Spanning five residential towers, the Spotswood Yards programme covers roughly 1,254 square metres of facade across 32 floors. The first two walls have been finished by Spanish artist Aryz and Belgian painter Nean, with the remaining line-up set to draw on talent from both Australia and overseas.

Spotswood Yards

• What: a five-tower, open-air street art gallery at the Spotswood Yards precinct
• Where: Spotswood, in Melbourne’s inner west
• Rollout: staged across 2025 to 2027, alongside the development’s residential releases
• Completed so far: works by Aryz (Spain) and Nean (Belgium), with the next artist reveal due in 2027

Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.

 

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The legacy of Juddy Roller

Juddy Roller wrote the public art strategy that helped the precinct clear planning approval, working alongside Hobsons Bay council’s planning and arts teams and developer Blue Earth. From there, the agency handled curation, permits, compliance and installation, coordinating painters on swing stages and lifts while the buildings were still going up.

The artworks are appearing in stages to match the release of the precinct’s residential buildings, named Porter, Flagman, Signal House and Fleet, so each tower gets its colour as it’s completed rather than long after residents arrive. The whole thing is being delivered alongside builder Hamilton Marino, without slowing the wider construction schedule.

A 20-year collection

Juddy Roller says the finished collection has been designed to survive more than 20 years, positioning the murals as a fixed part of the neighbourhood rather than a passing campaign. The agency also reckons the project has already racked up more than 250,000 organic views across social channels while the opening pieces were being painted.

The outfit behind it is a familiar one for anyone who’s driven past a painted grain silo lately. Juddy Roller founded the Australian Silo Art Trail and the Wall to Wall Festival, and has delivered large-scale public art for developments, stadiums and councils across the country.

For more information, head here.

The post Melbourne now has a skyscraper-sized street art gallery appeared first on Beat Magazine.

It’s curated by Monash’s Head of First Nations Programming and Engagement, Gunditjmara man Tom Molyneux, and shaped by an Indigenous Steering Committee.

Kindred People

• 1 – 5 September
• Monash Performing Arts Centres, 49 Scenic Boulevard, Clayton
• djeembana yalinwa community day: 5 September
• Community market 1pm – 4pm
• Mainstage concert 4pm – 7pm

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Two world premieres

The bill carries two world premieres. The Scarecrow and Waa comes from Narrm circus company Na Djinang Circus, building bold work around the stories and ideas of young First Nations people, while Decolonising the Bells sees Noongar composer and viola player Aaron Wyatt team up with Speak Percussion to reimagine Victoria’s Federation Handbells.

Australian Dance Theatre brings the Victorian premiere of Two Blood, created by writer S. Shakthidharan with co-choreographers Daniel Riley and Jasmin Sheppard, plus there’s a strong international thread: He Huia Kaimanawa from Bianca Hyslop and Rowan Pierce responds to the reclaiming of Māori language, and UPU gathers the words of Pasifika writers after a sold-out Sydney Opera House season in 2025.

kummargi yulendj gadhaba

 

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Sitting at the core of the program is kummargi yulendj gadhaba, a two-day speakers program across 3 and 4 September whose name translates as knowledge rising up together in Boonwurrung language. It pulls together artists, community leaders, knowledge holders and academics for keynotes, yarning sessions, workshops and performances.

There’s also a festival exclusive at The Count’s from blues elder Marlene Cummins, a proud Guguyelandji and Woppaburra woman, joined by Clayton Dooley on piano and hammond organ.

Everything wraps with djeembana yalinwa, a community day of music, food and family-friendly fun spread across the Forum Lawn, Chancellery Colonnade and Robert Blackwood Hall. A market of Indigenous-owned businesses is curated by Kinya Lerrk, the outdoor stage is programmed by Songlines Aboriginal Music, and Pawa Catering handles the food. From 1pm you’ll catch Dungala Baimi, Leo Whyman and Canisha, before a free 4pm concert headlined by the multi-award-winning Electric Fields, with Velvet Trip and Alice Skye.

For more information, head here.

The post A new five-day First Nations festival is taking over Melbourne this September appeared first on Beat Magazine.

