Editor’s Note
August has become one of the most exciting months of the year thanks to Now or Never, Melbourne’s major new winter arts festival that’s celebrating its second year in 2024. Our August cover star is DJ PGZ, one of the most important artists in Melbourne’s electronic music scene, who will transform the Royal Exhibition Building alongside the likes of Donato Dozzy, Estella Boersma and François X on August 24.
Our August edition also features an exceptional array of artists performing across the city over the next few weeks, including fellow Now or Never artists Marco Fusinato and CORIN.
We chat to local post-punk radicals 00_ before they rock the Bergy Bandroom and Arron Mawson before Split System and Stiff Richards play the Brunswick Ballroom. We talk to Scottish indie legends Belle & Sebastian before they light up the Palais, The Cat Empire before their seminal collaboration with the MSO, breakout RnB star Griff before she takes over Northcote Theatre, and Augie March before they play a massive free show at Civic Hall.
Our festival and stage guides are packed to the rafters and we review the latest banging releases from Empire of the Sun, Alice Ivy, Watermelon Boy, The Finch Cycle and Grinspoon. Plus, we have a very special venue guide this month with news that the iconic Punters Club is reopening and The Bendigo Hotel has been saved. It’s everything you need to know this month in one place, enjoy.
