Alannah Le Cross

From the razzle dazzle of big budget musicals to indie theatre gems, there's pretty much always a mind-boggling amount to pick from on Sydney's stages. Check out our top selections for the month below. SEE ALSO: It's showtime! Beetlejuice the Musical is finally coming to Australia  Pop, six, squish: Chicago is coming back with a star-studded cast Fancy some art? Check out the best exhibitions in Sydney this month

Christmas in coming to Sydneytown and (fingers crossed) this year looks like a good one. Nothing says Christmas quite like a gander of extravagant Christmas light displays, and when it comes to Sydney and its twinkly festive additions, we're hard pressed for choice. Whether you, your kids or your mates want to get out in Sydney to see the Christmas lights in 2023, we have you covered with our guide to all the best places Sydney Christmas lights, in the CBD, surrounding suburbs, and all the places just out of Sydneytown that do truly incredible festive light displays.  If you go looking, you'll find illuminated displays to put a twinkle in your eye all over town. There are some pockets of Sydney that go all out for the festive season, and we're seeking them out for you and putting them on this list.  Ready to get into the spirit? Check out the best Christmas markets in Sydney or pick up a gorgeous Christmas tree.

The most committed party people know the biggest, most gloriously messy dos take place on January 1. Whether you are kicking on from New Year's Eve or you've given yourself an early night so you feel summer-fresh and ready to dance on day one of the new year, these Sydney venues and festivals are up for a good time to ring in 2024.  Before you laucnh in to a day of debauchery, here are the best salty baths for an early morning swim.

This year has been a doozy when it comes to Sydney nightlife – with the addition of a slew of sexy new wine bars, unfathomably epic hotels (we’re looking at you Capella) and some seriously swish rooftop venues giving our evenings the boost we didn’t know they needed. With such a stellar run of new openings, we expect to see some pretty impressive debut NYE parties joining the old faithfuls on this year’s festive calendar.To help you choose between the good and the great, we’ve put together a round-up of the best parties to book this NYE – so you can ring in 2024 with a bang (or an intimate dinner – pick your poison). Want to watch the fireworks without the hefty price tag? Here's our guide to the best free spots in Sydney to watch the NYE fireworks. Ready for a celebration right now? Here are our picks of the best bars in Sydney.

We love a cinema in Sydney, and we do have some really beautiful picture houses, but you know what's even better than sitting in a darkened room mainlining movies during summer? Sitting outside under the stars! Feel like enjoying a film in the great outdoors? From blockbusters to tearjerkers, rom-coms to thrillers, you can catch them all in the open air across the city thanks to a proliferation of popcorn-offering spots popping up across the city.  Bring a rug and some snacks (or buy them from handy pop-up eateries) and settle in with the fam, a mate, or a date – some cinemas will even let you bring your dog! While you're planning your summer adventures, organise a trek to these majestic waterfalls near Sydney or the most beautiful walks around Sydney.

You might not think that there's much of a difference between a park and a garden, but in truth, they’re different spaces. Parks are all about outdoor activities and versatility – they can become whatever we need them to be, from a cricket pitch to a picnic patch. Gardens, on the other hand, offer carefully curated journies into nature. Through an artful mix of creative landscaping and fabulous flora, they have the power to transport us, be that into another culture, climate, or even a different state of mind. We’ve picked out Sydney’s most beautiful gardens where we recommend you stop and smell the roses. Want more? Here are a heap of beautiful National Parks less than 100km from central Sydney.

Rain or shine, it's never a dull time when you have the best art galleries in Sydney to explore. In November, Sydney's summer blockbuster exhibitions are starting to open up, and there's some glorious things to see. Feel like venturing a little further out? We're fascinated by Esperanto, a multi-layered exhibition exploring pivotal moments of the ’60s and ’70s (and failed progressivism). It's your calling card to visit a stunning art museum in regional NSW. Read on for our must-see list of the coolest art shows to have a gander at in the Harbour City. Want more culture? Check out the best theatre and musicals to see this month.

