RISING expands its packed 2024 program, revealing a full Day Tripper lineup, major support acts, and Night Trade made easy by Up precinct details.
RISING, Melbourne’s premier winter festival of music art and performance today announces new additions to its monumental 2024 lineup, with a suite of local and international music acts joining the sprawling 16-night program featuring 116 events and 535 artists, set to take over the heart of the city from 1—16 June.
Stretching down Swanston St and beyond, RISING will transform Melbourne’s streets, venues, and hidden spaces with large-scale installations, free public events, and world-class contemporary music, theatre, and dance.
“We’re thrilled to reveal the latest additions to the 2024 program” said RISING co-artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek, “From the dynamic Day Tripper lineup to the pulsating energy of Night Trade, this winter RISING invites audiences to delve into a journey of sonic exploration, a feast of visual delights, and a playground of immersive experiences.”
RISING festival’s new shows
- Melbourne’s premier arts festival adds heaps of new events
- It will run from 1—16 June 2024 across the CBD and Port Melbourne
- Tickets available now at rising.melbourne
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
The full RISING festival lineup
- Dirty Three
- Yasiin Bey (FKA Mos Def)
- ONEFOUR
- Fever Ray (Karin Dreijer of The Knife)
- Jlin
- Memorials – Verity Susman (Electrelane) and Matthew Simms (WIRE)
- Bar Italia
- Richard Youngs
- Asha Puthli
- HTRK
- Moktar
- Evian Christ
- Arthur Verocai with a 30-piece orchestra
- Sky Ferreira
- Yves Tumor
- Tirzah
- Blonde Redhead
- Snoh Aalegra
- Jeremy Deller
- Man on Man – Roddy Bottum (Faith No More, Imperial) and Joey Holman
- CHRISTEENE
- Tinariwen
- Aisha Mirza
- DJ Bae Bae
- Tinka
- Aquenta
- MzRizk
- DJ Gavin Campbell
- Rara Zulu
- Voices of Halo
- Crew-X
- House of Diesel
- Hieroglyphic Being AKA Jamal Moss
- Robin Fox
- SHOUSE
- Surprise Chef
- Alastair Galbraith
- Richard Youngs
- Sarah Mary Chadwick
- The Tubs
- WET KISS
- Scott & Charlene’s Wedding
- POSSESHOT
- Polito
- HTRK
- Astrid Sonne
- Still House Plants
- CS + Kreme and James Rushford
- Pandora’s Jukebox
- YL Hooi
- DJ Emelyne
- Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor
- Gerard Frank Long (aka Sugar Plump Fairy)
- Andee Frost
- Stereogamous, featuring Paul Mac and Johnny Seymour
- Kaiit
- Miss Kannina
- RFA17 and LF70
- DJ PGZ
- Georgia Knight
Day Tripper lineup
Day Tripper, RISING’s festival-within-a-festival laces Melbourne Town Hall, Capitol Theatre, and Max Watt’s with a big old day party in the middle of the long weekend on Saturday. It’s 8 hours, three stages under one ticket.
- Coburg jazz funk journeymen Surprise Chef
- Esoteric outsider Alastair Galbraith
- Pathologically prolific Richard Youngs
- Kiwi heart-wrencher Sarah Mary Chadwick will be on the ivories
- Welsh jangle pop upstarts The Tubs will be in town for the first time
- WET KISS are bringing the post-punk glam rock explosion
- Crab-dancing slacker rock icons Scott & Charlene’s Wedding are on the bill
- POSSESHOT will be rapping words and flipping birds
- Polito will be closing things down with improvised techno
- HTRK ’s 21st birthday
- Danish experimental-composer-turned-singer-songwriter Astrid Sonne
- Art-rock trio Still House Plants
- Hallucinatory beatmakers CS + Kreme will take part in a special collaboration with renowned improviser James Rushford
- NTS Radio favourite, Pandora’s Jukebox is bringing renegade soundwaves and noir-dreamscapes from the UK
- Dubbed-out postpunk explorer YL Hooi
- Lastly, eclectic DJ Emelyne is on the decks, and sure to spin an appropriately subterranean set
The huge slew of new acts added to the Day Tripper lineup includes Coburg jazz- funk journeymen Surprise Chef who will be cooking it up in the Main Hall, esoteric outsider Alastair Galbraith, and pathologically prolific Richard Youngs. Kiwi heart-wrencher Sarah Mary Chadwick will be on the ivories, Welsh jangle pop upstarts The Tubs will be in town for the first time, while WET KISS are bringing the post-punk glam rock explosion. Crab-dancing slacker rock icons Scott & Charlene’s Wedding are on the bill, POSSESHOT will be rapping words and flipping birds, and Polito will be closing things down with improvised techno. Day Tripper co-presenters, beloved local community radio station Triple R, will be there broadcasting live and on demand from the Melbourne Town Hall via 102.7FM, 3RRR Digital, rrr.org.au and the RRR App.
