Balaclava Boogie is back on Carlisle Street on 21 and 22 November, with 23 free shows and Dave Graney and the mistLY at Pause Bar.
Order lunch at Saul’s at noon on 21 November and it comes with a live set, courtesy of Balaclava Boogie.
Balaclava Boogie is the Carlisle Street Traders Association’s free festival. It ran over three days in 2023 and 2024 before switching to a two-day crawl in 2025, and that’s the format again this time: 16 venues, 23 booked shows and a few roaming acts across one weekend. Most of the stages are businesses you’d normally walk into for a coffee or a pizza, plus one record shop.
Dave Graney headlines, taking the Pause Bar stage at 268 Carlisle Street with the mistLY from 5.15pm on 21 November. He started out in the Moodists before fronting the Coral Snakes. More than 40 years and over 30 albums later, he’s still putting records out. The latest, Laburnum of the Mind, arrived this year under his and Clare Moore’s names, with 10 songs on CD and nine on vinyl. Dan Brodie plays the same room from 4pm, so turning up early gets you two sets for nothing.
Balaclava Boogie
- 21 and 22 November
- 16 venues along Carlisle Street, Balaclava
- Free entry, bookings through Humanitix
- Dave Graney and the mistLY: Pause Bar, 268 Carlisle Street, 21 November, 5.15pm
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The rest of the 21 November program runs midday until midnight. Freya Josephine Hollick plays Saul’s Sandwiches at noon, Ange Boxall sets up inside record shop DADDYRICHRECORDS at 2pm, and guest DJs keep Bar For Now going from 3pm until 12am. The Dums pull a double shift, playing Sub 27 at 5pm before closing out Pause Bar at 8pm. At that same hour, Clint Wilson & The Ruins take over Ms Carlisles while Murrays Bay Country Club plays The Local Taphouse.
Things slow down on 22 November with five shows. Georgia Ray opens at Rufio at midday. Ania Reynolds and Alex Burkoy roam the street the day before, then move indoors to Si Senor and Tavlin, and Andy McGarvie plays Ms Carlisles from 2pm. The Lickspits close the festival at Pause Bar, playing 3.30pm until 6pm.
Shows are free but capacity is tight, so each one needs a free Humanitix booking. The festival warns that anyone more than 10 minutes late can lose their spot to the next person waiting. Roaming acts need no booking at all. Balaclava Station on the Sandringham line sits on Carlisle Street, and the Route 16 tram runs along it. Anyone too impatient for the weekend can catch Graney and the mistLY at Cross Street Music Hall in Brunswick on 7 November, an afternoon show where Andrew Cox and The Doctor from the Fauves play an acoustic set.
For more information, head here.
