The city is coming alive with reminders that summer is just around the corner,and foodies and revellers are welcoming the return of outdoor events including the Night Noodle Markets,a day of electronic dance music and a seaside festival.
Spaces usually off limits to the public such as the third floor of Flinders Street Station – now home to an exhibition by Melbourne street artist Rone – and the Royal Exhibition Building dome promenade are open for exploration.
There’s a splash of colour for all ages this November,with classic musical theatre productionJoseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,or Claude Monet paintings made larger than life at The Lume and much more.
Night Noodle Markets
Melbourne| November 10 until November 27|Entry Free
After a home-delivery approach last year because of the pandemic,Melbourne’s Night Noodle Markets are back at Birrarung Marr. The open-market stalls are plating up Asian street food for an outdoor dinner or evening snack. Noodles,dumplings,bao buns and desserts are on the menu alongside bars,including one serving zero alcohol.
Time- Rone
Melbourne| October 28 untilJanuary 29|Tickets $39.70
Geelong-born street artist Tyrone Wright,known as Rone,has opened the abandoned third floor of Flinders Street Station to feature his signature haunting female portraits. The site’s curiosity and historic charm has inspired themed rooms filled with original and recreated period objects. Rone’s last large-scale work was at the Art Deco mansion Burnham Beeches and his latest experience at Melbourne’s most iconic train station has taken three years to prepare.
WORLD MADE FLESH - Paul Yore
Melbourne| Until November 20|Tickets Free
Australian artist Paul Yore’s blend of colour and movement is presented in works spanning the past 15 years. The exhibition features Yore’s quilts and needlework,banners and pendants,collage and assemblage,and large-scale mixed media installations and is the latest in the Australia Centre for Contemporary Art’s solo series.
Kings of Leon
Melbourne| November 5 and November 6|Tickets from $95
Returning for their first concerts since 2013,Nashville rock band Kings of Leon kick-started their Australian tour in Mildura and will perform at Sidney Myer Music Bowl for two nights. The four-time Grammy winners last year released their eighth album,When You See Yourself.They will be joined on tour by Australian indie rockers The Temper Trap.
Dua Lipa
Melbourne| November 12| Limited remaining tickets
Tickets to English pop superstar Dua Lipa’s performance for just 2800 people last month at the Palais Theatre quickly sold out,and theperformance was received with high acclaim. The three-time Grammy Award winner last toured Australia in 2018,playing at Mardi Gras and supporting Bruno Mars. HerFuture Nostalgia tour celebrates her second studio album,released in 2020.
Flume
Melbourne| November 24|Tickets from $89
Australian electronic artist Flume will play in Melbourne during a home tour showcasing his third studio album,Palaces, released in May. The Sydneysider,who won a Grammy in 2017,is also known for his remixes of Lorde and Disclosure and performed at global festivals including Coachella and Supersonic. Supporting acts include rapper Channel Tres,singer-songwriter Caroline Polachek,chillwave trailblazer Toro y Moi and singer MAY-A.
Nick Cave&Warren Ellis
Hanging Rock and Melbourne| November 25,26,30 and December 2|Tickets have low availability from $199
Nick Cave is touring his home country to perform the albumCarnage (2021) with fellow Aussie musician andlong-time collaborator Warren Ellis. Shows at Hanging Rock are sold out,but there are a limited number of tickets available to see the duo at the Palais Theatre. The tour marks the first time Cave and Ellis,a long-term member of The Bad Seeds,have performed in Australia as a duo.
Emilia
Melbourne| November 10 until November 27|Tickets from $49
The triple Oliver-award-winning production is a mock history that plays into speculation about 17th century poet Emilia Lanier being the “dark lady” referenced in Shakespeare’s sonnets. Described as having the “throbbing heart of Shakespeare” and “the delicious comedy ofBlackadder”,the cast from diverse cultural backgrounds use humour and fury to restore a female character who history has erased.
Sunshine Super Girl
Melbourne| November 9 to December 14|Tickets from $47
The play tells the story of Wiradjuri Australian tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley,who rose to become the world’s number one women’s player in the mid-1970s and became Australia’s first Aboriginal woman world champion. The work was shortlisted for the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Drama,and will transform the Southbank Theatre into a tennis court with onstage courtside seating.
Girls&Boys
Arts Centre Melbourne| Until November 26|Tickets from $78
By Tony Award-winning British playwright Dennis Kelly and directed by Kate Champion,Girls&Boysis a gripping one-woman show,starring Nikki Shiels as the unnamed lead. Beginning in line for an EasyJet flight,the play follows the highs and extreme lows of a couple eventually immersed in darkness.
Mountain Writers Festival
Macedon| November 4 until November 6|Limited Tickets remain available
Making its debut this year in Macedon,60 kilometres north-west of Melbourne,the Mountain Writers Festival is taking a leaf out of books for lovers and advocates of the environment. Panels and author conversations will discuss climate science,activism,gardening,and outback crime. The festival will host writers including Tim Flannery,Midnight Oil singer and former Labor MP Peter Garrett,andNew York Timesbestseller Sarah Wilson.
Austen Con
Melbourne| November 5|Tickets $50
The Abbotsford Convent will host the fifth annual Austen Con,celebrating Jane Austen and the Regency society she explored and dramatised through her novels. The event includes role-playing games,dancing,literary discussions,live performances and costumes.
Melbourne Queer Film Festival
Melbourne| November 10 until November 21|Ticket prices vary
The festival will screen 149 feature films,documentaries and shorts,including local and international drama,comedy and documentaries. Brazilian queer stories will take centre stage in this year’s festival as organisers seek to highlight risks for LGBTQ people in the South American country and their resilience and creativity.
Royal Exhibition Building Dome Promenade
Melbourne| Open from October 29|Tickets $29 (Adults)
It’s now possible to take in the views from on top of Melbourne’s only World Heritage-listed building,the Royal Exhibition Building,for the first time in about a century. A viewing deck around the dome has opened to the public via a guided tour,after repair,conservation and restoration works.
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