Melbourne's favourite container bar is bringing five tonnes of sand to the CBD for its annual beach party next week.
Transforming their laneway home into a tropical oasis, Section 8 is celebrating its 19th birthday with a week of sandy festivities, including a new sandcastle competition. Teams of two will battle it out to create the most outrageous seaside structure, with the winners scoring a $100 bar tab.
The sandcastle showdown is just one highlight of the week-long party, which features over 30 DJs, live jazz, basketball competitions and Latin beats.
Section 8 Beach Party 2025
- Check out the full week-long program here
- Mon 24 Feb – Playaz Club Laneway Basketball: A free basketball shootout with prizes & DJs Walla C, Sista Sara and Verse@ille
- Tues 25 Feb – Condensed Milk with Amin Payne, Taijae and JNETT
- Weds 26 Feb – Live jazz on the beach with the Milk Bar House Band, ENTRO // and Jonquil. Sandcastle competition!
- Thurs 27 Feb – With PK, Jazmine Nikitta, Swerv, Louella Deville plus visuals by Kurious Kat
- Fri 28 Feb – With Kurious Kat, 1SA, Mrs Wallace, OLITA, Glow, $UMBHADBITTIE$ plus visuals by Kurious Kat
- Sat 1 Mar – Soul Sessions with DJs, food and free chips for beachgoers plus visuals by Kurious Kat with ATB, Daniel Cuda, EVA, DJ Lady Erica, Trustee, Tiff Cornish, Antones, Joey G, JCDJ
- Sun 2 Mar –Latin American Day party with Isu Taki DJs with Afrodesia, Walla C, Randy Castilla, Mendoza, Cuerpo Negro
- Section 8, 27-29 Tattersalls Lane, Melbourne
- Free entry
Check out our gig guide, our festival guide, our live music venue guide and our nightclub guide. Follow us on Instagram here.
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Event partners Skrewball Whiskey, Heaps Normal and Hop Nation are bringing beach-worthy refreshments, while visual artist Kurious Kat will transform the space with tropical projections – potentially featuring inflatable sharks. The Saoko Collective team is handling the beachy décor.
“We bring an unserious approach to the city in the form of a beach party, because not everyone is able to get to the coast during summer,” says the Section 8 team. “It’s one of those infamous Melbourne events that even if you haven’t attended, you know exactly what it is when someone brings it up. Who else can say they transformed their small bar into a tropical paradise for a week with sand, live jazz on the beach, and a sandcastle competition?”
The broader program includes UK-born arts collective Soul Sessions, who’ll be celebrating their 100th episode with a special broadcast from the sand. “In true Soul Sessions style, we’ll be recording live sets for our YouTube and SoundCloud, sharing the energy with listeners around the world. We’ve brought back some of our favourite artists from last year’s recordings, guaranteed to bring the heat, and we’re also welcoming some incredible new talent we’ve had our eye on for a long time.”
For the full week-long program, head here.