The five days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve are a strange, awkward, in-between time for everyone. Most places have closed shop for the summer, while others have new holiday hours that are tricky to wrap your head around. At this time of year, Sydney tends to feel more empty than usual as most locals make a mass exodus for elsewhere, but if you plan on sticking around and having a lovely summer holiday in a whole city that you're likely to get (probably, mostly) to yourself, we have put together a list for you of all the coolest things for you to do in town between Christmas Day and New Years'. You're welcome.  Want more culture? Check out our guide to the best art exhibitions and theatre and musicals on in Sydney this month. 

From arts and design treasure troves to European-inspired food markets, these Christmas shopping pop-ups have all the yuletide goods you need to make the silly season really special. If the thought of joining the hoards at a shopping mall in December gives you full body chills, save yourself the bother and add these quaint Chrissie markets to your hit list. This year, you’ll find cost-of-living conscious options (such as sub $20 gift options at Le Jolly Market) alongside some real push-the-boat-out offerings.Regardless of your holiday budget, it’s worth hitting at least one market for your annual dose of festive (if only for the fondue).  Merry shopping. Give even greener presents by stopping by at one of Sydney's best plant nurseries.  Need a tree to put all those market-bought goodies under? Here's where to find the best Christmas trees in Sydney.

Sydney is certainly not lacking in day spas, but when you want your indulgence in self-rejuvenation to have a bit more of a destination element to it, you can’t go past the Blue Mountains’ best. The area has some great spas to cater to all your relaxing desires – from stress-busting massages and skin-smoothing facials to treatments you didn’t even know you needed, like a zesty ginger-infused ‘cocooning’. Make a day trip of it or sneak off for a mud-wrap during your next getaway, at one of these five stellar Blue Mountains’ day spas. RECOMMENDED: The best day spas in Sydney The best eateries in the Blue Mountains The best acccommodation in the Blue Mountains

Sydney’s exclusive exhibition of Ancient Egyptian artefacts has finally landed, and lovers of history and all that glitters are trying to remain cool. That overly-excited, Prince-doppelganger in the pictures (and in Time Out's First Look video of the exhibition) is me, AJ Lamarque: comedian, presenter and amateur egyptologist. I suppose anyone can call themselves an amateur egyptologist in the same way that anyone who’s ever been to Holey Moley can call themselves an amateur golfer. But I did spend a year learning Hieroglyphs at UC Berkeley (instead of actually doing my course subjects) so I do have some credentials to back up my claim.  Like many people, I was enamoured by Ancient Egyptian culture from a young age, and that fascination has only grown as I’ve gotten older. The grandeur and mystery of this civilisation that spanned more than 3,000 years has captured the minds and imaginations of nearly every culture since its demise in the early BC. As soon as I heard that the Australian Museum had managed to secure this exhibition, I knew I had to get my nerd on.  Photograph: Alannah Le Cross | AJ Lamarque poses with bust at 'Ramses & The Gold of the Pharaohs' Now, the fact that this exhibition even is in Australia is quite a big deal in itself. So, unless you venture to Egypt yourself, there’s a very good chance that this may be the only time in our lifetimes to see these items in Australia.With some 182 priceless artefacts on display, there’s definitely a lot to check out

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and that means time for some good old-fashioned carolling. To help you decide where to go, we've located star-studded line-ups crooning contemporary tunes for 'Santa Baby', classical choirs sending chills down spines with 'The First Noel', and wholesome community gatherings where the whole family can do the 'Jinglebell Rock'.  Before you settle in, bring the Christmas spirit into your home with our guide on where to buy real Christmas trees in Sydney, and visit one of these sparkling Christmas markets to fill your stockings.

Suit up and strap in for a satirical wrap of the year’s headlines from some seriously funny folks. The Chaser’s Charles Firth and The Shovel’s James Schloeffel are teaming up with the ABC’s Mark Humphries and musical comedy genius Gabbi Bolt (fresh off her delightful musical theatre debut in Murder For Two) to bring their very special brand of satire, song and shit-stirring to the Enmore Theatre (the grungy crowning jewel of Sydney’s coolest suburb) for one night only on Thursday, December 7. Now in its seventh year, this nationally touring comedy gala is a razor-sharp skewering of politics and current events in the form of a non-stop barrage of one-liners, satirical sketches, audience quizzes, and musical numbers. Patrons are invited to dress in black tie to attend this year’s gala, and a red carpet will be provided for those suitably attired. VIP tickets include the best seats in the house, plus a copy of The Chaser and Shovel Annual 2023 (worth $34.95). Tickets start at $39 and you can snap them up over here. RECOMMENDED: The best shows to see on Sydney stages this month Trevor Ashley's new Christmas panto riffs on the biggest pop culture moments of 2023 Sydney Festival to unleash a giant octopus, late night cabarets + more this summer

