One of Melbourne’s best live music venues is closing after one big final month
The Collingwood venue confirmed the news across its socials, revealing the Bendigo Hotel will throw its last-ever party on 29 August. Dubbed the Bendi Bday Blowout, the closing bash brings together Nembutolik, Jack Harlon & The Dead Crows, Uncle Geezer, Religious Observance and Non, with the Doom Saloon crew and host JROC handling DJ duties until close.
Krispy’s will be dishing up food from early in the night, and the whole thing lands at the venue’s Johnston Street home.
The Bendigo Hotel’s final shows
- 8 August: Carcinoid launch their Ruins from the Crematorium EP, with Reekmind and Aglo, presented by Black Oceans Media
- 9 August: Earl Gray, Vollie, Secondhand High and Chute
- 12 August: Buck Dancers Choice for Western Wednesdays
- 13 August: Jump the Fence, The Red 40 and Twisted Fix
- 14 August: Escarion, Pendle Hill, Gull and The Incantus
- 15 August: Poltergeist9000, LXRP and Equestrian Fields
- 20 August: Coma Toes, Decode Island and Mangione
- 21 August: Art as Catharsis showcase with Ghost Smoker, Convulsing, Black Aleph, Brian Campeau and more
- 22 August: upstairs show, 5pm doors
- 29 August: Bendi Bday Blowout closing party, 125 Johnston Street, Collingwood, doors 7pm
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The Bendi has been part of Collingwood’s fabric for more than 150 years, first opening its doors in 1871 as the Collingwood Arms.
Carlton Brewery snapped up the corner pub in 1887 and gave it the Bendigo name, before demolishing the original two-storey building in 1911 and replacing it with the striking structure that still stands on Johnston Street today.
The heritage bones have long framed a room better known for what happens inside it, with the venue building a reputation as one of Melbourne’s essential homes for heavy, loud and underground music.
Melbourne’s home of heavy music
Before the doors close for good, the Bendigo Hotel is cramming its remaining weeks with a run of mostly local bills that spans heavy music, punk and plenty of noise in between. The calendar takes in EP launches, weekly residencies and a sprawling all-day showcase, building steadily towards that farewell blowout. It caps a busy final stretch for a room that rarely sat quiet.
The closing schedule leans firmly into Melbourne’s underground, with metal, hardcore, grind and experimental acts filling most of the bills. Among the highlights is Carcinoid marking the release of their Ruins from the Crematorium EP on 8 August, alongside a wide-ranging Art as Catharsis showcase on 21 August that pulls together around 10 artists from the heavier and stranger ends of the spectrum.
The Bendigo says tickets are shifting fast, so anyone hoping to catch the closing run or the send-off itself will want to move early. Either way, it brings the curtain down on one of the neighbourhood’s hardest-working live rooms.
For more information, head here.
10 years of Deadly Fringe headlines a stacked Melbourne Fringe 2026
Melbourne Fringe Festival is back for three weeks of adventurous, independent performance across the city, running Tuesday 29 September through to Sunday 18 October.
The Festival’s guiding idea for 2026 is a simple one: don’t shy away from the unfamiliar, lean into it.
Organisers describe this year’s Curated Program as a showcase for artists working right at the edge of what their artform can do; a lineup built from international acts reinventing genre conventions, experimental programming for young audiences, and access-led work from d/Deaf and Disabled creators.
Sitting at the heart of it all is the tenth anniversary season of Deadly Fringe.
Festival Creative Director and CEO Danny Delahunty has framed the Curated Program as a space where artists are given room to step outside familiar territory and take audiences somewhere new with them; a spirit he says carries through every strand of the program, from Deadly Fringe and Radical Access to Pulse, Passport, XS and Design Fringe. He points to Joel Bray’s Dhandha/Campfire as the piece that captures that ambition most clearly this year.
Melbourne Fringe Festival 2026
- When: Tuesday 29 September – Sunday 18 October
- Where: Venues across Melbourne, plus
- Fringe Encore: Ballarat from 22–25 October
- Opening Night Gala: Capitol Theatre, 29 September, hosted by Michelle Brasier
- Full program and tickets live now at melbournefringe.com.au
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
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Ten years of Deadly Fringe
Deadly Fringe celebrates its tenth year with what’s shaping up as its most ambitious season yet, built around the work of First Nations artists.