For its first proper foray into club territory, Hear My Eyes has pulled members of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and Mildlife into fresh formations, backed by a clutch of selectors it has long admired.

Hear My Eyes end-of-tour wrap party

• Miscellania, Melbourne
• 19 September, from 8pm
• Grab tickets here

Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.

From the screen to the dancefloor

 

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Hear My Eyes made its name on a lovely bit of lunacy: commission a brand-new score from bold musicians, then have them perform it live against a chosen film.

Sitting somewhere between a screening and a gig, the hybrid format has been curated over years by founder Haydn Green, who has paired Sampa the Great with Girlhood, sent the Murlocs through Two Hands and marched a King Gizzard-led supergroup into Dario Argento’s giallo nightmare Suspiria.

The wrap party ditches that blueprint entirely, swapping the orchestra pit for the booth and letting its roster stretch out across club sets instead.

The Gizzard contingent

Michael “Cavs” Cavanagh has manned the drums for King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard since the band formed in 2010, driving the psych six-piece through thrash, prog, jazz and whatever else they fancy. He arrives fresh from reimagining Memento on his own, performing solo across multiple kits and a bank of electronics to shadow Nolan’s fractured, Oscar-nominated breakthrough. That run carried his score to Sydney’s City Recital Hall and Arts Centre Melbourne before circling back to home turf for this send-off.

The band’s ferocious release rate, from the self-titled K.G. to 2025’s Phantom Island, has stacked up more than two dozen albums and a bottomless bag of reference points.

Bandmates Stu Mackenzie and Joey Walker step in beside Cavanagh, both trading their guitars for the decks.

Mildlife’s rhythm man

 

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Jim Rindfleish keeps the pulse in Mildlife, the local quartet whose weightless, synth-slathered grooves have hauled home Music Victoria hardware and filled rooms well beyond Naarm.

Formed the same year as their Gizzard mates and three albums deep after 2024’s Chorus, the group trades in the sort of cosmic jazz that suits a late-night floor, and Rindfleish’s picks should sit right in that pocket.

On the rest of the roster, DJ Nay Nay brings afrocentric firepower, threading afrohouse, soul and harder dance cuts while flying the flag for the music’s roots through her Enzi Archive series.

Glasgow-raised and now Melbourne-based, Sofay leans on more than a decade of crate-digging and an NTS residency running since 2018, roaming from ambient and folk to dub and post-punk, with sets at Houghton, Berlin Atonal and Golden Pudel on her CV. Glow rounds out the home-grown selectors, plus there’s a mystery guest!

For more information, head here.

The post Melbourne just scored an epic King Gizzard and Mildlife flavoured club night appeared first on Beat Magazine.

Joining the previously revealed names, the seaside institution has now confirmed 38 acts for what’s shaping up to be the biggest edition in the festival’s history, with Port Fairy Folk Festival welcoming everyone from returning favourites to first-time international guests for four days of folk, roots and everything in between.

Port Fairy Folk Festival

• Friday 5 March – Monday 8 March 2027
• Gates open 12noon, Friday 5 March
• Location: Port Fairy, Victoria
• Final tickets on sale here

Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.

 

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The freshly announced lineup spans the globe, with acts travelling in from the United States, Ireland, England, Scotland, Canada and Catalonia to join a strong contingent of Australian talent.

Names on the bill include Kate Rusby, Luka Bloom, The Milk Carton Kids, The Waifs, John Butler, Sixpence None The Richer, Eleanor McEvoy and Skerryvore, alongside rising acts and community favourites such as Steph Strings, Mia Dyson and Kutcha Edwards.

The newly announced artists include:

• Alice Howe & Freebo (USA)
• Amaidí
• Candice Lorrae
• Detta Kenzie
• The Haar (IRE/ENG)
• Holly Munro (IRE)
• Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen (ENG/USA)
• Kyarna
• Laura Urteaga and Benjamín Aedo (CAT/ESP)
• Luka Bloom (IRE)
• Magpie Diaries
• Minor Gold
• Ngulmiya feat. Pau Figueres (AUS/CAT)
• Ordinary Elephant (USA)
• Sam Kelly (ENG)
• Sixpence None The Richer (USA)
• Steph Strings
• Sue Ray
• Tuck Shop Ladies
• Ukulele Death Squad
• The Waifs

Festival Program Director Justin Rudge said the Port Fairy community has put plenty of work into making the golden anniversary a fitting tribute to five decades of the event, while also setting the tone for the next fifty years of the festival.

