From politically salient dance to deconstructed Shakespeare, indie rock luminaries and a First Nations rave, RISING 2025 has it all.
The festival’s electric blue light will beam down the streets surrounding Flinders Street Station, bringing live music, theatre, comedy, dance and art installations to the Arts Centre, Forum, Melbourne Town Hall, Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne Recital Centre, Max Watt’s, and the historic railway station itself.
So, what exactly is RISING? Well, it depends on what you’re looking for.
RISING 2025
- When: 4-15 June 2025
- Where: various venues across Melbourne
- Venues include Fed Square, ACMI, The Forum, Melbourne Town Hall and Howey Place
- Find out more info here
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
It could be hip hop-infused dance that highlights the pressures faced by today’s disenfranchised youth, as seen in BLKDOG from British choreographer Botis Seva. It could be Shakespeare’s Hamlet as deconstructed by eight performers with Down syndrome, using film, live performance and rap to question our society’s individualistic, prejudicial norms.
It could be a witty, comedic exposition of how the anguish of heartbreak affects our bodies and minds, as seen in EBKM’s Heartbreak Hotel. It could be an extroverted riposte to psychiatric illness, replete with Bach, Miley Cyrus and nudity, also known as Marina Otero’s Kill Me.
It could be a work of dance and theatre interrogating the intersections and violations of personal expression and professional service, as seen in The Act by Bunjalung Ngapuhi choreographer Amrita Hepi and sex worker Tilly Lawless. Or it could be a new Australian production of the genderqueer, glam-punk Broadway musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
But that’s barely scratching the surface of RISING’s 2025 program, conceived by artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek in collaboration with curators Hayley Percy, Kimberley Moulton, Grace Herbert and Olga Drygas.
The all-day music festival Day Tripper will spread out across four stages on either side of Swanston St on Saturday 7 June. The lineup includes shoegaze, hip hop, and disco-gospel from the US, roots reggae from the Top End, dub techno from Germany via the Caribbean, hyper-speed dance music from Uganda, and a celebration of Australia’s greatest underground pop, rock and experimental music label.
At the glitzier, more urbane end of the music program there’s trip hop legend Beth Gibbons, who’s playing a couple of headline shows, and singer-songwriter Jessica Pratt, who’ll enchant audiences with her oneiric folk music. RISING will welcome back Yasiin Bey, the artist formerly known as Mos Def, who’s here for the Naarm debut of Black Star, his pioneering 90s hip hop project with Talib Kweli.
Indie pop romantics Japanese Breakfast will be playing songs from their spruced up fourth album For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women), and warts-and-all indie rocker Soccer Mommy will demonstrate the redemptive power of live music, using songs steeped in loneliness to facilitate an occasion of communal catharsis.
But what if you’re looking for something rare, exclusive? Look no further than First Frequency, a Blackfulla dance party at Melbourne Town Hall, featuring Kaytetye artist RONA. and Gunai/Kurnai and Yorta Yorta artist DJ PGZ, plus a cinematic live show from Nyikina artist Kalaji (aka Mark Coles Smith) and a spoken-word piece from Brother Nelson.
There’s also the entirely new, entirely freewheeling New Rampant Optimism Roadshow, a revue style concert from songwriters Ned Collette, Leah Senior and Michael Beach, with guest appearances from US indie rocker Thalia Zedek, the Dirty Three’s Mick Turner, and Chris Abrahams of The Necks.
If you don’t know what you’re looking for, the best place to start is Night Trade, a world of wonders on Capitol Arcade and Howey Place (i.e. the laneways beside and behind The Capitol and Max Watt’s.) Running across nine nights, Night Trade has microbars and local eateries, live music, late-night dance parties, pop-up exhibitions and wacky performance art. Entry for everything is free.
Highlights include RISING Star Karaoke from Boorloo party starters Mummy’s Plastic, costumier Rose Chong’s self-portrait and archival costume exhibition Chongworld, Music in Exile’s opening night party with DJs Zjoso, Kgomotso and more, and Club Tinder, which is exactly what it sounds like.
The Music In Exile party is happening on the Night Trade Stage, which will also host late-night parties from Disco Mediterranea, Blazer Sound System, and a four-night showcase from Uganda’s Nyege Nyege Collective.
The free-to-enter, varied and adventurous programming at Night Trade illustrates that RISING is for everyone. The 2025 program is vast in scope and holds enormous potential for igniting the imagination.
At the very least, anyone who gets involved is guaranteed to have some fun.
RISING takes over Melbourne from 4-15 June. For more information, head here.
Beat is an official media partner of RISING.
