Meatstock Festival

Overview

If you're the sort of person who likes to eat meat until you start shaking with the meat sweats and can (m)eat no more, then a festival very relevant to your interests is coming to town. After selling out in Sydney and Auckland, Meatstock Festival, a two-day celebration of all things animal, is setting up its smoky self in the Melbourne Showgrounds on the weekend of April 22 and 23.

Not just your regular food festival, bands on the Meatstock lineup include The Delta Riggs, The Davidson Brothers, The Tomahawks and Bullhorn. Sure, there'll be less music than there is at Woodstock, but there will be 200% more tasty meat-related foods. The food stars of the show are Jack The Ribber (smoky, slow-cooked goodness), and The Real Jerk (Caribbean street food). Try both, or all of the 13 food stalls and then fall into a sweaty, cholesterol-heavy heap — don't say we didn't warn you.

There's more to see once you walk that off, like a live demonstration from The Sausage Queen or representatives from your favourite chilli sauces (Melbourne Hot Sauce) and knife brands. Finally, for a little old-fashioned rivalry, the festival will be running both Barber Wars and Butcher Wars, which will basically be a bunch of hopefully unbloodied people running around competing and wielding various knives. What a weekend.

Meatstock will kick off on the Saturday, April 22 at Melbourne Showgrounds. Tickets are $35 per day or $55 for the whole weekend.