Sydney, prepare to be delightfully offended. The camp festive tradition of Trevor Ashley’s adults-only pantomime is back – so you can see out the year by skewering all of the biggest moments in pop culture and the arts. Not remotely referencing a beloved musical film or a cult TV series, The White Mermaid or The Little Lotus revolves around the vivacious Tania McMermaid (Trevor Ashley), and the adventures that ensue after she checks-in to the opulent underwater hotel, The Little Lotus.  It doesn’t take long for Tania’s bedazzled fins to catch the attention of the handsome Character Formerly Known As Prince (Jakob Ambrose), but beware – lurking in the shadows is the malevolent sea witch, Gaviscon (played by the legendary Queen of the Cross, Carlotta). Will Tania overcome the challenges thrown her way? Will she find true love? Will the evil sea witch shatter her hopes forever? Or will a live action remake kill the whole thing!? For a limited run of just 18 performances only, this ridiculous romp of nautical madness reunites the full cast of Moulin Scrooge! –  the panto that had us belly laughing our way out the other side of 2022.  This is not only your chance to see Carlotta, a living legend and original Les Girl, doing what she does best – but this is also the last show we’ll see from Trevor Ashley before he moves over to the UK to pursue some opportunities off the back of his successful run on the show Queen of the Universe, in which the Aussie cabaret legend placed second. 

Nestled under a canopy of twinkling festoons of lights, the smoky embrace of the mirrored Sydney Spiegeltent is the perfect setting for a decadent circus experience. When the show is good, this venue is a magical place that is well worth the lightrail ride to the Entertainment Quarter. And as luck would have it, Rouge is a sizzling summer show that has the right fit of fiery fun to see out the year in Moore Park. This variety show invites audiences into a world where astonishing stunts mingle with supremely sexy performances, where every glance and gesture promises forbidden delights and audacious surprises. It's a pulsating blend of raw sensuality, playful allure, and acrobatic prowess that will leave audiences breathless. Cirque songstress Christine Ibrahim (the cheeky ringleader of Wonderfully Terrible Things) is joined by a troupe of wickedly talented new age circus and burlesque performers. “Rouge loves to break conventions and smash gender stereotypes,” says director Elena Kirschbaum. “So it’s much, much more than simply sexy circus – it’s delightfully subversive, highly inclusive and has quite a few surprises.” With accolades including Best Circus at the 2020 Adelaide Fringe, a star turn at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and critical acclaim from across the globe, Rouge challenges and seduces in equal measure. Rouge is at the Sydney Spiegeltent until December 17, 2023. Tickets range from $50-$110 and you can snap them up over here. RECOMMENDED: The best shows to s

If you’ve ever been to a show at the Enmore, you’ve unwittingly become part of Sydney history. Originally opened to the public in 1912, this 1,600-seat Art Deco palace is the longest running live entertainment venue in the city. For a lot of Aussie bands, booking the Enmore means you’ve 'made it'. Many fond memories have been forged here in hardcore mosh pits and at Sydney Comedy Festival galas. Not even a neon-lit refurbishment in 2021 – or that time the floor collapsed five minutes into a concert in 2022 – could dull the slightly-grimy allure of a show here. Prime minister (and former DJ) Anthony Albanese is also a fan of the Enmore – the PM received a rockstar welcome and skolled a beer when he was spotted at a Gang of Youths gig soon after being elected for the top job. Spill onto Enmore Road after a show here to refuel at some of the best restaurants in Sydney's coolest neighbourhood and refreshments at one of the best bars in Enmore.

