November in Brisbane: top events in your city this month
There are hundreds of events on around Brisbane this month, Riverstage is booked most weeks of it, Jack Johnson and Khalid both play outdoors, and Cup Day lands on a Tuesday with the race at 2pm our time. These are the forty-odd we'd actually message the group chat about.
Every pick below links to its live page on Keen, with dates, prices and the ticket link. The links retire once an event is done, so if one tells you it's been and gone, that's the truth doing its job. For the always-current version, what's on in Brisbane is rebuilt from the catalogue nightly.
Cup Day, Brisbane time
Tuesday 3 November is a public holiday in Melbourne and a normal Tuesday here, and because Queensland keeps its clocks where they are, the race jumps at 2pm, not 3. That's a long lunch with a built-in excuse. The full list of lunches and parties is on Melbourne Cup Day in Brisbane; this one books out early.
Melbourne Cup Seafood Buffet at La Boca
La Boca Bar and Grill, Brisbane City · Tuesday 3 November, 12:30pm to 3pm
An Argentinian grill doing a seafood buffet with the race on the screens. Sweep in the group chat, someone picks the grey, the rest of you argue about it over the asado.
Riverstage and the big outdoor nights
Jack Johnson: Surfilmusic Tour
Riverstage, Brisbane City · Friday 6 to Sunday 8 November, gates 4:30pm
His first tour since 2022, built around music, film and the ocean, with Ben Harper and John Butler on the same bill. Barefoot singalongs on the grass as the light goes over the river. Three nights, so pick the one your crew can actually do. If you own a hat, this is its night.
Khalid: It's Always Summer Somewhere Tour
Riverstage, Brisbane City · Wednesday 11 November, gates 6pm
A genuine global headliner under the open sky on a school night, with Lauv opening. The tour title is doing most of the work for the whole month up here.
Dermot Kennedy: The Weight of the Woods Tour
Riverstage, Brisbane City · Tuesday 17 November, gates 6pm
Big open-air ballads and a crowd that sings the choruses back louder than he does. Bring the mate who claims not to cry at concerts.
Australian Crawl and Men At Work
Riverstage, Brisbane City · Friday 20 November, gates 5pm
Australian Crawl back on a stage for the first time in forty years, with Men At Work, Vika and Linda and Boom Crash Opera before them. Reckless at Riverstage on a Friday in November is as close to a Brisbane summer as a setlist gets.
Suzi Quatro with Baby Animals, Rose Tattoo, Dragon and Choirboys
Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane City · Sunday 22 November, from 1:30pm
Five Australian rock institutions across a Sunday afternoon in the parkland, with Suzi Quatro closing it after dark. Leather optional, sunscreen not.
Two Door Cinema Club
Riverstage, Brisbane City · Wednesday 25 November, gates 6pm
Songs engineered for jumping around to, outdoors, on a Wednesday. Thursday's problem is Thursday's.
Spacey Jane: Heading Back Down Under Tour
Riverstage, Brisbane City · Thursday 26 and Friday 27 November, gates 5pm
One of the biggest Australian bands going, playing two nights at the river. The first night is the one your flaky mate can still get into.
Rise Against
Riverstage, Brisbane City · Sunday 29 November, gates 6pm
A big outdoor punk rock show to close the month, the whole crowd shouting along from the 8pm start. A Sunday night that does not behave like one.
The rooms
Courtney Barnett: Creature of Habit Tour
The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley · Wednesday 4 November, doors 7pm
Wry, brilliant songwriting from one of ours, in the best room in the Valley for it. The first good excuse of the month.
DOMi and JD Beck: Who Asked? Tour
The Triffid, Newstead · Friday 13 November · 18+
A Grammy-nominated duo bending jazz into hip hop with jaw-dropping keys and drums. The mate who studied music will not stop talking afterwards; let them.
Melanie C
The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley · Saturday 14 November, doors 7:30pm
Solo hits and Spice-era singalongs in one room. Somebody in your chat has had this night planned since 1997.
Death Cab for Cutie
The Fortitude Music Hall, Fortitude Valley · Sunday 15 November, doors 7pm · 18+
Two decades of songs people are quietly devoted to, played to a room that knows all of them. A Sunday night for feelings.