He noted the new additions bring together past Artists of the Year, longtime festival favourites and performers making the trip from all corners of the world, and encouraged both regulars and first-timers to lock in tickets before the final tier sells out.

Festival Committee President Bruce Leishman has also reflected on the milestone, recalling more than three decades of involvement with the event and watching it grow from a small gig on the back of a truck in the Botanic Gardens into a large-scale celebration drawing fans and artists from across the globe. He extended thanks to the Port Fairy community for its support of the festival over five decades.

Held annually over the Victorian Labour Day long weekend, Port Fairy Folk Festival brings together generations of music lovers in the historic fishing town for four days of folk, world and acoustic music, community singalongs, and late-night sessions in the Shebeen. With more names still to be added to the bill, the 50th edition is on track to be one of the biggest in the event’s history.

For more information, head here.

This article was made in partnership with Port Fairy Folk Festival. 

The post Steph Strings, The Waifs: Port Fairy Folk Festival drops huge new lineup for 50th birthday appeared first on Beat Magazine.

Curated by Chapman himself, The Green Bus gathers one image for every one of the 55 years Andrew Chapman has spent watching the city since 1971. The title nods to the green buses that once ran from Elsternwick into town, ferrying a young Chapman and his camera on the trips that sparked a lifelong habit of paying close attention to Melbourne.

The Green Bus

• Where: City Gallery, Melbourne Town Hall, 110 Swanston Street
• When: 3 September 2026 – 19 February 2027, weekdays 8:30am – 5pm
• Cost: Free
• Curator talk: Andrew Chapman in conversation, midday, 5 September

Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.

 

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The exhibition arrives on the back of the City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection acquiring a sizeable slice of Chapman’s archive.

Lord Mayor Nick Reece has framed the images as a striking visual record of the city: “These remarkable images, beautifully captured by Andrew, offer a vivid snapshot of Melbourne through time.”

“They are both iconic and deeply evocative, taking us on a journey through the evolution of our city. Preserved for future generations, this extraordinary visual record helps ensure the stories, people and places that have shaped Melbourne remain accessible and celebrated for years to come.”

Small grains of certainty

Rather than leaning on nostalgia, Chapman’s frames track shifting streetscapes, changing communities and the everyday rituals of public life. There’s a Moomba crowd perched on a Swanston Street awning in 1987, a demonstrator on Bourke Street in the mid-1970s, a girl at a Russell Street phone booth in the 1990s, and quieter moments that ask how a city keeps hold of its own memory.

Chapman has talked about the show as a set of honest markers in a post-truth, AI-shaped world, small grains of certainty worth holding onto.

Born in Melbourne, Chapman studied at Prahran College before starting out as a news photographer in 1978, and has since spent close to six decades on assignments spanning politics, rural life, the wool industry and beyond. He is the author of 10 photographic books. A catalogue with a new essay by curator Stella Loftus-Hills accompanies the run, and Chapman will dig into the work during his curator talk at midday on 5 September.

For more information, head here.

The post 55 years of amazing Melbourne street photography is becoming a free show appeared first on Beat Magazine.

It was a balmy night in April, and at the famous El Coyote Mexican Restaurant in Los Angeles Amyl and the Sniffers filmed and recorded a one-of-a-kind performance.

Intimate, charming and full of heart, Truth or Consequence captures the Melbourne four piece in a way that fans have never witnessed before.

Amyl and the Sniffers – Truth or Consequences

• Out august 28

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Though renowned for their explosive live performances, this country concert was every bit as raw and raucous as the shows we know and love.

As well as some acoustic fan favourites, the set also features two unreleased songs and a cover of Slim Dusty’s iconic Lights on the Hill. Think “Chad Morgan, Slim Dusty, that kind of stuff,” said Amy, expressing that the band wanted to “shake shit up” after years of touring and album releases.

It’s a chance for the band to kick off their boots, shed their skin like a snake, and revisit their discography through a rustic creative lens.