A fantastic night of musical theatre doesn’t always call for million-dollar sets, a huge cast, expansive chorus lines of high-kicking dancers and fireworks. Sometimes, you just need two ridiculously talented performers, a grand piano, and a mystery to solve. This, friends, is the magic formula of Murder for Two. Hayes Theatre Co was listening when critics cried out for more after the debut season in August, and now this musical romp is back to close out the year. The “relentlessly entertaining” Maverick Newman and his incredible stamina returns to play all 12 suspects in the murder of the great American novelist Arthur Whitney, with musical theatre star Kala Gare (Six, Great Comet) taking over from Gabbi Bolt to join the cast as wannabe detective Marcus Moscowicz, exclusively for the Christmas season.   This production has already had our critic raving, saying: “Like a chocolate stolen from a child, Murder for Two is an absolute treat with a sinister edge… this playful show rides the thin line between clever and silly at a thrilling, dangerous speed.” Directed by the Hayes’ co-artistic director Richard Carroll (Calamity Jane, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), who promises that the festive edition will be “even sillier”, this strictly limited engagement hits the stage from December 1-23. Tickets range from $62-$79 and you can snap them up over here. RECOMMENDED: The best shows to see on Sydney stages this month The Hayes is rolling out a zombie musical, classics and more in 2024 Tre

It’s a play considered to be one of the greatest of all time, and now we can confirm that beloved Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia will be making his Sydney stage debut as its shining star. Following a triumphant run in Melbourne, GWB Entertainment and Andrew Henry Presents’ production of Arthur Miller's timeless Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, Death of a Salesman, will open at Sydney’s Theatre Royal in May 2024. LaPaglia will reprise his role as Willy Loman, for which he received rave reviews in the Melbourne season. This is your chance to see the Emmy, Golden Globe, and Tony Award-winning actor on stage at home in Australia, in one of the most iconic plays of the 20th century (though we’re sure that we’ll always know and love him best as the dad from Looking for Alibrandi). Time Out Melbourne’s four-star review of Death of a Salesman highly commended Lapaglia’s “heart-wrenching” performance, saying: “An incredible sensitivity thrums beneath his deep bass and domineering stature. There’s a slight tremulousness to his gravelly timbre, as if every screaming outburst saps Willy’s strength a little, while his limping gait and sunken eyes make him appear more fragile by the minute.” Legendary stage and screen director Neil Armfield will also return to guide LaPaglia and the cast through Miller’s profound and moving narrative, which explores morality, responsibility and the fragility of human relationships – especially between fathers and sons.  First performed in 1949, Death of

A fascinating sight has appeared on the forecourt of the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ original South Building, and heads are turning. A monumental spider, which stands more than nine metres high and ten metres wide, made of bronze, steel and marble, is the unmissable first encounter gallery visitors will have with the work of trailblazing French-American artist Louise Bourgeois. The world-famous and seminal arachnidian sculpture, ‘Maman’ (1999), is an ode to the artist’s mother, who she described as “deliberate, clever, patient, soothing… and [as] useful as a spider”.  The colossal sculpture is in Australia for the first time ever as part of the largest and most comprehensive display of the artist’s work ever seen in the Asia Pacific – Louise Bourgeois: Has the Day Invaded the Night or Has the Night Invaded the Day? – which opens on Saturday, November 25, as part of the 2023 Sydney International Art Series (closing on April 28, 2024). Her work maintained – and still delivers – a charge of intimacy, urgency and piercing peculiarity... The exhibition spreads across a considerably large footprint, weaving through the Art Gallery campus with the eerily beautiful force of a wave of spiders wrapping the institution in a silken, cobwebbed nest. This is also the first major solo exhibition to be staged in the Art Gallery’s world-class modern North Building, the centrepiece of the Sydney Modern expansion, almost one year since it opened to the public in December 2022.  Moving from

