Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival, the biggest of its kind in the country and SA’s #1 Major Music Festival, is calling all punters to raise a glass and ensure the beers keep flowing.
South Australia’s biggest independent festival, Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival, is marking 10 years of beers with a new date on the King’s Birthday Long Weekend (June 6–8, 2025) and A CALL TO ARMS for punters to show up, buy a beer, and support the independently run festival and greater brewing industry.
With festivals facing tough times and independent breweries needing all the backing they can get; Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival (ABBF) is throwing a massive birthday party to help ensure the next decade of beers keeps flowing. General Admission Entertainment, the independent music, events, and venues powerhouse behind the festival, is urging everyone to rally behind this award-winning, homegrown South Australian event, as its survival depends on those who turn up.
Crowned ‘Best Major Music Festival’ at the 2024 South Australian Music Awards, the ABBF 2025 is set to be the biggest yet—expanding to five huge sessions over three days and nights, with a brand-new Sunday ‘Legends’ night of live action before punters can take the public holiday Monday to recover.
ON THE STAGE will be Wolfmother, the Australian rock juggernaut whose self-titled debut album became an instant classic, delivering timeless anthems like Woman, Joker & The Thief, and Mind’s Eye. With a career spanning nearly two decades and a presence deeply embedded in global pop culture, Andrew Stockdale’s powerhouse band is the perfect fit for the festival’s beer-loving crowd.
Meanwhile, The Chats, Australia’s favourite high-energy pub-punk trio, return from relentless international touring for their first Adelaide show in years. Hot off the heels of their 2022 album Get Fucked, and with fresh material brewing for their much-anticipated third record, their set promises to be a raucous celebration of all things loud, fast, and fun.
And for the new a Sunday night ‘Legends’ moment, none other than Tim Finn (NZ) will close out the 10th birthday festivities. The ARIA Hall of Famer and songwriter behind some of the greatest pop tracks in history (see: Split Enz, Crowded House, and Finn Brothers) makes his long-awaited return to Adelaide after missing his last national tour—this time, he’s not skipping SA.
THE FULL MUSIC LINE-UP:
FRIDAY NIGHT
Wolfmother, Custard, Rocket Science, The Tarantinos, Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys
Joined by South Australia’s Cosmo Thundercat, Free Golf, Haystacks Calhoon, I Can’t Believe It’s Not The Hives, JPH x The Dangerous Animals, Sticky Beak & The Briar Patch Band
SATURDAY NIGHT
The Chats, The Gooch Palms, Dick Move (NZ), Mulga Bore Hard Rock, Batpiss, Andy Golledge, Slim Krusty
And Fluorescent Adolescents, Halftime Oranges, My Cherie & Pelvis
SUNDAY NIGHT
Tim Finn (NZ), CASH: The American Recordings starring Henry Wagons & The Tennessee Studs, Mondo Psycho
Plus, Captain Hellfire & The Wretched Brethren, Free Drinks, Kelly’s Wake, King of Spain, Nocturnal Animals, The Dead Regulars & The Public Servants
Highlights from the extensive live music line-up include:
- The South Australian debut of ‘CASH: The American Recordings’, a project lead by the imitable Henry Wagons with new band, The Tennessee Studs, playing the songbook of Johnny Cash from the six albums produced late in his career in collaboration with Rick Rubin.
- Dick Move (NZ) make the journey across the Tasman and to Adelaide for the first time, bringing their fierce brand of punk on the back of a sting of supports for the world conquering Amyl & The Sniffers.
- Mulga Bore Hard Rock are six-piece band of family members hailing from the remote central Australia desert community of Akaye (Mulga Bore), located 2 hours northeast of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Their main stage set on Saturday night is presented in collaboration with the festival’s lead not-for-profit partner Bush Music Fund.
Plus, many more to be announced including performances in the Secret Pickle Saloon, Last Chance Resort & Silent Disco.
The largest congregation of brewers under the one roof in Australia
Brewers and their beer is the lifeblood of Beer & BBQ Festival. Since 2015 Australia’s best have descended on Adelaide to showcase at the festival, widely regarded in the industry as the best in the country and one of the best in the world. The full brewer line-up will be announced in late April but the festival is again supporting the Independent Brewers Association (IBA) via a range of measures. Beer & BBQ Festival fully supports the plight of the brewing industry and their calls for reform of tax excise legislation at a federal level.
Returning in 2025, the role of Beer Ambassador is filled by Little Bang Brewing founder Ryan Davidson to lead the program of on-stage discussions, masterclasses, debates and general beer-nerdiness.
Greatest hits from a decade of fire-cooking
The BBQ program at Beer & BBQ Festival has brought the likes of Rodney Scott (USA), Matty Matheson (Canada) and Australia’s best chefs to Adelaide year-in-year-out. This year we will be celebrating a ‘greatest hits’ of the past decade, inviting the best low and slow, fire-loving chefs from past line-ups to nourish you.
Full BBQ line-up will be released in April.
And heaps more . . .
If you have been to Beer & BBQ Festival before you would know that there’s heaps more happening in addition to what goes down your throat and in your ears. Expect live BMX and skating demos, the mayhem of Riot City Wrestling, masterclass panels with brewers and chefs, eating contests, tattoo parlour, market stalls, and the infamous Beer Bod Wet T-Shirt Championships.
Co-Director of Beer & BBQ Festival and General Admission Entertainment, Gareth Lewis states:
“Festivals, beer, hospitality, food and live music are five of the toughest industries to be in during a cost-of-living moment. I am fully aware that Beer & BBQ Festival is a luxury, but it’s one that I think we all deserve. If you’ve ever been to a Beer & BBQ Fest event, we want to have a beer with you in June, because without your support right now this may well be the last one.”
Co-Director of Beer & BBQ Festival and General Admission Entertainment, Aaron Sandow states:
“We are so proud of this little thought bubble festival to have survived a decade, and we want it to be around for the next decade. The thousands of small businesses, team, artists, stall holders and brands it has supported and that have supported us over the past ten years is the reason we do it. Supporting independent festivals is imperative to the industries we love surviving and thriving.”
ABBF Beer Ambassador, Ryan Davidson (co-founder of Little Bang Brewing) states:
“The craft beer industry in Australia literally grew up alongside the Beer & BBQ Festival. It’s the most important beer festival on the calendar in this country, and renowned worldwide for good reason, Adelaide should be so very proud to own it. Whether you’re a crazy hazy fan, a sour super-nerd, or a casual lager-quaffer with a passing interest in good times, I want to celebrate this remarkable festival’s 10 years of beers with you.”
The Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival’s 10th Birthday Edition is happening across the King’s Birthday Long Weekend of 6-8 June at the Adelaide Showground on Kaurna land.
http://www.beerbbqfest.com.au/
Social Media:
