Melbourne's winter arts festival adds free Fed Square takeover, comedy variety show and late-night laneways to June lineup.
RISING festival will light up Melbourne with an even bigger program featuring Pakistani music stars, cult comedy and after-dark adventures.
Melbourne’s rapturous winter festival of art, music and performance has today unveiled a slate of exciting additions to its 2025 program. Building on March’s initial announcement, RISING’s expanded offering extends the festival’s footprint across the CBD with more free and ticketed events designed to transform the city during the chilly winter nights.
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
Check out our gig guide, our stage guide, our festival guide, our live music venue guide and our nightclub guide. Follow us on Instagram here.
BLOCKBUSTER brings Pakistani stars to Melbourne
The headline announcement is BLOCKBUSTER, an electrifying free celebration of South Asian culture taking over Fed Square on Saturday 7 June. Named after viral hit song Blockbuster, which amassed over 61 million YouTube views in 2024, this world premiere event brings contemporary Pakistani music, eye-catching Punjabi truck art installations and street food to the heart of Melbourne.
Headlining the event is Faris Shafi, the multilingual rapper known as the “uncensored voice of Pakistan” and creator of the original Blockbuster hit. Joining him is a powerhouse lineup including acclaimed producer Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan (professionally known as Xulfi), whose work with Coke Studio seasons 14 and 15 achieved a combined 2.5 billion streams worldwide.
The BLOCKBUSTER lineup also features Annural Khalid, Spotify Pakistan’s most-streamed female artist of 2024 whose hit Jhol has garnered over 300 million streams across 173 countries. Completing the bill are global charting qawwali duo Zain and Zohaib bringing their soulful take on centuries-old Sufi tradition, and Sherry Khattak, frontman of rock band Karakoram.
This cultural showcase, presented by Fed Square, SalamFest and RISING, promises to transport audiences with the legendary Coke Studio Pakistan house band delivering dynamic performances that span rap, pop, qawwali, and genre-defying soundscapes.
Late night playground returns to Melbourne laneways
Another festival highlight is the return of Night Trade, a free late-night playground of music, performance and unexpected delights in Howey Place and surrounding laneways. Running every night of the 10-day festival, Night Trade invites patrons to drink, dine and dance their way into spontaneous mischief.
The opening night features Music in Exile taking over the decks with Kgomotso, LUNA and Zjoso, while the long weekend welcomes Kampala’s legendary Nyege Nyege Collective with a residency featuring five afro-galactic artists including MC Yallah, Kampire, DJ Travella, Lady Hash and Hemedi. Local heroes from DJ Manchild’s Old Plates will join them over four days.
Weekend two shifts the sonic landscape with Disco Mediterranea bringing disco, funk, Italo house and Latin influences, while New York City’s Blazer Sound System delivers reggae, downbeat, dancehall and dub.
Festival-goers should also watch for Tinder Tiny Raves popping up within Night Trade—intimate dance floors featuring big-name DJs with exclusive access and drink specials for Tinder users.
Anarchic rock and immersive electronic landscapes
In a special RISING performance before heading to Europe, Melbourne’s own Tropical Fuck Storm will bring their squalling, searing rock to The Forum. This formidable group, formed by Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin after their legendary art rock band The Drones went on hiatus in 2016, is joined by Erica Dunn (from punk trio MOD CON) and Lauren Hammel (from metal outfit High Tension). They’ll perform material from their new album Fairyland Codex with their characteristic acerbic, anarchic approach.
For electronic music fans, UK artist Matthew Barnes (performing as Forest Swords) returns to Australia for the first time in a decade. Presented with ACMI, this exclusive performance integrates Barnes’ immersive electronic soundscapes with HD imagery on ACMI’s giant cinema screen. His brooding, post-industrial compositions from Liverpool will create what promises to be an overwhelming audiovisual experience.
Comedy, dance and film expand festival offerings
Comedy icon Zoë Coombs Marr brings Wrap It Up to both festival weekends, a chaotic live variety show celebrating everything about late-night television condensed into a frantic spectacular. Hosted by the irrepressible Coombs Marr, this madcap show features a rotating lineup of RISING performers, local stars and random puppets, with high-stakes hilarity, surprise guests and world record attempts.
For those ready to kick up their heels, Country Struts Winter Hoedown brings a boot-scooting spectacular to Melbourne Town Hall. Dance duo Gail (Abigail Varney) and Glenn (Alice Glenn), known for their authentic rodeo flair and No Lights, No Lycra events, will transform the iconic venue into a dazzling dance floor takeover.
Film enthusiasts can enjoy a retrospective of artist Miranda July’s delightfully offbeat works at ACMI. From Kajillionaire and The Future to Me and You and Everyone We Know and Fire of Love, this program spans July’s feature films, short works, documentaries, and rarely seen video art from the ACMI Collection.
Between shows, Moon Bites returns to offer fast feasts at venues conveniently located near festival hubs. CBD restaurants Aru, Dom’s Social Club, Kisumé, Elio’s Place, Pirate Life and Mesa Verde have each created exclusive RISING menus with matching drinks and small bites.
For more information, head here.