The Church: A Psychedelic Symphony
The Fortitude Music Hall, Fortitude Valley · Wednesday 25 November, 7:30pm · 18+
A great Australian band with the George Ellis Orchestra behind them. Under the Milky Way with strings is the kind of thing you tell people about for years.
Kool and the Gang with Sister Sledge
The Fortitude Music Hall, Fortitude Valley · Thursday 26 November, doors 5:30pm · 18+
Celebration, We Are Family and a room that will not sit down, on a Thursday that starts early. Book the Friday off now.
DMA'S
The Fortitude Music Hall, Fortitude Valley · Friday 27 November, doors 7pm · 18+
Big singalong Australian rock in a full room. Friday night, sorted, no further planning required.
Dizzee Rascal: We Want Bass Tour
Eatons Hill Hotel Outdoors, Eatons Hill · Saturday 28 November, 5pm to 10pm
Bonkers, Holiday and the rest, outdoors on the northside, with Example on the bill. The last Saturday of the month will be loud.
Comedy
Jenny and Joel Creasey Live
The Princess Theatre, Woolloongabba · Wednesday 4 November, doors 7:30pm
A very funny comedian and his mum, live and unfiltered. Recommended for 15 and up, which tells you how the mum half of it goes.
Dara Ó Briain: Re:Creation
The Fortitude Music Hall, Fortitude Valley · Tuesday 10 November, 8pm
A brand new show from the man whose last tour sold out 173 venues in 20 countries. Stories, riffing, and a front row he will happily let run away with him.
Guy Montgomery: Warm-Up Show
Good Chat Comedy Club, Petrie Terrace · Wednesday 11 November, 8pm · $32
A fresh crop of observations, road-tested on you first in a small room upstairs. The Spelling Bee host, off the leash.
Tom Ballard: Live!
Good Chat Comedy Club, Petrie Terrace · Thursday 12 November, 7pm · $32
Sharp, bad-taste jokes aimed where they belong, in a heritage-listed comedy room hidden under Caxton Street. Seriously, dude.
Zarna Garg: The Million Dollar Excuses Tour
The Fortitude Music Hall, Fortitude Valley · Sunday 29 November, 8pm · 18+
Sharp, very funny stand-up from a breakout comic, done and dusted by 9:15pm. Even your early-to-bed mate can come.
Orchestra, candlelight and the dome
Maestro 9: Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Fisher
QPAC, South Brisbane · Saturday 7 November, 7:30pm
Beethoven's only violin concerto, then Mendelssohn, in full evening dress. Grand, singing and worth getting changed for.
Camerata: Fire and Finesse
QPAC, South Brisbane · Thursday 12 November, 7pm
Mozart's two G minor symphonies, the stormy one and the famous one, either side of a cello piece that jokes back. A Thursday with manners.
Maestro 10: Don Juan and Manfred
QPAC, South Brisbane · Friday 27 and Saturday 28 November, 7:30pm
The orchestra's season finale, with Strauss's Don Juan at full stretch. The loud way to end a year of concerts.
Brisbane Sings Messiah
Brisbane City Hall · Sunday 29 November, 3pm
A full chorus and orchestra doing Handel in City Hall, the Hallelujah included. The Sunday afternoon that makes December official.
Candlelight: A Tribute to Taylor Swift
St John's Cathedral, Brisbane City · from Friday 6 November · from $33
Taylor Swift on strings under a cathedral roof, lit by hundreds of candles. The friendship bracelets are your call.
The Dark Side of the Moon
Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, Mt Coot-tha · sessions through November
Pink Floyd wrapped around you in surround sound under the dome, with visuals to match. Not one for the kids, the listing says, which is rather the point.
Festival days and free nights
4MBS Brisbane Shakespeare Festival
Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane City · Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November
Twenty years of the Bard in the parkland: Henry IV in the amphitheatre, swordplay, talks and dance across the weekend. Family-friendly, and the swordplay is the bit everyone remembers.
Diwali Festival of Lights
King George Square, Brisbane City · Friday 6 November, from 11am Free
Colour, light and celebration in the middle of the city, free to wander into. Go after work, when the lights come on.
