Spilt Milk Brings Capaldi, RAYE and a Summer-Sized Bill to the Gold Coast

The Gold Coast gets its turn. Spilt Milk 2026 lands at the Gold Coast Sports Precinct on Sunday 13 December, the day after the festival opens in Canberra, so by the time it reaches the Sunshine State it is basically doing a victory lap up the coast. Lewis Capaldi and RAYE top a single-day bill stacked deep enough to fill a summer afternoon and then some. Tickets go on sale 31 July, which gives you exactly enough time to find someone to come with.

When, where and how to get in

The facts, up top:

• What: Spilt Milk 2026, a single-day music festival.
• Where: Gold Coast Sports Precinct.
• When: Sunday 13 December 2026.
• On-sale: 31 July, through the official Spilt Milk site.

The headliners

Top of the bill is Lewis Capaldi, the Scottish chart-dominator, playing his first Australian festival run since his 2025 Glastonbury set. His return to the road shifted more than a million tickets worldwide, on top of a sold-out multi-arena Australian tour last year. A Gold Coast summer evening and a man whose entire job is making you feel things in a major key is, frankly, a dangerous combination, and you should book accordingly.

Sharing the top line is RAYE, the four-time Grammy-nominated South London artist, bringing 'This Music May Contain Hope' to Australia led by the UK #1 'Where Is My Husband'. She moves from jazz-inflected pop to rave cuts without warning, which is the correct way to keep a festival crowd honest. Twenty UK Top 40 singles, ten billion streams and a 2024 BRIT Awards sweep say the strategy works.

Here is a taste of what is coming.

The rest of a very deep undercard

Below the headliners the bill barely lets up. Galway's Kettama supplies the crushing-bass electronic set, Baby Keem is locked in, and there is UK songwriter Maisie Peters with her confessional chart hooks, plus Remi Wolf and her boundary-pushing pop. Sydney trio DMA'S make a Spilt Milk return for the first time since the festival's debut in 2016, so treat them as the veterans in the room.

The Australian end of the lineup is genuinely strong. SA's Aleksiah brings tongue-in-cheek indie-pop, Kamilaroi and Samoan artist Becca Hatch fuses R&B with club-ready bangers, Brooklyn's jigitz arrives on the back of a 71-million-stream hit, and Miss Kaninna, a Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung, Kalkadoon and Yirendali sovereign woman billed as the "blak Britney Spears", brings the party. Filling out the announced roster are Stüm, Tobiahs, Borderline, F3mii, Fat Papi, Harry Hayes, Leyla Ebrahimi, Pash, Samara Cyn, The Moving Stills, The Terrys and Yes Boone, with local triple j Unearthed winners still to be named to open each show, plus art exhibitions curated with socially conscious studios.

The full national run

The Gold Coast is stop two. Here is where the whole festival goes.

How to actually get a ticket

A Gold Coast summer date with Capaldi and RAYE on top is going to move quickly, so this is one to plan rather than wing. The routine that works: set a reminder for the 31 July on-sale, have your card and details ready before it opens, and buy from the official Spilt Milk site, not a resale listing charging double for a ticket that has been public for about four hours.

My one honest opinion, from watching plenty of these go live: a big festival on-sale is exactly the sort of rush where a fair queue that lines everyone up in order beats a thousand people mashing refresh at once. If you have ever wondered why the well-run on-sales use a proper waiting room, we broke down how fair queuing actually works for Australian events. Chasing the opening night instead? The Spilt Milk Canberra rundown has that date, and the Ticketted discover page has plenty more you can book today.

The takeaway

A stacked single-day festival, a Gold Coast Sunday in the middle of December, and two of the biggest voices in pop right now up the top of the poster. Set the 31 July reminder, pack sunscreen you will still forget to reapply, and let summer do the rest. I will see you there, quietly recovering from the fact that Canberra got first pick.