Across the road at Max Watt’s, it’s HTRK’s 21st birthday. The cult Melbourne/Naarm duo are set to play an extended live set from their classic discography. They’ve obsessively curated a dream list of freshly announced acts including Danish experimental-composer-turned-singer-songwriter Astrid Sonne and art-rock trio Still House Plants, hailed by The Guardian as “the most vital band working in Britain today”, while old friends and hallucinatory beat- makers CS + Kreme will take part in a special collaboration with renowned improviser James Rushford. NTS Radio favourite, Pandora’s Jukebox is bringing renegade soundwaves and noir-dreamscapes from the UK alongside dubbed-out postpunk explorer YL Hooi. Lastly, eclectic DJ Emelyne is on the decks, and sure to spin an appropriately subterranean set.
While the organ blasts, choreographer/actionist Death at the Club will invite us into parallel realms, Clubble will be running at each other at furious speeds, and Amber McCartney—the liminal dance maggot from last year’s Tiny Infinite Deaths—is back and ready to writhe with a new performance.
These additions round out an already mammoth Day Tripper line-up including Yasiin Bey (FKA Mos Def) who will perform a tribute to the late, great rapper’s rapper, MF DOOM; Bar Italia, London’s elusive post-punks, who are in Melbourne for the first time; rhythmic workouts from Indiana’s Pulitzer-prize nominated composer Jlin; Electrelane’s Verity Susman and Wire’s Matthew Simms’ new duo, MEMORIALS; and 79-year-old jazz diva and disco queen Asha Puthli in her first ever Australian performance.
Night Trade lineup
- RISING Sip and Paint reimagines the strip-mall cham-painting format. Each evening for Night Trade one eccentric art darling will help willing participants reconnect with their creative souls using an array of mediums and methods.
- LA artist John Kilduff create a live version of cult public access television TV show Let’s Paint TV – a physical and mental triumph/ breakdown of painting, cooking, singing and playing synth on a treadmill — drop in for a psychic reading or join a shopfront karaoke session with Mummy’s Plastic.
- To eat, there’ll be a melting pot of food offerings across the precinct including limited edition jaffles from Union Kiosk, and Nepalese dumplings from Momo Station. In Presgrave Place, Bodriggy’s pop-up Froff Shop will be slinging cold brews from a graffiti-covered laneway dive bar.
- At the centre of Night Trade is a career-spanning exhibition by British Turner Prize-winning conceptual artist Jeremy Deller titled In the Future Everybody Will Be Cancelled for 15 Minutes.
- Acid Brass — a collaborative fusion of Detroit Acid House performed with and by local brass bands will be appearing at locations around the city including in the Night Trade precinct.
- The Capitol will host 24 Hour Rock Show, a 24-hour music documentary marathon curated specifically for RISING by Deller takes place across Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 June. Drop in, drop out, or settle in for the full 24 hours.
- Intersecting art, music and money, Night Trade co-presenters Up will showcase Hi—Fi: The Financially Sound System , an epic, futuristic installation choreographing real banking data, mind-bending visuals while a curated line-up of Melbourne’s finest DJs provide the euphoric soundtrack that will to bring the space to life.
Free to enter, Night Trade, made easy by Up, is the festival’s pulsing hub and nightly social club, which this year spans the labyrinth of historic arcades underneath the Capitol Theatre connecting to Howey Place—the original home of Melbourne’s most eccentric bookshop and the city’s first queer club.
Within walking distance of most festival venues, it’s a hub of choreographed chaos — home to pop-up performances, bars and food spots. It’s a place to grab a drink and a bite on the way to a show, or stay and get in on the action.
RISING Sip and Paint reimagines the strip-mall cham-painting format. Each evening for Night Trade one eccentric art darling will help willing participants reconnect with their creative souls using an array of mediums and methods.
Elsewhere amongst the thrall, Night Trade visitors can see LA artist John Kilduff create a live version of cult public access television TV show Let’s Paint TV – a physical and mental triumph/ breakdown of painting, cooking, singing and playing synth on a treadmill — drop in for a psychic reading or join a shopfront karaoke session with Mummy’s Plastic.
To eat, there’ll be a melting pot of food offerings across the precinct including limited edition jaffles from Union Kiosk, and Nepalese dumplings from Momo Station. In Presgrave Place, Bodriggy’s pop-up Froff Shop will be slinging cold brews from a graffiti covered laneway dive bar.
At the centre of Night Trade is a career-spanning exhibition by British Turner Prize-winning conceptual artist Jeremy Deller titled In the Future Everybody Will Be Cancelled for 15 Minutes.
RISING’s 2024 artist in residence, Deller’s renowned work Acid Brass — a collaborative fusion of Detroit Acid House performed with and by local brass bands will be appearing at locations around the city including in the Night Trade precinct. Next door at The Capitol 24 Hour Rock Show, a 24-hour music documentary marathon curated specifically for RISING by Deller takes place across Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 June. Drop in, drop out, or settle in for the full 24 hours.
Intersecting art, music and money, Night Trade co-presenters Up will showcase Hi—Fi: The Financially Sound System, an epic, futuristic installation choreographing real banking data, mind-bending visuals while a curated lineup of Melbourne’s finest DJs provide the euphoric soundtrack that will to bring the space to life.