BrisScience: Science Comedy Spectacular
The Edge, South Bank · Monday 9 November, 6:30pm Free
Researchers riffing on the year's science stories in the style of the great panel shows. A free Monday night that makes you feel smarter than you are.
The Triffid's Queensland Album of the Year
The Triffid Garden, Newstead · Thursday 12 November, from 5pm
The state's album of the year revealed in the beer garden, with bands, in its eleventh year. Vote first, then turn up to see if you were right.
Bands in Parks: Twilight Jazz by the River
Queensland Maritime Museum Park, South Brisbane · Friday 13 November, 5pm Free
Big band jazz and the sun going down over the river by the Goodwill Bridge, straight after work. Bring a rug and whoever is keen.
Museums and slow afternoons
Precious
Museum of Brisbane, City Hall · all month Free
Thousands of curiosities from Brisbane's most obsessive collectors, and the museum is free to walk into. It will make you feel better about your own shelf.
Stories You Wear: Magpie Goose
Museum of Brisbane, City Hall · until 23 December
First Nations stories told through the bold wearable designs of an Aboriginal-owned fashion label. The rare exhibition you leave wanting to buy the merch.
Warrajamba
Museum of Brisbane, City Hall · until 22 November
Follow the mermaid in the bay with Quandamooka artist Delvene Cockatoo-Collins: hear the story, then stamp your own version. Last chance this month.
Clock Tower Tour
Museum of Brisbane, City Hall · daily, book a slot Free
An old cage lift, giant clock faces from behind and the city laid out below. Free, but places are limited, so grab a time before you go.
Food and drink
Midnight Fever presents: After Hours
Doo-Bop Bar, Brisbane City · Friday 13 November, 6pm · $44
Down the staircase into a basement that thinks it's a New York jazz club, where a six-piece reworks today's hits. Cocktail first, then dinner somewhere nearby.
Sense of Taste Champagne and Sparkling Tasting
Hotel West End, West End · Saturday 28 November, 11:30am to 3:30pm
Four hours of bubbles, glass in hand, from the big Champagne houses down. Designate the person who books the Uber in advance.
Late ones
Wax Motif
Prohibition, Fortitude Valley · Friday 6 November, 9pm · from $12
An Australian-born, LA-based global house name taking over the main room. Cheap enough that the whole chat can say yes.
Oasis presents Patrice Bäumel: HALO
Queen's Wharf, Brisbane City · Sunday 15 November, 2:30pm to 6:30pm · $34
Three hours of melodic house on a river cruise in the Sunday sun. The civilised way to have an uncivilised Sunday.
LF System
The Prince Consort, Fortitude Valley · Friday 27 November, 9pm · 18+
The Afraid To Feel duo bring disco, soul and house to the Valley. The one song everyone knows will land around 1am.
Something different
Blanc de Blanc Encore
The West End Electric, West End · sessions through November · 18+ · from $69
Champagne, circus and cabaret with the volume up: bold comedy, playful chaos and an atmosphere that doesn't hold back. Dress up; the cast certainly has.
Brisbane's Theatre of Magic
Rydges Fortitude Valley, Bowen Hills · sessions through November · from $69
Close-up magic at your table with a cocktail in hand, in an intimate room built for it. The friend who says "I know how that's done" will go quiet.
The part where you actually go
That's the list. The gap between reading it and standing in one of those rooms is the same as ever: someone has to pick a date and make the call.
That's the job Keen does. The quickest way in is Find a time: pick two or three dates that could work, add an idea or two from this page, and drop one link in the group chat. Everyone answers from their browser, no app and no account needed. You see which date wins, tap once, and it's a real plan with RSVPs and a chat of its own.
And once your mates are on Keen too, it starts doing the noticing for you: everyone marks the nights they're free, and when yours line up, Keen tells you, along with what's on that actually suits the crew. Cup Day is a Tuesday and not a holiday up here, so a Friday night is the easiest place to start.
November's forty-odd best excuses are above. Pick one, name a night, and send the message.
Start closer in. See what's on in the next few days, pick a night, send the link.
What's on in Brisbane this weekendGet Keen free on the App Store or Google Play.
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