Weird Out West III brings nine hours of experimental music to Footscray's Maddern Square on 4 April.
Weird Out West is back for a third year, turning Maddern Square into Footscray’s noisiest free day out.
The festival, presented by local vinyl specialists Footscray Records, returns on 4 April with a lineup that spans raw guitar noise, avant-garde electronics and some left-field programming. Weird Out West III runs from 1pm to 10pm and is free for all ages, with performances from The Vasco Era, The Night Terrors, Tongue Dissolver, Solsa, OV Pain, Kinetic Vision, Hospital Pass, Lisa MacKinney and Bonnie Mercer.
Then there’s the wildcard: a set of Velvet Underground covers performed entirely by local high school students.
Weird Out West III
- Maddern Square, Footscray
- 4 April, 1pm–10pm
- Free entry, all ages
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Footscray Records opened its doors on Leeds Street in 2022 and has since carved out a reputation as a hub for psychedelia, garage rock and the kind of records you didn’t know you needed. Weird Out West is an extension of that same energy — a grassroots, artist-driven event built around platforming acts that exist well outside the mainstream.
The bill reflects that ethos. The Vasco Era, the Apollo Bay-born rock trio known for ferocious live performances, sit alongside The Night Terrors, a Melbourne duo whose theremin-and-synth explorations have seen them commissioned by the City of Melbourne to compose music on the southern hemisphere’s largest grand pipe organ. It’s a festival where those two acts share a stage with high schoolers channelling Lou Reed, and somehow that makes total sense.
Weird Out West III is supported by Maribyrnong City Council, Kindred Studios and non-alcoholic beer company Heaps Normal. At a time when grassroots festivals are getting harder to pull off, a free, all-ages, community-focused event in one of Melbourne’s most culturally rich suburbs feels like exactly the kind of thing worth showing up for.
For more information, head here.