The centrepiece is Dhandha/Campfire, a new large-scale installation from Joel Bray Dance set up at Fed Square, using the idea of the campfire as a meeting point for storytelling, ceremony and connection.
It runs daily and is free to attend, combining a built sculptural fire pit with light, sound and live performance from Bray’s dancers.
It’s a significant homecoming for Bray, whose earlier work biladurang was itself part of Deadly Fringe’s very first season a decade ago.
Also returning to Deadly Fringe are past Festival artists Na Djinang Circus, whose free show Ocker sees a circus troupe build and ride a portable railway line through the streets, with stops planned for Fed Square, Williamstown, Yarraville and Ballarat.
Choreographer Ngioka Bunda-Heath contributes Estuary, a new duet examining dual identity and First Nations ties to Country through the lens of where saltwater meets freshwater.
The season also includes Aunty Annette’s Outblak from Kungari Productions, a stand-up hour built on stories the school curriculum left out, and Weaving the Everywhen, in which Central and Eastern Arrernte artist Georgia Boseley turns a Koorie Heritage Trust gallery into a sculptural installation of ceramics and woven grasses imagining a future shaped by Indigenous knowledge.
Opening night at the Capitol
Fringe’s Opening Night Gala returns to the Capitol Theatre on 29 September, bringing together a run of high-energy performances drawn from across the Festival program. This year’s host is actor, singer, writer and comedian Michelle Brasier.
For a free alternative, ZAP Circus bring CIRCUS FIRE Spectacular! to Prahran Square; an award-winning outdoor show combining acrobatics with fire performance, led by Tarrabelle and Rusty.
Also back is Congress by All the Queens Men, a participatory performance piece built around civic ritual, marking close to a decade since it first premiered at the Festival.
Building access into the art itself
The Radical Access strand pushes artists to treat accessibility as part of the creative process rather than an add-on.
This year’s flagship is Manifesto of Silences by Irene Holub, a Deaf-led reworking of opera that draws on sign language, movement, projection and immersive sound to surface Deaf histories that have historically gone untold.
International work, without the travel
Passport continues to bring acclaimed overseas performance to Melbourne audiences.
Two Canadian works feature this year: Fashion Machine by The Other Guise Theatre Society, in which local kids interview and design for adult volunteers before staging a fashion show with running commentary from the young designers themselves, and SLUGS by Creepy Boys, a genre-blending mix of concert, play, clown act and basement puppet show.
From the UK comes PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORLD by In Bed With My Brother, winner of both the Edinburgh Fringe First Award and The Stage’s Fringe Five, which tells the story of cult act The Shaggs and interrogates who decides what counts as talent.
Irish artist Luke Casserly presents Distillation, a sensory work built around a scent drawn from an Irish peat bog, reflecting on loss following the closure of Ireland’s peat industry. US artist Gregory Nussen closes out the strand with QFWFQ, a genre-defying solo show inspired by Italo Calvino’s fiction.
Fringe Focus Taiwan adds two Australian premieres to the program: Free UR Head by Very Theatre, a VR dance work (previously selected for the Venice Film Festival) that uses live XR technology to move a room of strangers in sync, and Palingenesis by d_Antidote Productions and Chuang Po-Hsiang, a masked dance work inspired by the phenomenon of rats becoming physically tangled together, used here as a way into ideas of intimacy and trust.
Pulse: artists testing the edges of form
Pulse enters its fourth year as the Festival’s home for artists experimenting with structure and form.
This year’s lineup includes 40-LOVE, an improvised dance work by Dr. Jonathan Homsey performed live to the radio commentary of the 2025 Australian Open Women’s Final, and Exhibit, a hybrid performance-installation from Emma J. Hawkins and Leisa Prowd exploring the experience of being frequently mistaken for one another.
