The landmark Melbourne amphitheatre Sidney Myer Music Bowl is keeping the city entertained al fresco with Live at the Bowl.
Spanning January to April, the programming has ensured there’s something for everyone, covering the gamut from the best home-grown acts and international artists across music, dance, community-led and family-friendly events.
You can check out the full program over at Arts Centre Melbourne’s website here, but for a real breakdown of exactly what’s happening and why it’s so worth catching, let’s take a closer look at what’s in store over February…
Darren Hayes: The Do You Remember? Tour
4 February: Tickets – $99 – $546.75
With a quarter of a century worth of hits behind him, Darren Hayes needs no introduction. Still, we’re big fans, so any chance for a quick crash course in his history: Darren Hayes formed pop duo Savage Garden, they became insanely, incredibly, incomprehensibly famous internationally in the 90s and then they broke up. With such a phenomenal voice, naturally he went solo and AWOL from his home country, making his Do You Remember? Tour – 25 Years of Savage Garden, Solo Hits And More! his first time on Australian stages in over decade. To crank that nostalgia right up to eleven, Bachelor Girl are the support act for this Melbourne show, which he promises will bring the crowd to their feet with a mix of classic fan faves and new solo material.
Tickets and more info here.
Piknic Électronik: Kölsch, Cristoph, Korolova, Boogs & Wiser
5 February: Tickets – $39.95 – $89.95
The idea behind outdoor electronic music event Piknic Électronik, now into its ninth season here in Melbourne (after starting in Montreal 15 years ago and expanding into other cities such as Barcelona, Paris, Santiago and more) is to offer immersive, social experiences in a friendly environment and what better place in Melbourne that the Music Bowl for that? Piknic Electronik Melbourne is teaming up with Thick as Thieves to bring you million-selling Danish native Kölsch alongside Newcastle’s Cristoph, Kyiv’s Korolova as well as support from Melbourne local legend Boogs and rapidly rising Wiser for this Sunday session that kicks off from 2pm. (Despite the early start, this is an 18+ event)
Tickets and more info here.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra – A Tchaikovsky Spectacular
8 February: Free
Here’s a quick trivia question for you, how long has the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra been performing outdoor concerts? More than 90 years. Since 1959 they’ve been presenting an annual concert series at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, so it makes complete sense they are doing three free shows as part of the Live at the Bowl festival.
This first one will feature some of Tchaikovsky’s best-known works, being conducted by Carlo Antonioli and Aaron Wyatt. Gates open at 4.30pm and the performance runs for two hours including intervals.
More info here.
Icehouse
11 February: Tickets – $111.85 – $218.70
It’s almost like the pandemic still insists on being a problem for live performance, three full years into this thing. Icehouse had originally intended to perform their Great Southern Land 2022 – The Concert Series performance at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl back in November, but when frontman Iva Davies tested positive to covid they had to reschedule the show, which is now happening on February 11. It’s 40 years since their hit Great Southern Land became an unofficial Australian anthem, so Icehouse can rightly be called Aussie rock legends. Joining them will be Eskimo Joe, Australian indie darlings Frente and the anthemic alt-rock quartet Motor Ace.
Tickets and more info here.
Teeny Tiny Stevies
12 February: Tickets – $25
Fans of the Melbourne folk-pop duo The Little Stevies will most likely know that the sisters, Beth and Byll Stephen, have also carved out an ARIA-award-winning career as Teeny Tiny Stevies. Creating songs for children, independently released tracks such as I Ate A Rainbow and Family (Love is Love) saw them score a deal with ABC Kids and another couple of albums followed. At this special outdoor concert, which gates open at 10am for, little people and their adults can cheer, dance and sing along with the Teeny Tiny Stevies as they play their hits alongside songs from their latest ARIA-nominated album How to Be Creative.
Tickets and more info here.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra – Mosaics
15 February: Free
Celebrating the breadth and diversity of Melbourne in 2023, Mosaics features four dynamic and diverse artists from Melbourne’s west – vocalists Ag Johnson, ELAURA, Nomad, and HVSH – performing original works, backed by the orchestra. Then the Sangam Ensemble present Agam, a piece with three intertwined ancient, contemporary and futuristic stories of Tamil Australians who live and work on unceded lands of the Kulin Nation. Combining dance, visuals and storytelling, the choreography and text is courtesy of Priya Srinivasan with composition and arrangement by Hari Sivanesan, Uthra Vijay and Alex Turley.
Tickets and more info here.
SYNTHONY NO.3
17 February: Tickets – $100.80 – $202.55
Reimagining iconic club anthems and future classics, SYNTHONY No.3 will have you up and dancing at this orchestrated dance party which fuses electronic dance music, live orchestra, DJs, vocalists, and immersive visuals. Headline guest vocalist is Natalie Bassingthwaighte (Rogue Traders) on a line-up that includes emerging soul superstar Thandi Phoenix, Ilan Kidron (The Potbelleez), Cassie McIvor, Greg Gould, Matty O, Mobin Master, and event host Aroha. Considered one of the best conductors in the Southern Hemisphere, master conductor Sarah-Grace Williams will be leading it all. Expect to hear new music from Disclosure, Eric Prydz, Flume, Calvin Harris, Wilkinson and many more acclaimed artists along with all the fan favourites
Tickets and more info here.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra – Carmina Burana
18 February: Free
The third of MSO’s free concert series begins with Hannah Shin, winner of the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition, performing Prokofiev’s most acclaimed Piano Concerto, with Benjamin Northey conducting. After the interval, it’s Carmina Burana, a work created by German composer Carl Orff, which is inspired by bawdy and irreverent poems and satirical texts from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. For this performance, it is all being brought to life by soprano Kathryn Radcliffe, tenor Paul McMahon, bass-baritone Warwick Fyfe and the MSO Chorus. Get there early and you can also catch the Melbourne Youth Orchestra Curtain Raiser from 6pm.
More info here.
Piknic Électronik: Filth on Acid
19 February: Tickets: $39.95 – $79.95
If you missed Piknic Electronik earlier in the month, or loved it so much you need another fix, never fear as Live at the Bowl has a second sitting. Or standing and dancing, as the case may be. Piknic Électronik: Filth on Acid will feature Reinier Zonneveld, Kiki Solvej, Rory Marshall, Paul Abad, Lisa May, Emanni, Dagu and Acid Baby all on stage.
Tickets and more info here.
Sorbaes: Sundae
26 February – Tickets: $20 – $30
DJ and designer Soju Gang (Gunai/Kurnai, Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri) returns to the Sidney Myer Music Bowl for a third year with her club concept, Sorbaes, which is a concert by day, club by night, featuring an exceptional line-up of artists, bands and DJs, plus dance battles and VIP boiler room. This is an all-ages, family-friendly with $2 from every general admission ticket sold, and $5 from every VIP ticket, being donated to The Dhadjowa Foundation, which supports and amplifies the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families whose loved ones have died in custody.
Tickets and more info here.
To look at the entire jam-packed program, head to the Arts Centre Melbourne website here.
Beat is an official media partner of Live at the Bowl.