Directed by John Angus Stewart with visuals by Christopher Blauvelt, the concert is beautifully filmed, with the band drenched in a romantic and sultry red, in what feels like an homage to Amy’s iconic red lipstick, which frames her mouth like a smoking-hot loaded gun.

Further, the film is interspersed with hilarious candid moments of the band retracing their ten-year journey as a group over beers on a sticky leather couch.

It shows that, beneath the mullets, vinyl boots and sweat, Amyl and the Sniffers is, at its core, an unbridled group of friends having fun, sharing their love of stories and music.

The concert film will have an Australian national cinema release from August 28, before the live album is released on vinyl and streaming platforms from September 4.

In a statement, the band said, “the hope for this record is that it is listened to as it was made, in a ruckus exclamation between a cherished group of friends”.

So, make sure to bring your mates to the cinema or invite them over for a listening party, just as the band intended.

For Truth or Consequence proves that Amyl and the Sniffers have always been big stars, never dull ones.

Even when they trade a mosh pit for a Mexican restaurant, they are still explosive and full of life, brimming with glitter and magic.

Truth or Consequence is out in cinemas from August 28. 

The post ‘Yeeehaw!’: Amyl and the sniffers new country-fied concert film is one-of-a-kind appeared first on Beat Magazine.

The Melbourne Makers Market lands at City Square, on Swanston Walk, on 19 September from 10am – 3pm, gathering up to 40 emerging artists, designers and makers in the middle of Melbourne. It is a collaboration between the Rose St. Artists’ Market and City Precinct, dedicated entirely to original, handmade and locally made work.

Melbourne Makers Market

• What: Melbourne Makers Market launch day
• When: 19 September, 10am – 3pm (then on selected dates each month throughout the year)
• Where: City Square, Swanston Walk, Melbourne CBD
• Cost: Free entry

Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.

 

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City Square counts among the CBD’s most storied civic sites, and the launch marks a fresh chapter for the space as a home for independent trade. Entry is free, and the location sits within easy reach by tram, train and on foot.

After the launch, the market settles into a monthly rhythm, returning across the rest of the year to keep a rotating cast of makers in front of passing city crowds. Each edition leans on curation over sheer volume, favouring work you won’t find on a chain-store shelf.

The Rose St. Artists’ Market brings years of form to the partnership, having built its name on backing new talent and independent design.

 

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Pairing that pedigree with City Precinct drops small creative businesses right into the daily churn of the CBD, giving the centre a recurring reason to slow down.

City Square has long been a natural meeting point on Swanston Walk, a short stroll from Flinders Street and the trams threading through town. Handing that ground to independent makers, even for a day at a time, edges the CBD toward the street-level culture the inner north has traded on for years.

For visitors, it’s a low-key way to meet the people behind the work, from prints and ceramics to jewellery, textiles and more. For the makers themselves, it’s a foothold in one of the busiest pockets of the city.

For more information, head here.

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Maverick is his sixth stand-up tour, following The Aurator, which shifted more than 30,000 tickets across upwards of 100 shows through the UK, Europe, Canada, New Zealand and the Middle East. Aurie Styla picks Maverick up where that run left off.

Aurie Styla Australian tour

• Melbourne, The Comic’s Lounge – 29 November
• Brisbane, Sit Down Comedy Club – 1 December
• Sydney, Comedy Store – 2 December
• Auckland, Loft, Q Theatre – 4 December

Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.

The show digs into work-life balance, family, relationships and health, plus the highs and lows of life once the last tour wrapped. It leans on the everyday stuff, run through his stand-up.

Away from touring, Aurie Styla hosts the BBC Radio 4 series Tech Talk and has turned up on Richard Osman’s House of Games, Jonathan Ross’ Comedy Club and The Stand-Up Sketch Show. In 2025 he was picked as a New Face of Comedy at Just for Laughs in Montreal, with a Netflix Is a Joke debut in Los Angeles lined up for 2026.

He also runs a direct-to-consumer model that’s built a following in the hundreds of thousands and racked up hundreds of millions of video views, which is a large part of how a UK club comic ends up selling out rooms this far from home.

