Things to do in Melbourne in January
January's best events in one place – it's your social emergency saviour for fun things to do in Melbourne in January
Wondering what to do in Melbourne in January? We can help. Check out our guide to all the fun things to do in Melbourne, from free events to exhibitions, theatre shows, live music and more. For rainy days, consult our guide to Melbourne's best indoor activities instead.
Sasha Velour
After winning season nine of RuPaul’s Drag Race and delighting audiences with her experimental drag aesthetic, New York’s own Sasha Velour is coming back to Melbourne. Velour will be bringing her 75-minute one-woman show Live and in Colour to the Plenary for one night only on Friday January 11, 2019. This show takes inspiration from Brooklyn’s drag scene with Velour set to perform a few of her favourite songs including ‘Cellophane’, ‘This Woman’s Work’ and ‘Don’t Cry Out Loud’. The show will bring Velour’s signature hyper-gendered queer fantasy to life – and maybe a little rose petal wig reveal, if we play our cards right.
Australian Open
Every year, thousands head to Melbourne Park to watch the superstars of tennis battle it out in the fierce summer heat. Despite the heatwaves that occur regularly during the event (temperatures of 35 degrees or higher are common) the Australian Open continues to attract the world's best tennis players and their fans for the southern hemisphere's only Grand Slam tournament. Even if you don’t make it into the arena, Birrarung Marr will buzz with live entertainment and food stalls at the Australian Open Festival, where live screenings of matches will be played on big screens. The AO Festival also includes a series of live performances by some amazing home-grown acts – previous years have featured Jimmy Barnes, Client Liaison, Tina Arena and Vera Blue.
Between Two Worlds | Escher X nendo
The National Gallery of Victoria is bringing a world-first exhibition of works by MC Escher to Melbourne this summer. Between Two Worlds | Escher X nendo will feature more than 160 prints and drawings from the renowned Dutch artist as well as an immersive Escher-inspired environment created by Japanese design studio Nendo. We can't wait to see how they'll respond to Escher's most iconic image: the physically impossible, Hogwarts-esque staircases. Escher rose to prominence in the 20th-century art world for his mind-bending and mathematically complex works like ‘Hand with Reflecting Sphere’, ‘Relativity’ and ‘Balcony’. Though he considered himself to have little mathematical ability his art has become iconic for its seamless tessellation, warped perspectives and impossible objects – like endless, connected staircases and mirrored self-portraits. The works are on loan from the Gemeentemuseum in the Hague and will be joined by an immersive experience created by Nendo design studio. By manipulating geometry, space and perception like Escher, Nendo will create a never-before-seen exhibit that will bring the artist’s work to life. Cathy Leahy, the NGV's senior curator of prints and drawings says that Nendo is using Escher's playfulness to create the world-first experience. "Escher works with positive and negative space a lot and shapes transforming from one element to another. Nendo have created this space that you walk through that has some of those elements." Between Two Worl
Hawthorn Makers Market
Established in 1979 and held on the first Sunday of every month, the Hawthorn Craft Market has evolved into the Hawthorn Makers Market after almost 40 years as one of Melbourne's most loved markets. This monthly market is a true all-rounder. It's renowned for the quality of its handcrafted jewellery, cards, accessories and homewares, but is also known for selling handy items for the garden, as well as homebaked treats. Head along to Hawthorn Arts Centre from 10am to 3pm to peruse more than 70 stallholders.
Arts Centre Melbourne Sunday Market
Arts Centre Melbourne isn't only great for the odd show or even for a meal and a tipple at The Barre, every Sunday the grounds of the arts precinct's hub comes alive with market stalls selling everything from handmade leather wallet to locally made art by the city's designers and small business owners. Situated a short walk away from Flinders Street Station, everything on offer at the market has been locally made, and the market also features a great range of food stalls if you want to shake up your Sunday brunch. Head over to the Arslan gozleme stall for some Turkish pastry layered with delicious spicy lamb or cheese and spinach, or make a stop at the poffertjes stall for some Dutch pancakes.
Veg Out Farmers' Market
The volunteer-run Veg Out Community Garden's farmers' market, open the first Saturday of each month, overflows with local organic produce, jams and preserves, handmade bread and sundry delights to fill up your basket. This blue-eyed bloke's name is Rod Blake, but his customers know him as Blakey. On any given Veg Out Saturday market, you'll find him swapping stories with a young couple while weighing bendy zucchinis, or talking footy with the 10-year-old son of a long-term customer. "Nearly everything here – kale, capsicum, gem squash – were all picked yesterday," explains Blakey. Along with his wife Meg, Blakey's been growing organic produce at their Grampians farm for over two decades, ever since he parted ways with pesticides ("nasties!"). At 10am, the Bellellen Grampians Organics stall is buzzing over the sound of a busker playing acoustic guitar. Stocks are depleting, but the two never falter in their back-and-forth energy and banter, despite getting up at 1am. "I'm staying in Melbourne tonight because I've got a little party to go to!"
Rose Street Artists' Market
Each Saturday and Sunday the Rose Street Market gathers some of Melbourne's most exciting artists and designers to display their wares and talk all things handmade. Weave your way through the crowds and duck into the warehouse to check out the handmade fashion, food and curios for sale. The artists are usually on hand to compare crochet needles and discuss their work, so drop in for a squiz, a chat and a haircut from the resident hairdresser.
