Queenscliff Music Festival has unveiled its first 2026 lineup announcement. Returning to the Bellarine Peninsula from November 27 to 29, the coastal institution has assembled a lineup that moves effortlessly between hip-hop, indie-rock, folk, blues and alternative history lessons, led by Baker Boy, Kate Miller-Heidke, Meg Mac, Peter Garrett, Lime Cordiale and Magic Dirt.
For Baker Boy, the festival marks a proper return after his spontaneous unscripted appearance at the 2025 event, with the Yolngu rapper now arriving armed with second studio album Djandjay and the kind of live energy that has steadily transformed him into one of Australia’s most magnetic performers. His inclusion feels emblematic of Queenscliff itself: deeply Australian, community-driven and committed to celebrating artists who reshape what Australian music can sound like.
Elsewhere, Kate Miller-Heidke brings the theatrical precision and operatic pop ambition that has made her one of the country’s most singular voices, while Meg Mac finally makes her Queenscliff debut carrying the soulful emotional weight of her recent album It’s My Party.
Perhaps the most symbolic booking, though, is the return of Peter Garrett & the Alter Egos. The former Midnight Oilfrontman hasn’t played Queenscliff in over a decade, and his appearance immediately ties the festival back to a lineage of politically charged Australian music that still feels startlingly relevant in 2026. Five decades into his career, Garrett remains one of the few Australian frontmen capable of making a festival set feel simultaneously celebratory and confrontational.
Then there’s Lime Cordiale, whose arrival guarantees at least one enormous communal singalong beneath the cypress trees, while Geelong-born icons Magic Dirt return carrying the same raw volatility that made them such a defining force of Australian alternative music in the first place.
What continues to separate Queenscliff from many contemporary festivals is its refusal to flatten itself into genre branding. The lineup comfortably places folk harmonies beside garage rock, Afrobeat beside blues, family hip-hop beside post-pub rock mythology. Newgrass outfit Charley Castle & the Boys in the Well sit alongside the cinematic soul of Owelu Dreamhouse, while Steph Strings continues her rapid ascent after debut album Feel Alive exploded onto the Australian charts earlier this year.
Go HERE for ticketing info.
