Melt Festival 2022
Brisbane Powerhouse will transform into a playground of neon chapels, dance halls, “pleasure domes” and secret cinemas for the 18-day Melt Festival.
The annual LGBTQIA+ celebration returns from November 10 to 27 with global headliners, “bounce queen” Big Freedia and English pop royalty Sophie Ellis-Bextor (of Murder on the Dancefloor fame).
Big Freedia – who popularised underground New Orleans hip-hop genre bounce music, and whose sampled vocals appear on Beyoncé’s 2016 anthem Formation and recent hit Break My Soul – will open the festival on November 10 in a one-night-only Queensland-exclusive performance, supported by Aussie dancehall sister-duo Kinder. Ellis-Bextor will continue the party for a Queensland-exclusive performance on November 11 in a high-energy gig with London DJ Jodie Harsh. Also announced as part of Melt’s mammoth music line-up are new-gen rappers Jesswar and JessB, from Australia and New Zealand respectively, joining forces on November 18.
Award-winning writer, director and producer Daniel Evans is behind the new-look Melt Festival, which will be, he says, “an unabashed celebration where queer art, artists, allies, icons and ideas – drawn from throughout Brisbane, around the country and across the globe – congregate and combust in an abrupt explosion of joy, volition, love and (be)longing.”
“From thumping club nights with global icons to tiny shimmering spectacles and crowdsourced come-togethers, Melt 2022 continues Brisbane Powerhouse’s legacy of curating surprising, radical and disruptive experiences.”
Tickets for Big Freedia, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Jesswar & JessB are on sale now via brisbanepowerhouse.org. The full program will be announced on Tuesday August 30.
