As the city begins to open back up, many of us are lapping up the opportunity to get out of the house and out to restaurants, bars, and all the places we’ve missed. However, when it comes to the toe-tapping, head-bopping promise of seeing a live band, there’s still a lot of uncertainty and (currently) very few options.
Thankfully, this is soon to change. The Great Southern Nights initiative will see 1,000 physically distanced gigs come to Sydney and regional NSW, pumping life back into the live music industry from this November.
There are already 20 headline acts lined up including the likes of Oz rock founding father Jimmy Barnes, ethereal one-person-band Tash Sultana, ‘Adore’-able indie pop star Amy Shark, rock poet Paul Kelly will be making gravy, and pop twins The Veronicas will make us all feel a little less ‘Untouched’. You can also look out for ‘Homecoming Queen’ Thelma Plum, light up your ‘Lanterns’ for Birds of Tokyo, and get down with the Presets, the Jungle Giants, and blues rockers the Teskey Brothers. Tones and I will make you a 'Dance Monkey', and Missy Higgins should sound familiar, though she may leave you with a ‘Scar’.
The line-up – curated by ARIA (the Australian Recording Industry Association) and an industry advisory committee across venues around NSW – will feature both established and emerging local artists. Venues and artists can submit expressions of interest over here.
All of the events under Great Southern Nights will be programmed in line with government health advice and venue capacity. The initiative, from Destination NSW in partnership with ARIA, aims to support the recovery of the live music, entertainment and hospitality industries.
Are you hungry to get to a gig a little sooner than November? You can catch live bands at The Vanguard in Newtown and Lazy Bones Lounge in Marrickville.
We have you covered for where to see live music, comedy, cabaret and drag right now.