Also in Pulse: a new staging of Clifford Odets’ banned anti-fascist play TILL THE DAY I DIE, performed on the back of a truck at Trades Hall in reference to its original 1936 protest staging; Prime Time from Born in a Taxi, featuring performers aged 4 to 93; NORNIR, a work for cello and movement from Freya Schack-Arnott exploring weaving and restriction; and The Enormous Radio, a large-scale sound installation from Roslyn Oades and Bob Scott built from modified radios and framed as a speculative attempt at communication across species.
Zoë Bastin Dance rounds out the strand with The River, a duet staged outdoors on the banks of the Werribee River at dawn and dusk.
A first-ever regional leg in Ballarat
For the first time, Melbourne Fringe is extending beyond the city with Fringe Encore: Ballarat, running 22–25 October.
The regional program mixes shows exclusive to Ballarat with a selection of standout titles from the Melbourne season, giving audiences outside the city easier access to the Festival highlights.
Planning your Festival
With a Curated Program this dense sitting alongside an equally full Open Program, there’s plenty to work through before picking your run of shows.
If you’re starting with free options, the daily Fed Square campfire at Dhandha/Campfire is an easy entry point, as is Ocker’s roving railway show and the one-night-only CIRCUS FIRE Spectacular! at Prahran Square. For something more site-specific, The River is staged at dawn and dusk on the Werribee River, while Trades Hall hosts both TILL THE DAY I DIE and Congress.
If a trip out of the city appeals, Fringe Encore: Ballarat runs 22–25 October with its own dedicated program alongside metro favourites.
Melbourne Fringe Festival
Melbourne Fringe is Victoria’s longest-running multi-arts festival and one of the largest of its kind in the country, built on an open-access model that welcomes artists of any background or experience level.
Access and inclusion run through the organisation’s programming year-round, from the First Nations-led Deadly Fringe to the access-focused Radical Access strand, alongside broader support for independent artists at every career stage.
Given how widely spread this year’s venues are — Fed Square, the Capitol Theatre, Koorie Heritage Trust, Trades Hall and Prahran Square among them, plus the new Ballarat leg — it’s worth building a shortlist early.
The complete program, including venue details, session times and tickets, went live today.
The full program is live now at melbournefringe.com.au.
Beat is a proud media partner of Melbourne Fringe Festival.
SOMNIA: William Basinski / Bendik Giske
This event is part of the 2026 Now Or Never Festival.
An overnight, durational sleep concert under the Dome featuring landmark works of ambient and experimental music.
Settle into your individual bed under the grand frescoed Dome of the historic Royal Exhibition Building and float between states of consciousness: presence and rest, focused listening and quiet contemplation. Yes, you’re sleeping here.
The lullaby for this collective slumber comes from American composer William Basinski performing The Disintegration Loops in its entirety. For the first time, all four albums are presented continuously in a single concert setting.
Composed between 2001 and 2003, this universally celebrated masterpiece of avant-garde and ambient music was born from the gradual decay of magnetic tape, as Basinski attempted to digitise older recordings only to hear them slowly disintegrate. What remains is a deeply affecting meditation on time and loss, unfolding into a soundtrack of rare beauty and profound calm.
Joining the sleepover is Norwegian musician, composer and saxophonist Bendik Giske, with a solo performance in its most elemental form, presented especially for SOMNIA. Renowned for his avant-garde approach to the instrument, Giske’s performances radiate vulnerability, drawing audiences into a world of sound charged with intensity and physical presence. This is music to surrender to.
As darkness gives way to morning, a special guest performance gently stirs the room awake, marking the transition from night’s deep listening to the world beyond the Dome.
Shine Caught Blue: Robbie Avenaim (Live premiere)
This event is part of the 2026 Now Or Never Festival.
A new collaborative work of human and robotic percussion with the iconic Federation Bells.
Australian sound artist Robbie Avenaim premieres Shine Caught Blue featuring a groundbreaking collaboration between two peculiar percussion robots: Avenaim’s custom-built S.A.R.P.S. (Semi Automated Percussion System). Presented as an outdoor installation and performance event with Melbourne’s iconic public sound sculpture, this is a complex exchange between human gesture and robotic precision. For the live premiere on Friday 21 August 8 – 9pm, Avenaim will be joined by longtime collaborators and experimental musicians Jim Denley (flute) and James Rushford (portative organ).