If you’ve ever wanted to submerge yourself in another (considerably more frightening) world of turbulent flights and ghostly séances, look no further. The terrifyingly brilliant alt-universe of Darkfield is making a grandiose return to Sydney with four multi-sensory theatrical experiences inside converted shipping containers down at Barangaroo – two of which are in Sydney for the first time ever – and boy, are we shivering in our wee little boots already.  A record-breaking 32,000 people flocked to the sell-out season of Darkfield's Séance and Flight earlier this year. So, a comeback made sense, this time with two more wild new experiences – Coma and Euology – and at the brand new location of Harbour Park. Darkfield is an experience that straddles technology, theatre and horror movies, with punters made to sit inside a pop-up mini-theatre in total darkness while a 360-degree immersive audio experience (through headphones, shall we add) takes them far, far away to an eerie someplace else (with some added special effects to awaken your other senses). We tried out all four of the experiences in one evening, you can read our review over here to help you decide which ones you dare to try. Darkfield’s Flight, Séance, Coma and Eulogy are running at Harbour Park in Barangaroo from November 23, 2023, to January 21, 2024. General admission ranges from $22-$30+bf. You can book here.  You’ll find the entrance to Darkfield’s Barangaroo site along Wulugul Walk, right behind Crown Towers S

Audiences are invited to cross the threshold and step inside the sandstone walls of the defunct yet iconic Mortuary Station at Central for this site-specific performance. Some of the most beloved and recognisable operatic bangers in history have been cherry-picked for this original production and seamlessly woven into a contemporary narrative. Track Works transports you into the lives of five commuters grappling with everyday challenges during their delayed journeys home. I mean, if you’ve never had the urge to belt out a heart-wrenching aria during a disrupted commute, are you even a true Sydneysider? Under the award-winning direction of Clemence Williams (Earth.Voice.Body), this experiential show celebrates the great equalising power of Sydney’s public transport system, and reflects on the human spirit’s capacity for renewal and our enduring connection to core values. Performances aside, this is a rare opportunity for you to see inside this heritage building – a stunning example of neo-gothic architecture, dotted with uniquely hand-carved cherubs. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out Sydney (@timeoutsydney) “I think anyone that's caught a train or driven past [Mortuary Station] has probably gone, ‘I wonder what that is?’ It has an incredible history, it's over 150 years old now,” explains artistic director and playwright Thomas De Angelis.  “The first colonial cemetery in Sydney was at Town Hall, and when they built Town Hall they exhumed

This now-defunct heritage-listed station and platform building was originally a ‘funeral station’ – hence the name. Built in 1869 and designed by colonial architect James Barnet, the station functioned until 1938 as a destination point for train services specifically carrying the deceased and bereaved. This accounts for its ‘religious’ appearance, with Barnet adopting elements of Venetian 13th-century Gothic style in his architecture, including cherubs and gargoyles. The Mortuary Station has had several different functions since 1938 – including as a a pancake roller skating restaurant between the '70s and '80s – but is currently closed to the public except on special occasions (including Sydney Living Museums’ annual Sydney Open event), and is maintained by the Sydney Trains authority.

What-what, what, what? It’s time to pop some tags and look incredible in your grandad’s clothes, because Macklemore is heading back Down Under with a series of headline shows in Australia and New Zealand in May 2024. The multi-platinum and Grammy award-winning alternative hip-hop artist behind hits like ‘Thrift Shop’ and ‘Can’t Hold Us’ just dropped his first album in six years. BEN is his third solo studio album, and includes tunes like ‘CHANT’ featuring Australia’s very own Tones And I. Admittedly very listenable, this album has thrust Macklemore back into the charts.  Does anyone else remember when Macklemore headlined the NRL Grand Final in 2017? And he performed marriage equality anthem ‘Same Love’ just a couple of months before the result of Australia’s same-sex marriage plebiscite was announced? Anyone else remember holding up their lighter and crying when that came on at the pub? Anyone?  Moving on, our guy was last in Australia in 2022, performing the headline slot for the fifth edition of Fridayz Live alongside legendary artists like Akon, TLC and Craig David. After a couple of shows in New Zealand, Macklemore will play four headline shows in Australia, playing at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday, May 15. The national tour will kick off at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion on May 11, 12 and 13, and also head to Brisbane’s Riverstage on May 17, before rounding out his headline tour with two final show at Perth’s HBF Stadium on May 20 and 21. New general public ticket

