Meatstock is Australia's biggest barbecue festival: two full-on days of live music, competition barbecue, butcher battles, bull riding, a giant barbecue expo and camping, all in one showground full of smoke. In 2027 it fires up at Lardner Park in Gippsland, Victoria on 5–6 March and at Toowoomba Showgrounds in Queensland on 12–13 March. The Rub Hub will be exhibiting at Meatstock Gippsland, so come and find us.
Meatstock 2027 dates and venues
| Event | Dates | Venue | Tickets |
|---|
| Meatstock Gippsland | Fri 5 – Sat 6 March 2027 | Lardner Park, 155 Burnt Store Rd, Lardner VIC 3820 | Buy on Moshtix |
| Meatstock Toowoomba | Fri 12 – Sat 13 March 2027 | Toowoomba Showgrounds, Glenvale Rd, Glenvale QLD 4350 | Buy on Moshtix |
In 2026, gates opened at 12pm on the Friday and 10am on the Saturday, with the music running until 10pm. Check meatstock.com.au for 2027 times and ticket types.
What is Meatstock?
Founder Jay Beaumont has described Meatstock as a barbecue festival wrapped around a heap of events and great bands, and once called it the Easter Show for carnivores. That's about right. One minute you're watching a pitmaster pull a brisket with a perfect bark, the next you're on the rail for the bull riding, then you're down the front for a Nashville headliner with a plate of burnt ends in your hand.
The first Meatstock was held at Sydney Showground in February 2016 and drew more than 10,000 people. It has since run in Sydney, Melbourne, Bendigo, Toowoomba, Gippsland, Auckland and Hamilton, and its Australian events now pull tens of thousands of barbecue lovers every year. In 2026 it celebrated ten years of smoke.
The competitions
Heat Beads BBQ Wars
The heart of Meatstock. Competition teams from across Australia and overseas nurse their pits for hours and battle across the protein categories, judged blind under the rules of the Australian Barbecue Alliance, which Jay Beaumont co-founded. Walking pit row before turn-in is one of the best free shows in barbecue.
King of the Grill
A steak cook-off sanctioned by the Steak Cook-off Association. Cooks collect their steaks on the day and have to nail the sear, the doneness and the rest. In 2026 the beef came from Jack's Creek, with Bass Strait Beef at Gippsland and Diamantina at Toowoomba.
Australian Food Super Butcher Wars
Teams of butchers go blade to blade against the clock, judged on skill, speed and presentation. It's loud, it's fast and it's a reminder of how much craft goes into the meat you cook at home.
Beards, bulls and bedlam
Meatstock has never been just a food festival. The Beard & Mo competition finds the country's finest whiskers, PBR Australia brings professional bull riding to the arena, and the 2027 expo list includes the Australian Armwrestling Federation, axe throwing and plenty more. Over the years Meatstock has thrown in dad-bod contests, strongman, eating comps and medieval combat, so expect the unexpected.
The music
Both 2027 weekends are headlined by two of the biggest names in modern country, Gavin Adcock and Nate Smith, with Wade Forster, Casey Barnes, Bella Mackenzie, Imogen Clark, Sarah Grace Buckley, Dear Tommie, Piper Butcher and Cholson. Kasey Chambers, Dingo and The Smith & Western Jury play Gippsland only, and Lee Kernaghan, Jimbo Stokes and The Lyrical play Toowoomba only.
The crew behind Meatstock
Meatstock is the brainchild of Jay Beaumont, who fell for American low-and-slow on a trip to the US, started the BBQ Wars comp in Port Macquarie with around 20 teams and co-founded the Australasian Barbecue Alliance, which now oversees competition barbecue across Australia and New Zealand. Alongside him, Steve Foy is the brains and the engineer, the bloke who works out how to turn a showground into a working barbecue city for a weekend.
Camping at Meatstock
Both events have camping on site from Thursday to Sunday, with powered and unpowered sites for tents, swags, caravans and big rigs. Every camper needs a festival weekend ticket, children aged 5–15 need a child weekend ticket, and kids under 5 get in free. There are free hot showers and toilets, but no water hook-ups, no fires of any kind (gas barbecues are fine), no glass, no pets and no generators. Gippsland offers free early arrivals on Thursday afternoon, and Toowoomba has an optional Thursday early-bird pass.
Why The Rub Hub backs Meatstock
Meatstock is where plenty of the brands we stock have earned their stripes. Melbourne's Jimmy Brisket are Meatstock Grand Champions, and makers we carry like Heavenly Hell, Misty Gully and Mama Melisse are on the 2027 expo list, with Jack Daniel's among the festival's sponsors. It's the best place in the country to taste, learn and meet the people behind the flavour.
Can't wait until March? Get your practice cooks in with our BBQ rubs and BBQ sauces, with flat $10 shipping Australia-wide. See every event we're backing on our BBQ festivals and events page.