Working through his unique human–machine interface, Avenaim draws intricate textures from drums, percussion, bells and piano, balancing delicate restraint with bursts of kinetic intensity. The result is a dynamic sonic configuration where moments of quiet restraint give way to dense percussion, metallic vibrations and ecstatic release.
Shine Caught Blue: Robbie Avenaim
This event is part of the 2026 Now Or Never Festival.
A new collaborative work of human and robotic percussion with the iconic Federation Bells.
Australian sound artist Robbie Avenaim premieres Shine Caught Blue featuring a groundbreaking collaboration between two peculiar percussion robots: Avenaim’s custom-built S.A.R.P.S. (Semi Automated Percussion System). Presented as an outdoor installation and performance event with Melbourne’s iconic public sound sculpture, this is a complex exchange between human gesture and robotic precision. For the live premiere on Friday 21 August 8 – 9pm, Avenaim will be joined by longtime collaborators and experimental musicians Jim Denley (flute) and James Rushford (portative organ).
Working through his unique human–machine interface, Avenaim draws intricate textures from drums, percussion, bells and piano, balancing delicate restraint with bursts of kinetic intensity. The result is a dynamic sonic configuration where moments of quiet restraint give way to dense percussion, metallic vibrations and ecstatic release.
Southside Soul is Back!
Fountain Lakes
Fountain Lakes celebrate the release of their debut EP Junkyard of Lost Hearts with a night at the Railway Hotel Ballroom on Friday, August 14th.
Joining the proceedings are recording buddies, Nick O’Mara (Raised by Eagles), Mark Monnone (ex-The Lucksmiths / Monnone Alone) and Gus Franklin (Smallgoods / Monnone Alone). This is their final Melbourne show before they head off to Iceland for a month-long residency at the Fish Factory Creative Centre in Stöðvarfjörður.
Simon Bailey (Pony Face) opens the evening in his signature brooding, cinematic style.
Come along and give them a proper send-off.
Townhouse
TOWNHOUSE will be returning to Naarm on September the 11th with Pepper La Floyd and Mellowing at Nighthawks.
Don Walker closes Love Songs with a 14-minute epic and a sinister underbelly
Let’s All Get Together (“…have a party anyway”) features cheeky, scraping güiro (which plays a recurring role throughout Love Songs). Jubilant brass parps bring the party until a girlish chuckle closes out this opener.
Breakfast In Paris, which follows, is classy and filled with gentlemanly longing.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
“Filled me like a memory/ Of a pain no longer there” – okay, we’re gonna need a new Moleskine to fill with Walker’s delectable turns of phrase. See also: “There’s not a day that I don’t hear the bell I carry in my heart for you.”
Boom-chicka guitars underscore Luck, which details a torch carried for the one who got away. Garrett Costigan’s pedal steel shines throughout.
(“I’ve seen them all and I know…”) It Will Always Be You – this delightful sentiment is backed by elegant piano.
Blooming frangipani, unscrewing your number plates, keeping your “Darwin story straight”, a violinist playing nude on her balcony, chirping crickets, wayward youths driving Nissans, “the bonehead hours of a bonfire keg” – don’t be fooled by the tropical instrumentation, Darwin’s closer is a 14-minute ear-turner with sinister underbelly.
Although listeners feel in safe hands, meticulously placed melodic detours make Love Songs an enthralling listen. Yet another masterpiece for the Walker discography.
Label: MGM
Release: 7 August
For more information, head here.
Maddie Jai: I’m Not Mad, I’m Maddie
Spite, survival, and accidentally becoming the most magnetic person in the room.
Ever felt like everyone got handed an instruction manual for “functioning in society” except you?
Maddie Jai has spent a lifetime succeeding in all the wrong ways. She’s found herself wrangling dangerous animals, chauffeuring drag queens in the outback, and training an assistance dog even more unruly than she is. Confusingly, she loses all confidence when someone suggests “grabbing a coffee.”
I’m Not Mad, I’m Maddie is a darkly funny autobiographical comedy about late autism diagnosis, accidental achievements, and the bizarre relief of finally beginning to understand yourself after years of being labelled “difficult,” “volatile,” and “too much.”
