RISING festival reveals ‘whole new layer’ as lineup hits 650-mark

Subscribe
X

Get the latest from Beat

RISING festival reveals ‘whole new layer’ as lineup hits 650-mark

RISING, Melbourne’s 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 651 artists, set to take up residence in 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.

“With only a few weeks to go till opening, we’re excited to reveal a whole new layer to the 2024 program,” said RISING co-artistic directors Hannah Fox and Gideon Obarzanek, “The full Day Tripper lineup is super dynamic and brings in some of our local idols and more international gems. The festival’s social heart – Night Trade now includes psychic readings, karaoke, art and dance classes and a full club program ranging from classical to r’n’b and techno. The beginning of winter in Melbourne can feel like standing at the bottom of a grim mountain and RISING is here to shake that feeling right off.”

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 here

Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.

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.

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.

Following an organ inauguration,, choreographer/actionist Candela Capitan performs The Death at the Club, 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

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 home to adult activities, bars, dancing 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. Brunswick taqueria Los Amantes takes up residence at The Howey for Night Trade with Soldada margaritas and cold Bodriggy brews available at the hotel’s 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 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 free 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. Highlights of the free program include: the world premiere of the new short film from global pub rock superstars Amyl and the Sniffers – Amyl and the Sniffers on Tour in India; No Fixed Address on Tour in the UK which follows the legendary Indigenous rock-reggae band around the UK on their 1984 tour; Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986) the cult-classic documentary on groups of tailgating Judas Priest fans; Australian Made, the 1987 live concert film directed by Richard Lowenstein featuring INXS, Divinyls, The Triffids and Jimmy Barnes; Grace Jones: Private Life the 1982 music video and live tour footage collection of Grace Jones; Can Play Live Free Concert Sportshalle Cologne featuring footage of Can’s mind boggling 1972 concert; plus rare TV moments including snippets from the ABC and Rage archives, recently restored footage of Melbourne ratbags from directors Richard Lowenstein and Peter Weir and special unreleased fan footage of Warumpi Band live.

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 including legendary dance-floor starter Soju Gang provide the euphoric soundtrack that will bring the space to life.

Night Trade (Stage Door)

Those who want to dance with somebody can head down Presgrave Place 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 on Saturday 1 June, 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. Choreography, music, protest and pleasures blend together in pursuit of restorative energy, that transcends the physical and psychic schedule of the status quo. Featuring a mighty lineup of guest facilitators and performers, the six-hour program is designed to be experienced in its entirety or dropped in on for moments of resonating joy.

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.

Evian Christ will be joined in support by jjjacob, a Danish artist known for ambient, deconstructed club compositions, and renowned Melbourne/Naarm trance and techno devotee DJ ALI.

For RISING’s final weekend Night Trade beckons through the Stage Door and into the underground with a series club nights presented by Crown Ruler. On Thursday 13 June, patch into the South-East London and Melbourne/Naarm’s DIY circuity with a DJ set from AD93’s Coby Sey and live sets from Teether, Willis Anne and Jannah Quill. Expect a harmonious haze of hip hop, noise, and ambient cut with smoggy breaks. Friday it’s time to scuff the floor on an evening filled with house, Italo, disco and electro courtesy of Lipelis, DiTA, Bayu, and Yawung. Then we’re closing it down Saturday with a night of subterranean soul and RnB as Parisian beat maker Onra steps up to the decks. He’s to be joined Melbourne/Naarm soulster Silent Jay, LA jazz maestro Keifer, RAY OTW featuring Khiarra and Chef Cheng, and Perth/Boorloo’s ambassador for dance and pure positivity, Rok Riley.

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

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 Kaninna 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).

There’s new additions to Eora-based Egyptian-Australian DJ Moktar’s takeover of Melbourne Town Hall. Fusing house and techno with the music of his Egyptian heritage, he’s like a sonic embroiderer who weaves worlds of resistance and revelry from across the globe. Ramsey is also in on the takeover, advocating through kinetic narrative, and speaking to the foundations of resistance, culture and evolution within modern contemporary dance music. Jale’s onboard as well. She’s an irrepressible energy source who mixes up moods, tempos and new tracks from around the world to subvert over-familiar club soundscapes.

Tinariwen will be supported by the Melbourne/Naarm-based Chikchika. Accompanied by traditional Ethiopian stringed instruments, the krar and the masinko, the group sing songs of love, distance, separation and culture inspired by their East African heritage.

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

Melbourne icons Dirty Three add a third and final performance to their sold out RISING run. With expanses to create and new music to share, the legendary trio are finally back with their first hometown headline shows in 12 years. No one does it like Dirty Three – folk without the troubadours. Improvising rumbling, wide-open instrumentals that pull you in like oil-painted landscapes. In addition to their Hamer Hall shows they’ve added one last performance at Forum Melbourne – sure to sell out fast.

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 on Monday 10 June 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.

Late-night audiences are invited to explore the surreal underground realm of Universal Everything’s Beings after-hours at ACMI, in partnership with RISING. Among 12 eye-popping artworks and installations, this special event brings together local artists and performers including Dita, Lipelis, Betty Grumble, Samantha Thompson and Harrison Ritchie-Jones to create good vibrations that make you morph.

Dance the night away in our transformed Museum spaces, or head into the exhibition as Universal Everything’s soulful and mesmerising technology merges live music, performances, food and drink.

To explore the full RISING program head to rising.melbourne.