You might not think that a 14-metre-long bamboo raft and an interactive karaoke den blasting nostalgic pop bangers have much in common with one another, but just you wait. Carriageworks has unveiled the first major solo exhibition by Sydney-based Australian-Fijian artist Salote Tawale – and across two spaces, the artist draws on her personal experience growing up in Australia as part of the Pacific diaspora to consider how identity is formed through memory. In her work, Salote is a fiend for probing ideas of self-representation and humorously challenging stereotypes. Every other Sunday, you can find her down at Redfern’s neighbourhood art bar The Bearded Tit, where she hosts karaoke sessions for Sad Dyke Sundays (a casual weekly hangout skewed towards the queer and the butch). Over at Carriageworks, she has taken a multimedia approach in responding to the expansive scale of the location’s architecture. Conceived as a “memory bank”, I remember you is an ambitious presentation of new work that brings together paintings, sculpture, textiles – and, naturally – karaoke.  I remember you is a continuation of Tawale’s ongoing exploration of the relationship between the individual and the collective Moored in Carriageworks’ public foyer is ‘No Location (2021)’, a full-scale recreation of a bilibili (a traditional Fijian watercraft). With the help of craftsmen experienced in the traditional, labour-intensive process of bundling and binding bamboo for the structure, Tawale also distinct

Update, Nov 30: Public ticket sales for the hotly anticipated return Sydney season of Hamilton go on sale from 9am(AEDT) on Monday, Dec 4, 2023. But you don’t have to ‘Wait for It’ – yep, Time Out readers can score access to Hamilton pre-sale tickets! Just rise up and follow our exclusive pre-sale ticket link right here. The pre-sale will end at 8.59am on Monday. Don’t throw away your shot! Were you in ‘The Room Where it Happens’ when Hamilton had its Australasian debut in Sydney? Well, if you missed out on seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hip-Hop-infused musical masterpiece (or you just want to see it again, and again) you’re in luck. Producers Jeffrey Seller and Michael Cassel recently announced that the Tony, Grammy, Olivier and Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway hit is returning to the Harbour City, with an encore season opening at the Sydney Lyric Theatre (where Wicked is currently defying gravity) from July 30, 2024. We’re quite simply ‘Helpless’ with excitement.  The Australian premiere season was the first production of Hamilton to open anywhere in the world following Covid-19 shutdowns. Opening at the Lyric in March 2021, it was met with overwhelming audience and critical acclaim, and went on to play in Melbourne, Brisbane and New Zealand, concluding in June. While the season was a success, some 133 performances of the initial Sydney season had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, which means that a lot of fans missed out on seeing it. The 2024 return opens it up for a who

I don’t want a lot for Christmas, I just want a festive feast that I can actually eat. Alas, it looks like miracles do happen – for the Christmas Elves at Nutie and Miss Sina have been busy whisking up some magic in the kitchen, and there will be no missing out at the family table and office gatherings this year. Christmas orders are open, in addition to special items on the in-house menus. Miss Sina is the plant-powered patisserie powerhouse that you have just got to know about – whether or not you’re even a vegan or dairy-free eater. The sweet delights and savoury bites that come out of this kitchen will rock your world and have you exclaiming “How do they do it without butter and eggs!?” Shout out to their Earth-shattering crème brûlée donuts. (Miss Sina opened as a café-bakery in Marrickville in 2022, and a smaller shopfront also popped up on Holt Street, Surry Hills, earlier this year.) Founder Sina Klug has turned her famously inventive baking skills to some seasonal dishes for the festive season, and we cannot stop thinking about the piecaken. Ever heard of a turducken? Taking inspiration from that unholy melding of seasonal food, this totally vegan five-layered dessert starts with a base of sticky, crunchy pecan pie, which is then layered with pumpkin pie, fluffy spiced cake, apple pie filling, and topped with cinnamon buttercream. It’s multiple desserts in one, but by some miracle of Sina’s patisserie wizardry, it doesn’t taste overly rich or like too much – the per