In her debut hour, Maddie retraces the milestones nobody celebrates, from surviving systems not built for you to hiding backstage at exclusive events behind six-foot drag queens dripping in sequins.
Stuck firmly between Russel Coight and a Centrelink appeals tribunal, this is a show about spite, survival, and accidentally becoming the most magnetic person in the room while trying desperately not to be seen.
One autistic (not Mad) Maddie, pockets full of inappropriate stim toys, several misunderstood achievements and a lifetime of overcommitting to the bit.
Maddie Jai: I’m Not Mad, I’m Maddie
Spite, survival, and accidentally becoming the most magnetic person in the room.
Ever felt like everyone got handed an instruction manual for “functioning in society” except you?
Maddie Jai has spent a lifetime succeeding in all the wrong ways. She’s found herself wrangling dangerous animals, chauffeuring drag queens in the outback, and training an assistance dog even more unruly than she is. Confusingly, she loses all confidence when someone suggests “grabbing a coffee.”
I’m Not Mad, I’m Maddie is a darkly funny autobiographical comedy about late autism diagnosis, accidental achievements, and the bizarre relief of finally beginning to understand yourself after years of being labelled “difficult,” “volatile,” and “too much.”
In her debut hour, Maddie retraces the milestones nobody celebrates, from surviving systems not built for you to hiding backstage at exclusive events behind six-foot drag queens dripping in sequins.
Stuck firmly between Russel Coight and a Centrelink appeals tribunal, this is a show about spite, survival, and accidentally becoming the most magnetic person in the room while trying desperately not to be seen.
One autistic (not Mad) Maddie, pockets full of inappropriate stim toys, several misunderstood achievements and a lifetime of overcommitting to the bit.
Maddie Jai: I’m Not Mad, I’m Maddie
Spite, survival, and accidentally becoming the most magnetic person in the room.
Ever felt like everyone got handed an instruction manual for “functioning in society” except you?
Maddie Jai has spent a lifetime succeeding in all the wrong ways. She’s found herself wrangling dangerous animals, chauffeuring drag queens in the outback, and training an assistance dog even more unruly than she is. Confusingly, she loses all confidence when someone suggests “grabbing a coffee.”
I’m Not Mad, I’m Maddie is a darkly funny autobiographical comedy about late autism diagnosis, accidental achievements, and the bizarre relief of finally beginning to understand yourself after years of being labelled “difficult,” “volatile,” and “too much.”
In her debut hour, Maddie retraces the milestones nobody celebrates, from surviving systems not built for you to hiding backstage at exclusive events behind six-foot drag queens dripping in sequins.
Stuck firmly between Russel Coight and a Centrelink appeals tribunal, this is a show about spite, survival, and accidentally becoming the most magnetic person in the room while trying desperately not to be seen.
One autistic (not Mad) Maddie, pockets full of inappropriate stim toys, several misunderstood achievements and a lifetime of overcommitting to the bit.
Beyond The Valley has sold out before its general on-sale even opened
Every ticket to Beyond The Valley vanished instantly across the official presale, so the general on-sale locked in for 7 August has been scrapped.
It’s the second year straight that the four-day New Year’s Eve camping festival has cleared its allocation early, this time going one better than the 10th anniversary edition that sold out during general on-sale in under an hour.
Beyond The Valley
- Barunah Plains, Wadawurrung and Eastern Maar Country
- 28 December 2026 to 1 January 2027
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
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The 11th edition rests on a stacked bill led by DJ and producer John Summit, an Australia-exclusive set from Black Eyed Peas, Dutch selector KI/KI and grime name Skepta. Ocean Alley, Overmono, Disco Lines, Nia Archives, Armand Van Helden, The Veronicas, Vince Staples, Frost Children, Jayda G, salute, southstar, Odd Mob and Dean Turnley all feature across the run, with plenty more names filling out the rest of the poster.
The site gets a reshuffle for the 11th run. Its three returning main stages, Valley Stage, Dance Dome and Dr Dan’s, are joined by The Woods, a new hidden camping precinct dropping into the mix.
