Award-winning writer, director and producer Daniel Evans will lead the event, which will see the iconic Brisbane Powerhouse transform into a playground of neon chapels, dance halls, ‘pleasure domes’ and secret cinemas.

“MELT 2022 is 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,” Daniel says.

“From thumping club nights with global icons to tiny shimmering spectacles and crowd-sourced come-togethers, MELT 2022 continues Brisbane Powerhouse’s legacy of curating surprising, radical and disruptive experiences.”

JessB

Two major international acts are confirmed for the festival’s opening weekend: English pop royalty Sophie Ellis-Bextor of ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ fame and cult hip hop artist and Beyonce collaborator Big Freedia.

Big Freedia is a New Orleans-based ‘bounce queen’, who rose to international notoriety as a featured vocalist on Beyonce’s 2016 track ‘Formation’. . . And she’s back on Beyonce’s newest single ‘Break My Soul’. Big Freedia will open the festival in a one-night-only Queensland-exclusive performance, supported by Aussie dancehall sister-duo Kinder.

Jesswar

Multi-platinum singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor will continue the celebrations, for a Queensland-exclusive performance the following night in a hot, heady and high-energy gig with London DJ icon Jodie Harsh.

New-gen rappers Jesswar and JessB will also join forces for a night of big powerful beats.

Tickets are on sale now.

Brisbane Powerhouse’s MELT Festival takes place from 10-27 November.