Sydney is gearing up for an epic summer of art and culture, with Sydney Festival unleashing its jam-packed program for January 2024. From a stacked music festival taking over Darling Harbour to free opera on a boat, from wacky and delightful public art installations to trailblazing First Nations programming – there are more than 150 events coming at Greater Sydney, with the festival hosting over 1,000 artists.  Sydney’s iconic harbour will take centre stage, with works and events presented on (and in celebration of) water, from January 5-28, 2024. With 26 world premieres, 29 Australian exclusives, and 43 free(!) events, it’s a lot to take in. We headed to the Festival launch at Walsh Bay to make sense of this exciting program, and bring you the highlights that we can all look forward to. 8 highlights from the 2024 Sydney Festival program Photograph: Supplied/Sydney Festival | The Brand New Heavies will play at Summerground A full-on outdoor music festival ground in the middle of the city An all-new three-day live music event is kicking things off. Summerground (Jan 5-7) at Tumbalong Park showcases three big nights of deep soul, dirty funk, reggae, alt pop, indie rock, roots and R’n’B. Headliners include beloved Aussie blues outfit The Teskey Brothers (somebody ‘Hold Me’!); “The James Brown of Cuba” Cimafunk and his band of Havana all-stars; Sydney’s soulful electro-pop duo Electric Fields; that head-turning rock band hailing from north-east Arnhem Land, King Stingray; Londo

Now, picturing a wave of thousands of adorable dogs sounds like our idea of heaven. But where there are puppies, there is also a need for loving homes – and here lies the problem. For a multitude of reasons – including pets being surrendered due to the cost of living crisis and strict rental rules – there are growing numbers of dogs of all ages around Australia that don’t have homes right now. The number is predicted to reach 10,000 by the year’s end, and Sydney is no exception. Maggie’s Rescue, a registered charity based in Sydney’s Inner West, is feeling the pressure, and their volunteers are calling out for help to find homes for some precious pooches.  Some very sweet puppies recently visited us at the Time Out Sydney office (and you bet that we took a bajillion pictures of that serotonin-inducing experience) along with Laura Chao, the operations coordinator from Maggie’s Rescue, who spoke to us about how we can help.  Photograph: Time Out Sydney “The pound system is overflowing, and rescues are expected to pick up the slack, but we can only take as many dogs and cats into care as we have foster carers. There's definitely a big problem in the dog space at the moment, whether people can no longer care for them, or they've been abandoned, or they’re stray and don't have [identification] microchips so they can't get in contact with the owners, or the chips are out of date,” Laura explained. “It’s a very challenging space at the moment, and adoptions are really slow. Dogs a

Whether it’s reams of snappy videos on our social media feeds, the latest binge-worthy series you’re streaming, or the laptops that drive our economic lives, sight is perhaps our most overstimulated sense nowadays. Not only are so many of us reliant on it to exist in the modern day, but through our eyes, our attention is bought. So much so, that we often begin to neglect our other senses. So what happens when our sight is taken away? How might that change how we experience a rickety aeroplane taking flight, or a spirited dinner party? Darkfield has docked at the brand new Harbour Park in Barangaroo, pulling audiences out of the digital world and crash landing them into the present with four pitch-black, multi-sensory experiences that last between 20-35 minutes (if you dare).   You will be buzzing afterwards, I know I was... Two familiar favourites that Sydneysiders had the chance to experience earlier this year – Séance and Flight – return to the Harbour City after a record breaking season, along with the local premiere of Coma and Eulogy, two entirely different theatrical experiences from UK-based creative directors Glen Neath and David Rosenberg. Each of the four experiences are set inside inconspicuous shipping containers that have been refurbished to visually set the scene for each story. So before being plunged into darkness (I mean it, you cannot see anything) you are immersed in visual clues for your upcoming journey. Beyond the immersive, sensory-overloading escapade,