Salomon’s Run Club expands with a fresh Base Camp, while The Lounge Room, Cirque Du Slay and The Palms Pool House all return, sitting alongside wellness precinct The Sanctuary and members-only hangout The Valley Club. Red Bull Unforeseen, Smirnoff Schmall Klub and Jack Daniel’s House Party are back on the ground too.
Anyone who missed the boat can still put their name down on the official Beyond The Valley Tixel resale waitlist. Untitled Group, the independent company behind the festival, also runs Pitch Music & Arts, Wildlands and Ability Fest.
For more information, head here.
Darebin FUSE Festival takes over local venues for a live music weekend
Running 5 – 6 September, the Darebin FUSE Festival Live Music Weekend pulls together sound art, indie rock, queer jazz, First Nations storytelling and intercultural collaborations at spots around Thornbury, Northcote and Preston.
The weekend opens with Ganbu Gulin: Burndap, neto!, a First Nations celebration of music and art featuring Mo’Ju, Liv & The Dream and the Djirri Djirri Dancers, hosted by MC Kimmie Lovegrove following a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony.
Darebin FUSE Festival Live Music Weekend
- Ganbu Gulin: Burndap, neto! – Darebin Arts Centre and Ray Bramham Gardens – 5 September, 1pm – 4pm
- DIY on High – Café Gummo and Cactus Room, Thornbury – 5 September, from 1pm
- Surround Sound – Tallboy & Moose, Preston – 5 September, from 2pm
- The Mechanical Heard – JOLTED Art Space, Northcote – 5 September, 3.30pm
- Mähallä & Capers present Kazdoura / Ταξίδι – Capers, Thornbury – 5 September, from 4pm
- O.R.B @ Shotkickers – Shotkickers, Thornbury – 5 September, from 7pm
- Live Music Weekend at the Tav – Merri Creek Tavern, Northcote – 5 September, from 8pm
- A Queer Jazz Session – North Star Barbershop, Northcote – 6 September, from 4pm
- Darebin and Dragons – Shop Front 740, Thornbury – 6 September, from 5pm
- ngalnya dhadjowa by Allara – Aunty Alma Thorpe’s Gathering Place, Preston – 6 September, 6.30pm
- Zaman Festival – Wesley Anne, Northcote – 6 September, from 7pm
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
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The opening day leans hard into the neighbourhood’s DIY roots. DIY on High spreads across Café Gummo and Cactus Room with a stacked bill including Loose Tooth, Techno 666, Bizarrgo, Kosmetika, Banksy and more, while Surround Sound brings Tallboy & Moose, Shotkickers, Cafe Gummo and Bar303 together to launch a collaborative beer, each venue backing a local act.
There’s plenty more across 5 September too. Capers splits into two spaces for Mähallä & Capers present Kazdoura / Ταξίδι, shifting from Anatolian folk and hyperpop into DJ sets from Aysu, Smoochie, STEV ZAR and others. O.R.B bring psychedelic riffs and cosmic groove to Shotkickers, and Hobbies Galore takes over Merri Creek Tavern with Possible Humans, Fin Healy and Green Child DJs.
The second day changes pace with A Queer Jazz Session curated by MzRizk at North Star Barbershop, darker experimental sounds at Darebin and Dragons, and Yorta Yorta artist Allara’s ngalnya dhadjowa at Aunty Alma Thorpe’s Gathering Place. Zaman Festival wraps the weekend at Wesley Anne with the music of the Levant and Asia Minor.
For more information, head here.
Geraldine Quinn – Campervan: An Ozploitation Horror Musical
A new Gen X horror comedy musical by Geraldine Quinn.
A group of friends drive back to a holiday campground to complete the passion project they started in the 1990s: a camcorder slasher film that was violently (appropriate) and mysteriously (intriguing) cut short by tragedy. But back at the remote site, pressure mounts. They are increasingly torn – and increasingly disappear – raising questions about friendship, betrayal – and whether they will ever finish ‘Campervan’.
