DARK MOFO 2025: Tasmania’s Wildest Winter Festival Is Back With a Vengeance

DARK MOFO 2025: Tasmania’s Wildest Winter Festival Is Back With a Vengeance

Nipaluna/Hobart is about to be swallowed whole by a crimson tide of music, art and unhinged revelry as Dark Mofo storms back into town from 5–15 + 21 June 2025. Tasmania’s cult winter festival returns with its signature spectacle—imagine flaming motocross stunts over live pianos, nudie swim and late-night labyrinths of debauchery—all under the command of new Artistic Director Chris Twite. 

Yes, the festival took a strategic nap in 2024 (blame rising costs, a goal for sustainability and the need to "renew"), but key events like the popular Nude Solstice Swim kept the embers glowing. 

Now? It’s back, baby—and this year’s 100-artist Night Mass is the blasphemous winter rave you’ve been dying for. Pack your thermal underwear, moral flexibility, and a signed note from your therapist.

The Big-Ticket Acts

Beth Gibbons (of Portishead)
The elusive trip-hop icon emerges from the shadows for two rare shows, 17 years after her last album. Expect haunting vocals that could ice over the Derwent River mid-flow.

The Horrors
UK goth-punk royalty who’ve been soundtracking existential crises since 2005. Frontman Faris Badwan’s blend of shoegazey post-punk and industrial gloom will have you dancing like it’s the end of the world. Bring black eyeliner and an eagerness to surrender your soul.

Tierra Whack

Hungry Hippos in the crowd? Philly’s surreal rap alchemist crafts experimental three-minute poetry where hip-hop bends into technicolor fantasy. Australian exclusive—this is your only shot to witness Whack in all her glory.

Art That Will Inspire You

Don’t Pass Over These DARK MOFO 2025 Highlights

The Winter Feast returns with Mumbai star chef Niyati Rao (of Ekaa fame) reinventing Tasmanian produce through an Indian lens—expect smoked octopus chaat and wallaby vindaloo served.

This year’s fiery Ogoh-Ogoh ritual stars a giant Maugean skate—Tassie’s endangered deep-water ray—crafted for sacrifice. Join the torch-lit procession and watch the effigy (+ those existential dreads) go up in flames. 

New for 2025: regional expansion brings Methyl Ethel’s dream-pop to Launceston and trippy planetarium show XYZZY to Ulverstone proof Dark Mofo’s tentacles can’t be contained to Hobart.

Tickets go sale 9 April—Miss this, and your ‘cool’ card will be ceremonially burned at next year’s Ogoh-Ogoh…

If you’re looking for the cushiest Airbnbs in Hobart during the festival or the ideal romantic getaways to make your perfect MOFO weekend, check out these places to stay. 

Image credit: Dark Mofo /Supplied