in partnership with over 50 museums and galleries.
Hello Sunshine
Hello Sunshine, one of Melbourne’s most notable single-day music and food festivals in February, takes over Caribbean Park on March 2. Featuring sisterly pop icons The Veronicas, veteran rockers Grinspoon, The Wiggles, hip hop staple Bliss N Eso, and more, this festival promises a diverse musical lineup.
ChillOut Festival
From humble beginnings in 1997, ChillOut Festival has grown to become Australia’s largest and longest running queer country pride festival. Attracting over 30K+ visitors to Daylesford across the Labour Day long weekend in March.
SummerSalt
SummerSalt is back in 2024 to deliver another season of live music in some of the most scenic locations in the country. This year showcases an exciting international artist alongside some Aussie favourites for a stellar line-up featuring James Bay, Matt Corby, Ziggy Alberts, Thelma Plum, Kita Alexander, and Mia Wray.
The Herb and Chilli Festival
Set against the picturesque backdrop of the Yarra Valley, this sizzling event promises two days packed with mouth-tingling experiences, live music, and spicy delights on March 16th and 17th, 2024 in a celebration of all things hot.
Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show
Melbourne is set to blossom once again as the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, presented by Scotts, transforms the World Heritage-listed Carlton Gardens and Royal Exhibition Building with dozens of breathtaking horticultural designs to ignite visitors’ senses.
Clunes Booktown Festival
Running from dawn to dusk in the historic township of Clunes in Regional Victoria, this is a renowned two day festival full of author and artist talks, workshops and live entertainment for the whole family. March 23-24 across Clunes.
Pitch Music & Arts
Featuring techno, trance, house and a whole host of other electronic music genres, this year’s lineup will be fronted by legendary German artist Gerd Janson, Berlin techno-house DJ Patrick Mason, French techno producer I Hate Models, Pitch veteran Job Jobse, Italian acid techno duo 999999999, Berghain resident Marcel Dettmann and club and fashion trailblazer VTSS.
Melbourne Celtic Festival
Get your mates together to enjoy a stellar line-up of Celtic musicians across three indoor stages and a garden stage at this community event that promises the best Craic in town in 2024. It’s all going down at Flinders Street’s Mission to Seafarers, from March 16-17.
Port Fairy Folk Festival
Scheduled for the 8 to 11 of March, 2024, the Port Fairy Folk Festival is set to welcome over 90 artists across six stages on the Festival Arena, with many more performances scattered throughout the charming village of Port Fairy.
Port Phillip Mussel & Jazz Festival
The much-loved Port Phillip Mussel & Jazz Festival will return to South Melbourne Market on the Labour Day long weekend. Cecil Street will be closed to traffic and the Market will come alive with a two-day seafood street party celebrating our favourite mollusc, set to a soundtrack featuring the city’s best in jazz and soul musicians.
Sandford Bush Music Festival
Sandford’s 2024 celebration of bush and country living will be held from March 8-10. Bush music, folk, gospel, Celtic, reggae, bluegrass and Aussie country music are performed by professionals, semi-professionals, amateurs and hopefuls including some very talented younger performers. As well as programmed music there are heaps of fantastic jam sessions, workshops, walk-ups, bush poetry, country crafts, art exhibitions and demonstrations.
Picnic In The Paddock
Picnic In The Paddock is a laid-back festival at Bright Brewery, with a hand-picked roster of musicians from near and far (this year’s headliner is Little Birdy’s Katy Steele). All you have to do is grab a seat or lay out your picnic rug, unpack your goodies, and unwind to an afternoon and evening of soothing live music right on the banks of the Ovens River.
The High Country Hop
Join Bridge Road Brewers in beautiful Beechworth as they celebrate the Victorian hop harvest at The High Country Hop, one of Victoria’s favourite beer and music festivals. Playing this year; Bob Log III (USA), The Burnt Sausages, Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys, Jarabi Band and more.
For all the gigs and smaller events happening around Melbourne next month, head here.