Gasworks Farmers' Market
If all you sell is raspberries (or olives, or rhubarb, or honey), then you've got to have a pretty strong passion for them. Every third Saturday of the month, enthusiasm for high quality local produce runs like electricity at this Port Melbourne arts space, and your tastebuds will feel it too.Grab a fresh, crusty baguette to go with your market haul salad for later, stock up on seasonal produce and a treat or two for afternoon tea (handmade chocolate biscuits, anyone?).The Gasworks Farmers' Market is plastic free so make sure to bring your reusable bags, baskets and coffee cups.
Sasha Velour
After winning season nine of RuPaul’s Drag Race and delighting audiences with her experimental drag aesthetic, New York’s own Sasha Velour is coming back to Melbourne. Velour will be bringing her 75-minute one-woman show Live and in Colour to the Plenary for one night only on Friday January 11, 2019. This show takes inspiration from Brooklyn’s drag scene with Velour set to perform a few of her favourite songs including ‘Cellophane’, ‘This Woman’s Work’ and ‘Don’t Cry Out Loud’. The show will bring Velour’s signature hyper-gendered queer fantasy to life – and maybe a little rose petal wig reveal, if we play our cards right.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong
Last year Australian audiences got a taste for the hottest comedy sensation on the West End in The Play That Goes Wrong, a raucous farce that's thankfully far more imaginative than its title. The slapstick spoof follows the members of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society as they try to hold everything together at one disastrous performance of a murder mystery. The play itself started out in a small pub theatre in London before going on to play sold out season after sold out season in bigger and bigger venues. It eventually played Broadway and a successful Australian tour. But the team behind it, Mischief Theatre Company, didn't stop at just one play, and their follow-up, Peter Pan Goes Wrong is headed to Australia for a tour that takes in Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney and Perth. It features all the same characters from the Cornely Polytechnic Drama Society as they try to bring the magic of Neverland to life on stage. If you want to know how it goes, there's a pretty significant clue in the title. Time Out London wrote in a four-star review: "If you saw The Play That Goes Wrong, there are few surprises here. It’s an ingeniously simple premise: drop an audience into a fourth-wall-breaking performance of a show that falls apart spectacularly from the first scene. Here, that’s an adaptation of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan, directed and starring the pompous Chris, who – in spite of his amusingly seasonal, pissed-off insistence that this is ‘not’ a panto – is properly boo-hi
Between Two Worlds | Escher X nendo
The National Gallery of Victoria is bringing a world-first exhibition of works by MC Escher to Melbourne this summer. Between Two Worlds | Escher X nendo will feature more than 160 prints and drawings from the renowned Dutch artist as well as an immersive Escher-inspired environment created by Japanese design studio Nendo. We can't wait to see how they'll respond to Escher's most iconic image: the physically impossible, Hogwarts-esque staircases. Escher rose to prominence in the 20th-century art world for his mind-bending and mathematically complex works like ‘Hand with Reflecting Sphere’, ‘Relativity’ and ‘Balcony’. Though he considered himself to have little mathematical ability his art has become iconic for its seamless tessellation, warped perspectives and impossible objects – like endless, connected staircases and mirrored self-portraits. The works are on loan from the Gemeentemuseum in the Hague and will be joined by an immersive experience created by Nendo design studio. By manipulating geometry, space and perception like Escher, Nendo will create a never-before-seen exhibit that will bring the artist’s work to life. Cathy Leahy, the NGV's senior curator of prints and drawings says that Nendo is using Escher's playfulness to create the world-first experience. "Escher works with positive and negative space a lot and shapes transforming from one element to another. Nendo have created this space that you walk through that has some of those elements." Between Two Worl
Robert Milton: Military Artist
The Soldiers Memorial Institute Military Museum in Bendigo is reopening with a new exhibition highlighting the region's significant contribution to military conflicts around the world. Robert Milton: Military Artist will be the inaugural exhibition at the museum and will feature works from artist, ex-serviceman and Bendigo local Robert Milton. Milton has served as a Scots guard, sniper, master sniper and instructor in both the British and Australian armies. His creative practice is defined by highly intricate pencil sketches depicting soldiers in the field, though he also works with oil paints and watercolours. Milton was the official artist for the Sydney Invictus Games and SAS 'Long Ride Home' initiative. The new exhibition will run for several weeks, and Milton will give an artist talk to further unpack his work. The Soldiers Memorial Institute Military Museum has been closed since 2016 for major redevelopments, including the construction of a state-of-the-art exhibition space. They will reopen in November 2018.
Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine have announced their biggest ever Australian tour following the release of their latest album High as Hope. The UK indie-rock band are familiar faces to Australia’s main stages – this is their sixth tour, starting in Perth on January 12 and touring Adelaide, Melbourne, Geelong and Brisbane before finishing up in Sydney. The shows are likely to showcase Florence’s biggest hits, including ‘Dog Days Are Over’, ‘Shake It Out’ and their newbie ‘Hunger’. General tickets go on sale at noon on Thursday June 28. Don’t sleep on this one.