Night Trade (Stage Door)
- In the year it would have been Shannon Michael Cane’s 50th birthday, it’s only fitting that RISING’s opening night party celebrates the legend – Shannon Michael Cane: Someone Great – A Celebration will include Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, joined by Gerard Frank Long (aka Sugar Plump Fairy) and Andee Frost . Plus, Sydney’s gayest collaboration Stereogamous , featuring Paul Mac and Johnny Seymour.
- Betty Grumble unites with fierce lover and warrior of music and community, DJ HipHopHoe for six hours of Grumble Boogie . A surreal aerobics class—a communal celebration, ritual of rage and rite of renewal led by last year’s hero kazoo-mover Betty Grumble and DJ HipHopHoe.
- UK producer Evian Christ brings banging trance anthems and a massive AV show exclusively to RISING. Expect trance: music for wide eyes, aching hearts and dawn-tinged bliss.
Those who want to dance with somebody can head down Presgrave Lane and enter the Night Trade Stage Door, the festival’s late night club.
In the year it would have been Shannon Michael Cane’s 50th birthday, it’s fitting RISING’s opening night party, Shannon Michael Cane: Someone Great – A Celebration, will smudge outside the lines in honour of his work and memory.
Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor is heading behind the decks in tribute. He’ll be joined by Gerard Frank Long (aka Sugar Plump Fairy) spinning disco alongside the care bear of the Melbourne music scene, Andee Frost. Plus, Sydney’s gayest collaboration Stereogamous, featuring Paul Mac and Johnny Seymour.
Betty Grumble unites with fierce lover and warrior of music and community, DJ HipHopHoe for six hours of Grumble Boogie. A surreal aerobics class—a communal celebration, ritual of rage and rite of renewal led by last year’s hero kazoo-mover Betty Grumble and DJ HipHopHoe.
UK producer Evian Christ brings banging trance anthems and a massive AV show exclusively to RISING. Expect trance: music for wide eyes, aching hearts and dawn-tinged bliss. Evian Christ has been lifting the genre up and up, into windy new heights of late. After producing Billboard-topping albums by Kanye West and Travis Scott, his own debut album Revanchrist takes the mountain-sized arpeggios, the whispering pleas and the sugar-fed drops—then deconstructs them.
With more acts to be announced in the coming weeks, Night Trade Stage Door will be open every night of Night Trade into the early hours of the morning.
Major RISING support acts
- Kaiit will be supporting Snoh Aalegra
- Miss Kannina will be supporting OneFour’s first headlining show in Melbourne, alongside Western Sydney drill heat, RFA17 and LF70
- At PICA Gunai/Kurnai and Yorta Yorta DJ/producer DJ PGZ plays a special set in support of Yasiin Bey (FKA Mos Def).
- Georgia Knight will be supporting Blonde Redhead
Across the music program, RISING has also unveiled a string of support acts that join the music program.
Papua New Guinea born, now Naarm/Melbourne based, Kaiit, who since the release of her debut EP in 2017 has been making waves online and commanding the attention of soul and hip hop tastemakers will join cinematic Swedish soul sensation Snoh Aalegra at her two sold out Forum shows on June 5 and 6.
ARIA-award winning rap up-and-comer Miss Kannina will bring her signature Blak Excellence from Tasmania/Lutruwita to Festival Hall in support of Sydney drill-rap crew OneFour’s first headlining show in Melbourne on June 8. Bursting onto the scene with her debut single ‘Blak Britney’, Miss Kaninna has made her arrival well and truly known, emerging as a voice of punk and power, as she takes the Australian live music landscape by storm. Deepening Western Sydney the drill heat, RFA17 and LF70 are also making the trip down to RISING and joining the line-up.
At PICA on Saturday June 9, Gunai/Kurnai and Yorta Yorta DJ/producer DJ PGZ, known for harnessing club sounds from the world-wide underground, plays a special set in support of Yasiin Bey (FKA Mos Def).
Melbourne/Naarm’s Georgia Knight is bringing her grungy-folk and soul-rattling melodies in support of US art rock greats Blonde Redhead on June 14.
Brand new RISING shows
Since 2015, Secret Symphony has been showcasing the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in unexpected locations across Melbourne. Now it’s sneaking its way into RISING. It’s a bit like a treasure hunt for classical-music-lovers. You follow their Instagram and you see if you can guess the location and repertoire based on clues they drop in the weeks leading up to the performance. Then on Thursday 6 June, the hunt is on.
By popular demand Hear My Eyes adds two new shows to its special RISING presentation of Hellraiser, which will see Clive Barker’s 1987 extra-dimensional horror re-scored live by EBM explorers Hieroglyphic Being and Robin Fox— with lasers. For Hear My Eyes: Hellraiser, the cult classic is sent into a freshly spiked iron casket—with a live rescore by Chicago’s bringer of ‘rhythmic cubism’, Hieroglyphic Being aka Jamal Moss. He’s a man known for his intense, physical psychedelic music, who takes his cues from house, industrial, avant-jazz and noise. And he’s composing alongside Robin Fox (MONOCHORD, RISING 2022) who, in a Hear My Eyes first, is also bringing his epic lasers to break through into sensory overload.
To explore the full RISING program head to rising.melbourne.
