Held on Queensland's iconic Simpson Desert, the Birdsville Big Red Bash is Australia's most remote music festival. The three-day event will kick off on 2 July 2024, and tickets are going fast. Grab yours now.
It’s that time of year again and the Birdsville Big Red Bash is almost upon us. This event is famous for being Australia’s most remote music festival, and for three days it becomes a musical and outback fun mecca for anyone with a caravan, RV, tent or even a spoonful of musical appreciation. And with the Simpson Desert’s iconic Big Red sand dune as a backdrop, you can be sure you’re getting the true outback experience.
Tickets for the Big Red Bash are available for purchase online here— but don’t dawdle. The event’s sister-festival, the Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash (to be held in August) sold out in record time despite the increased ticket numbers.
With just under a month to go, excitement is building, and the festival organisers are preparing for their best event yet.
The Big Red Bash and the Mundi Mundi Bash are both all-ages, dog-friendly and allow BYO alcohol for the campsite and concert areas. And while ticket holders can bring their own food for the three-day festival, there will be a variety of food vendors offering hot and cold meals and non-alcoholic drinks.
To find out more about ticket prices (which vary depending on length of stay and site requirements), facilities and so on, head to the festival’s website here.
What to expect at the 2024 Big Red Bash
This year’s Big Red Bash promises an action-packed lineup of artists, activities and more.
Music is the beating heart of this event, and the headliners for 2024 will be Tina Arena and Jon Stevens. These two icons will be joined by more than 30 other performers, including Ian Moss, Colin Hay, Tim Finn, Diesel, Baby Animals, Vanessa Amorosi, Mark Seymour, Richard Clapton, Casey Barnes, Shane Howard, Pierce Brothers, Bjorn Again, Mi-Sex, Chocolate Starfish and their ‘Bat Out of Hell’ show, The Rolling Stones Revue starring Phil Jamieson, Tex Perkins and Tim Rogers, Furnace and the Fundamentals, Ash Grunwald, Fanny Lumsden, Sarah McLeod, Hayley Mary, Steve Balbi and Amy Ryan.
Beyond the music, the festival offers a variety of outback activities that you don’t want to miss. Highlights include the Nutbush City Limits World Record attempt (the current record was set at the 2023 Mundi Mundi Bash when 6594 boot-scooters hit the field to dance to the famous Tina Turner anthem), the Mad Max costume World Record Attempt, Sunrise Yoga World Record attempt, sand dune surfing, dunny door painting, camel rides, scenic helicopter flights, comedy shows and outdoor film screenings.
The Bashville Drag Race is another great event to join and helps raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
The Big Blue Day is also making a triumphant return; this event was launched at the Big Red Bash last year and set a new World Record for the largest human image of a country with 5467 participants dressed in blue.
Will more tickets be released for the 2024 Big Red Bash?
“Our events are run on two of the most iconic outback locations in Australia,” said festival owner and managing director of the Outback Music Festival Group, Greg Donovan. “There’s no other festival experience like it in Australia, or the world. Add to that a stacked all-Aussie roster of amazing performances and world record breaking events and outback fun and we’ve hit upon a recipe that keeps festivalgoers coming back.”
Despite the growth of the Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash, there are no plans for the Big Red Bash to expand any further. The Big Red Bash celebrated its 10th anniversary last year and saw 11,000 festivalgoers gathered by the Big Red sand dune. This year will see similar numbers. Meanwhile, the Mundi Mundi Bash has increased by nearly 2000 attendees for 2024.
“We know that we’ve hit the sweet spot for the Big Red Bash number wise. Birdsville is a township of only 100 residents with limited infrastructure, and most of the outback towns on the routes in are also small — there’s a definite limit on what they can manage in terms of travellers to the event. If we went any bigger, we would crush these towns and their service providers — it’s a fine line between them being incredibly grateful for the millions of tourism dollars the Big Red Bash injects into these regions, and them then being unable to cope with the influx.
“It would be irresponsible to go any bigger with that event — even though I’m sure we could sell more tickets. We’re all about delivering an awesome festival experience — and part of that is the journey to the event. With ticket numbers limited for the Big Red and a run on tickets expected after we [sold] out for the Mundi Mundi Bash, anyone considering a trip to the Birdsville event should act fast.”
Fast facts
What: 2023 Birdsville Big Red Bash
Where: Big Red sand dune, 35km west of Birdsville, Qld
When: 2–4 July 2024
More info and tickets can be found here.
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