Merri Bar keeps its weekly rhythm going through September, with trivia and open mic still anchoring the front bar, and a run of local singer-songwriters, duos and bands filling out the weekend stage.
Merri Bar Trivia continues every Tuesday from 7.30pm. Open Mic Night remains a weekly fixture every Thursday from 7pm, and the first Thursday of the month belongs to Women’s Open Mic Night, hosted by NEGOMi (Imogen), landing on Thursday 3 this month.
On the weekend stage, September moves from soulful queer blues-rock to acoustic storytelling steeped in ’90s influence, through juke-joint roots, genre-hopping originals, hypnotic post-folk, and closes out with indie folk drawn from Henry Lawson’s Sydney.
Free entry for all shows. Dogs welcome in the beer garden.
Check out our gig guide, our festival guide, our live music venue guide and our nightclub guide. Follow us on Instagram here.
Georgia Rodgers
- Saturday 5 September, 7pm
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A Naarm/Melbourne-based artist whose songwriting sits at the crossroads of blues, rock and soul.
Georgia brings a searching, soulful voice and a strong queer sensibility to a set built on feel as much as technique.
Acoustic Foxx
- Sunday 6 September, 4pm
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Craig Williams spent his teens and twenties chasing rock and grunge across Melbourne stages before stripping it all back to just voice and guitar.
These days his solo sets trade distortion for intimacy, carrying the emotional weight of ’90s influences like Nirvana and Soundgarden into songs about love, loss and the passage of time. He also plays lead guitar for pop-rock artist Aimee Francis.
Troy Wilson
- Saturday 12 September, 7pm
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A roots and blues player with resonator guitar in hand, Troy moves between original material and juke-joint staples.
Expect a set that feels lived-in rather than polished, built on genuine love for the music.
The Quantum Psychics
- Sunday 13 September, 4pm
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A duo with more than 40 years of combined gigging behind them, covering everything from pop and rock to blues and Aussie classics.
Expect a broad, crowd-reading set built for a Sunday afternoon.
Hugh McGinlay & Mark Sinton
- Saturday 19 September, 7pm
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A double bill of Melbourne songwriters unafraid to wander outside genre lines.
Hugh McGinlay writes and performs with a self-described preference for interesting over tidy, while Mark Sinton brings decades of history across acts including Carbine, The Gasolingers and The Mansions.
James Fahy
- Sunday 20 September, 4pm
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A Melbourne multi-hyphenate known for intricate fingerpicking and a hypnotic post-folk sound, James also hosts the podcast Wait Long By The River, digging into the minds of the city’s artistic community. Expect thoughtful arrangements and honest songwriting.
Jemima Madder
- Saturday 26 September, 7pm
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An independent Melbourne singer-songwriter blending folk, pop and rock with intimate, personal storytelling.
Faces in the Street
- Sunday 27 September, 4pm
Formerly known as the Keynes Brothers, John Fraser and Rowan Cole bring an extensive catalogue of co-written indie folk songs exploring life’s hardships and the persistence of hope. Their new name nods to Henry Lawson’s poem of the same title, about the overlooked faces of a struggling city — a fitting note to close out the month’s lineup.
For more information, head here.
This article was made in partnership with Merri Bar.
