Spilt Milk has officially found a new Victorian home.
Ahead of its hotly anticipated 2026 lineup announcement, Australia’s biggest regional touring music festival has confirmed it’ll relocate to Geelong/Djilang, with the city locked in to host the event for at least the next five years.
“Geelong is the perfect stage for the festival’s next five years”
Backed by Visit Victoria and the City of Greater Geelong, the new agreement will see Spilt Milk call Geelong home through to 2030, following four successful editions staged in neighbouring Ballarat.
For festival organisers, it’s a major vote of confidence – not just in Spilt itself, but in the idea that world-class music festivals don’t have to be confined to capital cities.
“Geelong is the perfect stage for the festival’s next five years,” said Kicks Entertainment director and co-founder Ryan Sabet.
“We want to thank Visit Victoria and the City of Greater Geelong for backing what Spilt Milk can do- their support means we can keep proving that a world-class festival doesn’t need a capital city and keep bringing tens of thousands of young people to regional Victoria every December.”
The numbers back that up.
Since arriving in Victoria in 2019, Spilt Milk says it has injected more than $46.7 million into the state’s economy across four editions. Last year’s festival alone – headlined by Kendrick Lamar -generated $17.2 million, with more than 34,000 people travelling from outside the region to attend.
Attendance has also steadily climbed, growing from 28,602 festivalgoers in 2019 to almost 39,000 in 2025, while local accommodation reportedly sold out every festival weekend.
The move is also expected to be a boon for Geelong’s hospitality and tourism sectors.
Mayor Stretch Kontelj said the festival would bring thousands of visitors into the city each summer: “They’ll fill our hotels, our restaurants and our waterfront, while plenty of them will discover a city worth coming back to.”
Beyond the economic impact, Spilt Milk continues to play an important role in supporting Aussie artists. Of the 43 acts on last year’s lineup, 33 were Australian, including 15 Victorian artists and five performers from within 100 kms of the festival site.
The announcement arrives just as anticipation builds around Spilt Milk’s 2026 lineup, with organisers confirming the artist reveal is coming soon.
Since launching in 2016, the festival has become one of Australia’s biggest live music success stories, hosting everyone from Kendrick Lamar, Doechii, Post Malone, Lorde, Childish Gambino, Flume, Steve Lacy and Dom Dolla while routinely selling out across the country.
With a new long-term Victorian home now locked and loaded, all eyes turn to the next lineup drop.
Watch this space.
Further Reading
Aussie Festival Prices Are Rising Twice As Fast As Inflation, New Study Finds
Spilt Milk 2025 Line-Up: Kendrick Lamar, Doechii, ScHoolboy Q + More