Freya Josephine Hollick

Keynes Brothers

Mitchell Burt

Bec Sykes

Alex Burns

Winter Blues Festival adds another 24 artists to its incredible free lineup

The second announcement features a diverse collection of some of Australia’s best live artists in the blues and contemporary roots genre. For the hardcore blues fans, there’s the return of Echuca favourites including Dan Dinnen and Shorty, The McNaMarr Project, The Hoodoo Men, Jimi Hocking’s Blues Machine, Jesse Redwing, The Voodoo Preachers, and more. Winter Blues Festival also welcomes some newer faces on the scene, including South Australian Blues-rock phenomenon Stefan Hauk, guitarist to the stars Kathleen Halloran, and new kid on the block, 17-year-old Rory Phillips.

The Winter Blues Festival

  • When: Thursday 25th – Sunday 28th July, 2024
  • Where: Various venues throughout Echuca-Moama
  • How much: All festival venues are free entry
  • Wrap Party: on Sunday night is a ticketed special event featuring the cream of the Festival, tickets are available here

Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Echuca-Moama Winter Blues Festival (@winterbluesfestival)

Winter Blues Festival’s second artist announce (in alphabetical order):

They join artists already announced (in alphabetical order):

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Echuca-Moama Winter Blues Festival (@winterbluesfestival)

The Winter Blues is perhaps Australia’s most affordable festival weekend, with entry to all venues remaining free of charge across the four days, and accommodation and restaurants covering a range of price points to suit any budget. An important point of difference in these times of cost of living crisis.

Along with the continued success of the Winter Blues Festival has come huge economic and cultural benefits for the local and regional community. As 20,000 punters make the annual pilgrimage to Echuca Moama from all over Australia, it’s hard to believe that the last weekend in July was once the quietest weekend of the year for tourism in the historic port town.

The Winter Blues Festival was set up by the community for the community and is a not-for-profit organisation run by a volunteer committee that relies on funding from local businesses and grant funding to keep going. Show your support for this local event by heading into town on the weekend of July 25-28 this year, buying a drink or two, having a meal, and getting down to the sound of the blues.

These fine artists will join an already announced line-up that includes 19 Twenty, 8 Ball Aitken, Sweet Felicia, Marshall and The Fro, Geoff Achison and The Souldiggers, and Lady Valiant to name a few. The festival continues its mission to include the whole community, with plenty of family-friendly and all-ages venues and activities, amazing venues, a huge range of accommodation options, and as always the event is free.

No matter what your sound, there’ll be something for you at The Winter Blues Festival this year.

More info: www.winterblues.com.au

Drive South

Tim Richards

The Heart Shaped Aces

Maisie + Romona Sky

Filthy McNasty’s + 6v6s

Son Called Moon

Son Called Moon is both a mythical fable and a contemporary, intimate story of love and redemption.

Moon, an adventurous and curious boy, lies awake for hours discussing the secrets of the universe with Sun, the mysterious and ever-present feminine. When one day a mysterious and potentially dangerous fruit appears that even Sun doesn’t recognise, their relationship begins to bruise, giving way to paranoia and manipulation, sending the two on a journey through fear, isolation and longing.

This captivating and masterful brand new work by Jewish/Australian artist Ari Jacob is a deeply personal and transcendent theatrical experience, taking the audience into days, nights, years and lifetimes of ancient spiritual teachings and raw human experience.

The six-person cast and an exquisite nine-person onstage band will fill The Chapel with an innovative, ethereal original folk score, transforming the space into both a cozy living room and a vast galaxy.

Directed by James Cutler and starring Irish performer Claire Burns, this groundbreaking new show explores themes of shame and vulnerability, sexuality and religion, truth and wisdom — a modern prophecy for the end of days, a time when ‘the Moon will give light like the Sun.’

Son Called Moon

Son Called Moon is both a mythical fable and a contemporary, intimate story of love and redemption.

Moon, an adventurous and curious boy, lies awake for hours discussing the secrets of the universe with Sun, the mysterious and ever-present feminine. When one day a mysterious and potentially dangerous fruit appears that even Sun doesn’t recognise, their relationship begins to bruise, giving way to paranoia and manipulation, sending the two on a journey through fear, isolation and longing.

This captivating and masterful brand new work by Jewish/Australian artist Ari Jacob is a deeply personal and transcendent theatrical experience, taking the audience into days, nights, years and lifetimes of ancient spiritual teachings and raw human experience.

The six-person cast and an exquisite nine-person onstage band will fill The Chapel with an innovative, ethereal original folk score, transforming the space into both a cozy living room and a vast galaxy.

Directed by James Cutler and starring Irish performer Claire Burns, this groundbreaking new show explores themes of shame and vulnerability, sexuality and religion, truth and wisdom — a modern prophecy for the end of days, a time when ‘the Moon will give light like the Sun.’

Son Called Moon

Son Called Moon is both a mythical fable and a contemporary, intimate story of love and redemption.

Moon, an adventurous and curious boy, lies awake for hours discussing the secrets of the universe with Sun, the mysterious and ever-present feminine. When one day a mysterious and potentially dangerous fruit appears that even Sun doesn’t recognise, their relationship begins to bruise, giving way to paranoia and manipulation, sending the two on a journey through fear, isolation and longing.

This captivating and masterful brand new work by Jewish/Australian artist Ari Jacob is a deeply personal and transcendent theatrical experience, taking the audience into days, nights, years and lifetimes of ancient spiritual teachings and raw human experience.

The six-person cast and an exquisite nine-person onstage band will fill The Chapel with an innovative, ethereal original folk score, transforming the space into both a cozy living room and a vast galaxy.

Directed by James Cutler and starring Irish performer Claire Burns, this groundbreaking new show explores themes of shame and vulnerability, sexuality and religion, truth and wisdom — a modern prophecy for the end of days, a time when ‘the Moon will give light like the Sun.’

Malla

Snub

Social Sanctuary: Catholic Guilt