With a banging artist lineup to check out across 1 September – 3 September, a good plan will be your best friend when it comes to planning your SPRINGTIME experience in Surfers Paradise. So to help you squeeze as much as you can out of your three day Gold Coast festival escape, here’s our recommended festival itinerary for you!
Before the festivities begin.
The Gold Coast Music Awards will be held at Home of the Arts (HOTA) on Thursday 31 August to celebrate the city’s best talent. With plenty of our very own SPRINGTIME fam nominated for awards, tickets are on sale now for those wanting to join in on the Gold Coast’s premier music ceremony!
After the formalities, come and celebrate with a live concert after-party presented by yours truly… marking the beginning of SPRINGTIME 2023 with some epic live performances!
Day 1 Friday
If you’re joining us from interstate, flying into Gold Coast Airport is the go. You’ll be greeted by in-terminal SPRINGTIME entertainment so that the festival vibe begins from the moment you land. Then it’s just a quick drive up the coast to Surfers Paradise!
From there, N’Jaane will kick off the music from 12pm noon at the Dr Martens Street Stage to start the boogie off early. Then at 1:30pm, Quest of Chaos begins! Located right on Surfers Paradise beach, it’ll be hard to miss this brand-new interactive performance installation. Complete with obstacle courses, quirky costumes and characters, join in on the challenge to defeat King Chaos!
For the skate lovers, the Vans Skate Plaza is open to the public between 1:30PM – 4:00PM and once again at 5:00PM – 8:00PM so you can shred down the streets of Surfers Paradise. There’ll also a daily $300 Vans voucher to win, so make sure to sign up at the Vans Skate Plaza to be in the draw!
Bag Raiders will close off the Beach Stage from 9PM with a DJ set, but you can always keep the party going by heading to our Friends of SPRINGTIME venues, with late night tunes from acts like Sunday Sesh, Rum Jungle, Latour and more.
Day 2 Saturday
Start your Saturday off with some art! Take a quick stroll down the street and check out Makers Market Day, an open art exhibition brought to you by Level Up Studio, Nextdoor ARI and 3/3 Studio. Featuring paintings, sculptures, clothing and more designed by incredible local Gold Coast artists, it’s a great chance to join in on more fun and arty goodness!
You can’t have lunch without some dessert. Lucky for you, Dr. Martens will have a pop up shop along the beachfront where they’ll be handing out free ice creams with any purchase. So if you’ve been eye-ing a new pair of sandals, now’s the chance!
YEAHYEAHCHLOE and Malara Rise will also be adding in the final touches to their beautiful live murals, and if you’re looking for dinner with a show, our friends at Hyde Paradiso and Steampunk are both great spots for a solid festival feed to fill up and party the night away with Sunshine & Disco Faith Choir and BENEE!
Day 3 Sunday
We don’t blame you if you need some recovery time on Sunday morning… Head to Paradise Centre for a nice cafe brunch right by their beautiful beachfront precinct. Once the caffeine kicks in, give the DJ Workshop a spin and get the energy flowing for Day 3!
Whether you’re a skater or not, don’t miss your chance to check out Jesse Noonan, Nixen Osborne and Rome Collyer from the Vans Skate Team show off their professional tricks at the Vans Skate Plaza.
But before we get too sentimental, there’s still Eliza & The Delusionals, Babe Rainbow and the one and only Matt Corby to close out SPRINGTIME 2023.
There’s always more good times.
If you don’t want the good times to end, we get it, neither do we. For more arts and culture, extend your Gold Coast stay and explore the SWELL Sculpture Festival that starts from 8 September – 17 September.
With over 75 large scale contemporary sculptures set among the natural landscape of Currumbin Beach, the exhibition is completely free and transforms the beachfront into a world-class outdoor gallery.
To further plan out your very own festival itinerary, download the official SPRINGTIME app to see artist set times, as well as timings for Quest of Chaos, Vans Skate Plaza, DJ Workshops and more. Everything you’ll ever need to know is on there, so get planning now and we’ll see you real soon.