The Melbourne show goes ahead 29 November at The Comic’s Lounge in North Melbourne, the sole Victorian stop on the run. Presale sign-ups are open through promoter BOHM Presents ahead of general release, with Brisbane, Sydney and Auckland following across early December.

For more information, head here.

The post Comedy heavyweight Aurie Styla is bringing Maverick to Melbourne this November appeared first on Beat Magazine.

The rankings were built on a weighted formula: 35 per cent global search volume, 35 per cent media mentions and 30 per cent social following split across the three platforms. Data was collected between May 2025 and May 2026. A separate “most talked about” score, based only on search and media coverage, was also calculated to capture public conversation rather than raw follower counts.

Among musicians, the full top five:

1. Rosé (K-pop) — 156.3 million followers, 371,000 global searches
2. Felix Lee (K-pop) — 32.7 million followers, 135,000 global searches
3. AC/DC (rock) — 19.2 million followers, 1.5 million global searches
4. 5 Seconds of Summer (pop) — 21.3 million followers, 166,000 global searches
5. Iggy Azalea (hip hop) — 18.9 million followers, 823,000 global searches

Australia’s 50 most famous people

1. Rosé, musician
2. Chris Hemsworth, actor
3. Hugh Jackman, actor
4. Lannan Eacott (LazarBeam), content creator
5. Felix Lee, musician
6. Caleb Finn, content creator
7. Chloe Ting, content creator
8. How Ridiculous, content creator
9. AC/DC, musician
10. Nicole Kidman, actor
11. Ruby Rose, actor
12. Angela White, adult performer
13. Joshdub, content creator
14. 5 Seconds of Summer, musician
15. Iggy Azalea, musician
16. Jacob Elordi, actor
17. Leah Halton, content creator
18. Sia, musician
19. Troye Sivan, musician
20. Tammy Hembrow, content creator
21. Brodie Moss (Ybs Youngbloods), content creator
22. Mully, content creator
23. Liam Hemsworth, actor
24. Andy Cooks, content creator
25. Eystreem, content creator
26. Robert Irwin, conservationist
27. The Kid Laroi, musician
28. Miranda Kerr, model
29. Margot Robbie, actor
30. Fresh, content creator
31. The Norris Nuts, content creator
32. Bridey Drake, content creator
33. Ozzy Man Reviews, content creator
34. Oscar Piastri, athlete
35. Kathleen Belsten (Loserfruit), content creator
36. Dacre Montgomery, actor
37. Daniel Ricciardo, athlete
38. Celeste Barber, content creator
39. Muselk, content creator
40. Timmy Trumpet, musician
41. David Warner, athlete
42. Josh Giddey, athlete
43. Harry Jowsey, content creator
44. Maia Mitchell, actor
45. Phoebe Tonkin, actor
46. Chase Atlantic, musician
47. Sam Fricker, athlete
48. Ben Simmons, athlete
49. Milly Alcock, actor
50. Claire Holt, actor

Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.

How do you measure fame?

Fame looks very different depending on which measurement you trust. Rosé ran away with the “most followed” side of the study, but she didn’t appear anywhere in the top 10 “most talked about” list, which was stacked almost entirely with actors including

Jacob Elordi, Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman. Only Chris Hemsworth and Hugh Jackman managed to land in both the most-followed and most-talked-about top 10s.

The shift towards content creators

Content creators were the real headline of the report, making up 38 per cent of the top 50 and beating out actors, musicians and athletes as the single biggest category. Gaming YouTuber LazarBeam placed fourth overall, ahead of every musician except Rosé, while Caleb Finn, Chloe Ting and How Ridiculous rounded out four creators inside the top 10.

For musicians specifically, the top five ran Rosé, Felix Lee, AC/DC, 5 Seconds of Summer and Iggy Azalea, with Sia, Troye Sivan, The Kid Laroi, Timmy Trumpet and Chase Atlantic filling out the rest of the music entries further down.

Both Rosé and Felix Lee built their audiences through k-pop groups, and their follower counts sit well clear of every other Australian musician on the list. AC/DC pulled a search volume of 1.5 million, higher than Rosé’s, despite a much smaller social following.

For more information, head here.

The post Who is Australia’s most famous musician? Turns out they’ve been ranked appeared first on Beat Magazine.