Melbourne cabaret indie stalwart Geraldine Quinn (‘Spicks & Specks’, ‘Ground Up’, ‘The Project’) finally turns her seasoned hand (ok, who seasoned my hand, it’s all salty) to music theatre with the world debut of her original Ozploitation horror comedy musical ‘Campervan’.
It’s ‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre’ meets ‘American Movie’ meets ‘Houseboat Horror’ – with a bit of ‘Phantom of the Paradise’ mixed in.
A brand new fringe musical from Geraldine Quinn.
Geraldine Quinn – Campervan: An Ozploitation Horror Musical
A new Gen X horror comedy musical by Geraldine Quinn.
A group of friends drive back to a holiday campground to complete the passion project they started in the 1990s: a camcorder slasher film that was violently (appropriate) and mysteriously (intriguing) cut short by tragedy. But back at the remote site, pressure mounts. They are increasingly torn – and increasingly disappear – raising questions about friendship, betrayal – and whether they will ever finish ‘Campervan’.
Melbourne cabaret indie stalwart Geraldine Quinn (‘Spicks & Specks’, ‘Ground Up’, ‘The Project’) finally turns her seasoned hand (ok, who seasoned my hand, it’s all salty) to music theatre with the world debut of her original Ozploitation horror comedy musical ‘Campervan’.
It’s ‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre’ meets ‘American Movie’ meets ‘Houseboat Horror’ – with a bit of ‘Phantom of the Paradise’ mixed in.
A brand new fringe musical from Geraldine Quinn.
Mark Wilkinson takes new EP Love and Loss on a national tour
Australian singer-songwriter Mark Wilkinson has a new EP out and a national tour to match, ending in Melbourne this October.
Love and Loss arrived on 31 July via Nettwerk, and across its five tracks Mark Wilkinson sifts through grief, old relationship baggage and a measure of hard-won hope. The record eases from melancholy toward steadier ground, closing on focus single Goodbye.
Mark Wilkinson
- The Vanguard, Sydney NSW (sold out), 6 August
- The Baroque Room, Katoomba NSW, 7 August
- Lefty’s Music Hall, Brisbane QLD, 11 September
- The Ellington Jazz Club, Perth WA, 17 September
- Kidogo Arthouse, Fremantle WA, 18 September
- Bird’s Basement, Melbourne VIC, 1 October
- Trinity Sessions, Adelaide SA, 2 October
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
The five-track set leans on his acoustic playing and a close, unhurried vocal, with each song built around a particular memory. Wilkinson has amassed millions of streams and a devoted global audience across a decade in folk, indie and atmospheric pop.
The Love and Loss Tour follows a recent run of shows and support dates with Katie Noonan. It opens in Sydney at The Vanguard, which has already sold out, before working through Katoomba, Brisbane, Perth and Fremantle on the way south.
Melbourne gets its turn at Bird’s Basement on 1 October, before the run signs off in Adelaide at Trinity Sessions the following day. Tickets for the Melbourne show and the rest of the tour are on sale now through the usual outlets.
His catalogue also takes in Let The River Run, Wasted Hours, Mariposa and Golden Afternoons, up to last year’s Wild and Hunted Things. He’s toured across Europe, Australia and North America, sharing stages with Brian Wilson, Xavier Rudd, Rodriguez and Seal.
For more information, head here.
24 Moons presents: D2Motor LIVE + Hannah D & Bex
24 Moons hosts the d2motor for an epic live techno session, the new Sydney duo of MASSI. and dAUG, performing a hands‑on live techno set.
This DAW-less project fuses MASSI.’s trancey, 303-driven sound with dAUG’s experimental energy, delivering raw, evolving techno rhythms.
Joining them is a solid supporting team featuring: Hannah D – Naarm’s trance-progressive queen (TSBU label head, known for euphoric, ’90s-inflected sets) and BEX – Melbourne’s minimal tech-house master (deep, ‘90s/2000s grooves in her blood). Doors 9 PM; till late.
Expect 24 Moons’ trademark weighty sound system and primo lighting to amplify every beat. This is a not-to-miss night for techno heads: d2motor’s live performance is a rare hands-on spectacle, framed by two of the city’s most respected selectors.
Get your tickets here and strap-in for an unforgettable live techno experience.