Sandbox Music Festival lands at PICA in Port Melbourne on 25 September with a stacked hard techno lineup.
After four years of packed Sydney warehouses, Sandbox is loading up its first festival and pointing it at Melbourne.
Sandbox Music Festival is the brand’s debut national run, touching down in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth across September with a roster of international and local talent. The Melbourne leg takes over PICA in Port Melbourne on 25 September.
The whole thing grew out of a boiler-room-style party founded by Sydney DJ Hijckd, who also runs the brand’s in-house techno label. After four years of sold-out nights, the operation is scaling up and going coast to coast.
Sandbox Music Festival
- 18 September – Superordinary, Brisbane
- 19 September – White Bay Power Station, Sydney
- 25 September – PICA, Melbourne
- 27 September – Villa, Perth
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
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Topping the Melbourne bill is Lee Ann Roberts, the South African-born, Amsterdam-based selector behind the NowNow label. Her debut single Miyamoto reached number two on Beatport’s hard techno chart, and she has since played the likes of Awakenings and Timewarp.
US duo Beauz, brothers Bernie and Johan Yang, also feature, having moved from pop-facing dance music into hard techno around 2024. They are joined by Mexico’s Junkie Kid, who made his Tomorrowland debut in 2025 and coined a hardstyle-and-house hybrid he calls neo-hard house.
The international contingent runs deep. Belfast’s Mark Blair came up through his city’s illegal raves and trades in acid techno, while Cologne’s Negitiv, a German-Persian producer, works across schranz, industrial and hard techno. Malaysia’s Jovynn built a following posting techno mashups online before moving into her own productions, and Germany’s DJ Guestlist rounds out the overseas names.
Founder Hijckd holds it down for the home team, spinning at his own festival. Each event runs on L-Acoustics or d&b audio systems, in keeping with the European-style production Sandbox is known for. Across its Sydney run the brand has previously hosted Deborah De Luca, Chris Liebing, Lilly Palmer and Eli Brown. Tickets are available now through Eventbrite, and every date is strictly 18-plus.
For more information, head here.
