Get ready to grab a QMF early bird ticket

MUSIC lovers will be circling the start of next month in their diaries as their first and best chance to get their hands on a smaller-than-usual number of tickets to this year’s Queenscliff Music Festival (QMF).

The annual festival is set to return to Queenscliff from November 26-28 after being called off in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but in an email to supporters sent out last week, QMF organisers warned that 2021 tickets would be very limited.

“We’re expecting to only be able to sell approximately 66 per cent of our usual capacity due to COVID restrictions. And with tickets carried over from 2020, we’re already a third of the way there … so we expect tickets to sell quickly in 2021.”

Single day tickets will not be on sale “for a while, if at all”, and not until closer to the event, as the limited number of tickets mean QMF is prioritising selling 3 Day tickets first.

Tickets for the Saturday and Sunday only (2 Day tickets) will not be sold this year.

There are several changes for tickets for children 13 and under in 2021:

* Children aged 1-13 will be charged $20 plus a booking fee

* Children under 12 months do not require a ticket and remain free

* Child ticket sales will be limited to a maximum of three per transaction.

“We have a limited number of child tickets to sell this year, so it’s important that every ticket counts. With a limited capacity it’s important that each ticket is valued, and used,” organisers wrote.

“With limited numbers overall, we need to limit the number per transaction to create a system that gives everyone an opportunity to bring their children to the event.

“Child tickets will be linked to adult tickets in order for us to manage this limit.”

The three new ticket types are:

* 3 Day Adult + 1 Child

* 3 Day Adult + 2 Children

* 3 Day Adult + 3 Children

For example, a family of two adults and three children would purchase one 3 Day Adult ticket and one 3 Day Adult + 3 Children ticket.

Accompanied Youth (14-17 years) tickets can still be purchased as individual tickets, but also with a maximum of three per transaction.

“We realise this is restrictive, and won’t suit all the many different sizes and forms of families out there,” organisers wrote, and suggested families with specific ticket requests should email <b>[email protected]</b>.

All existing Child 13 & Under tickets purchased for free at the start of 2020 will be honoured and are still valid, as are any 2020 QMF tickets that have not been refunded.

The QMF’s usual train services will not operate during the festival as Bellarine Railway has exclusively hired the train to a private operator over that weekend, and no lineup details have been released yet.

“We’re busy working on this year’s program, and already have some exciting artists committed to QMF 2021. We look forward to sharing some lineup updates with you soon.”

Tickets to the 2021 QMF go on sale at 10am on Thursday, July 1. Head to the QMF website.