Elevate Sydney 2023: your essential breakdown of the festival highlights

Each day of the festival, mornings are dedicated to good ol’ family fun. From silly, interactive Story Salad sessions, to meeting animated superstars at the Bluey and Bingo Live Interactive Experience, to Erth's Dinosaur Zoo, a fascinating and educational journey to meet the curious creatures of the planet’s deep past, there are entertainment-packed shows to suit kids of every age. If there’s one uniting thread found running through every part of Elevate, it’s the power of music to bring people together, and during the fest’s family sessions, DJ and party-starter Monski Mouse will be on hand to get the little ones boogying on an age-appropriate dancefloor with a set of kid-friendly, singalong bangers.

Welcome to Sydney’s hottest new club. A white-hot line-up of DJ legends will be spinning floor-filling tunes every afternoon throughout Elevate, to make the most of those quintessential Sydney summer arvos in the sun. On Wednesday January 4, singer-songwriter and producer Matthew Victor Kopp, aka Running Touch, kicks off proceedings with his distinctive melding of nu-metal and electronica before Young Franco takes over the decks to ring in the sunset. Next on Thursday January 5, the funky beats of Melbourne’s synth sorcerer Harvey Sutherland are joined by Aussie-born, LA-based DJ and producer Anna Lunoe. On Friday January 6, DJ, producer and songwriter Kito, who has created official track remixes for the likes of Beyoncé and Wafia, will keep the tunes pumping all arvo long, followed by DJ sisters Savannah and Briony, better known collectively as Kinder, who’ll be headlining the last Social session of the fest on Saturday January 7.

The jewels in the Elevate crown are undoubtedly the collective of top-shelf music talent ready to blow Sydney’s socks off every evening of the festival. Across five epic nights, you can see some of Australian music’s brightest lights shine on stage, with the iconic Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House in view. Starting as they mean to go on, the first night of the fest will feature Australia’s favourite indie pop and DJ double act Client Liaison on Tuesday January 3. Wednesday January 4 will feature the folksy strains of Thelma Plum, indie siren Ruby Fields, plus a yet-to-announced secret headline act, so this is definitely a gig for those Sydneysiders who like surprises. On Thursday January 5, Amy Shark’s torch songs, Mallrat’s dreamy electronica and Becca Hatch’s soulful funk will be drifting on the Sydney night air. Aussie pop royalty the Veronicas headline Elevate's Friday January 6 lineup, supported by New Zealand R'n'B quartet Drax Project and who else but Betty Who. Closing out Elevate Sydney 2023 on Saturday January 7, one of Australia’s most electrifying performers, Sampa the Great, will be joined by electro-pop songstress Wafia and the high-energy beats of Melbourne-based EDM wizards Northeast Party House, who'll be trying (and succeeding) to be real good.