Big Red Bash ‘Taking A Breather’ For 2025

The world’s most remote festival, the Birdsville Big Red Bash, will not go ahead next year, to give organisers a chance to “reset and recharge”.

Citing the “massive undertaking” of running the event, founder Greg Donovan said the team was “overdue a break.”

“The spectacular desert location means we have no infrastructure on site – not even the basics of running water or electricity – so every year we effectively build and remove a mini city from scratch and spend six days looking after thousands of people. It's a huge task and one of the most logistically demanding events in the world to stage.  Planning for the event is year-round, and most of our crew set aside a month to be on the ground from start to finish.”

Comparing the breather to a gap year, Donovan continued: “This break is not dissimilar to what some major overseas festivals do, with the most prominent example being Glastonbury in the UK, which has a ‘Fallow Year’ once every five or six years when they feel the time is right.”

In an effort to assure punters that the Big Red Bash is not gone for good, the dates for the 2026 iteration have already been announced.

“Hopefully, many will plan ahead to join us in 2026, and if that's the case, they can lock in 7th to 9th July that year, when we will be back refreshed, recharged and ready and eager to Rock the Simpson once again,” Donovan said.

Despite this, apologies were in order for those who had already planned to attend the event in Queensland’s Simpson Desert next year, as well as the local businesses, who are sure to feel the effects of the cancellation.

“It's not a decision we have taken lightly, and we know that this will cause disappointment for those who have the Big Red Bash in their travel plans for 2025 and for businesses in Outback Queensland who benefit from the influx of travellers the event brings to the region.  For this reason, we wanted to give people as much notice as possible about the pause.”

In lieu of the Big Red Bash, organisers are urging punters to check out its sister festival, the Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash, next year. The 2025 line-up for the event is set to drop next month.

“We intend to maintain the Mundi Mundi Bash festival capacity next year to a reasonably similar level as we had in 2024, despite now only staging one festival in 2025.  We believe we are close to the sweet spot for site capacity and can continue to deliver an incredible festival experience, as we did this year,” Donovan said.

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