If you really, really, really wanna see the Spice Girls in the flesh, you may soon get your chance (zig-azig-ah!). The original Sporty Spice of the Spice Girls fame, Melanie C, just spent a whirlwind two weeks spinning around Australia on her inaugural DJ tour, which culminated in an epic headline performance at Heaps Gay: Wet Dreams on Sunday night – a huge concert party event that blew the lid off Sydney Harbour from the picturesque vantage point of Mrs Macquarie’s Chair to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ party collective’s 10th birthday. The performance absolutely popped off, with thousands of revellers cheering, screaming, dancing and vowing that they’d ‘Never Be The Same Again’ as the ‘I Turn To You’ singer whipped up the energy and was joined on stage by local drag queens and queer performance artists. As if that wasn’t enough excitement, the ripped-as-ever 49-year-old also teased that she might be returning to the country soon with her Spice Girls bandmates. At the close of her set, Mel C shared her love and thanks with the audience, saying she has had “the most incredible two weeks in Australia” and proclaimed that her headliner set at Heaps Gay’s event was her “favourite night” before closing out with the following line: “I hope to see you very soon, and maybe I’ll bring my friends with me.” And with that, the crowd went wild. Check out the video evidence below: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Heaps Gay (@heapsgay) Like that’s not all the encour

If you know (or are) a creative teenager who could really use a safe space to express themself freely and find connection, this is your call to action. The Sydney Opera House has teamed up with Transmedium, a trans-led and youth-centered community arts organisation, for MISC. Artist Program. In this free series, a group of LGBTQIA+ teenagers and their allies (ages 15-19) will be mentored by emerging and established queer artists on various art forms. From queer still life drawing to pride poetry, there will be a different workshop every month. The program kicks off in December 2023, and workshop participants will be drawn from an expression of interest process for young artists seeking development and support. The first workshop is Pride and Poetry: Call Us By Our Names with Mohammad Awad (he/they), an award-winning Queer/Arab/Muslim writer, director, poet and playwright. Mohammad will lead a masterclass in writing honest poetry and authentic storytelling, finding power in your voice and the love of your community (Saturday, Dec 16, 10am-4pm). The second workshop is Queer Still Life: Drawing Out Stories with Kim Leutwyler (pronouns in flux), a seven-time Archibald Prize finalist whose paintings explore notions of beauty, gender and queer identity, and have been exhibited in multiple galleries and museums throughout the world. Kim will guide participants through an (alcohol-free) Draw’n’Sip, covering the fundamental techniques of life drawing, as well as collectively crafting

Have you ever stumbled across nail art in the wild that is so remarkable, so stunning, so unexpectedly amazing looking that it stops you dead in your tracks? It’s happened to me a few times, and every time, the same nail artist was to credit – Mannequin Hands.  Fingertips are the canvas of choice for this elusive Sydney artist, and her teenie-tiny artworks are sculptural forms that evoke fantastical extraterrestrial landscapes by way of playful combinations of colour and texture, chrome, iridescent elements, and the embedding of little objects like micro-pearls and bits of shell. (It’s enough to make you tuck away your chipped, home-painted grapplers in shame.) My work is textural, layered and always incorporating new elements... The face behind the Mannequin Hands is Sydney’s own Victoria Houllis. Her obsession with nail art started young – she was collecting nail magazines from Kinokuniya when she was still in high school. Her art eventually became a full-time pursuit in 2019, and she peaced out on her role as a marketing manager after the list of clients coming to her home studio grew far beyond the initial friends and friends-of-friends. More recently, her work has graced the nails of Dua Lipa, M.I.A, Shy Girl, and Time Out Melbourne cover star Flex Mami.  Nowadays, getting on Victoria’s books is no easy feat (I know, I’ve tried!). But those of us plebs who don’t have a coveted place among her clientele now have our chance to get amongst the cool cuticle creations. Happy

The legendary Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is gearing up for 2024, today announcing its “biggest and boldest program in years” for the festival’s return from February 16 to March 3. Of course, it will all climax with the globally recognised Mardi Gras Parade, which will sashay down its traditional route along Oxford Street, Flinders Street and Anzac Parade on Saturday, March 2, 2024. “In 2024, we embrace our roots and look forward with eager anticipation to our future. Our mission is clear: to echo the voices of our communities, to champion progress and instigate impactful change,” said Gil Beckwith, the recently appointed Sydney Mardi Gras CEO.  Photograph: Sydney Mardi Gras/Ann-Marie Calihanna The announcement for next year’s program and the theme struts in on the stiletto heels of Sydney Mardi Gras’ big 45th anniversary in 2023, which joined forces with the inaugural Sydney WorldPride Festival for a gargantuan 17-day-long festival with more than 300 events.  While the next LGBTQIA+-forward festival taking over the Harbour City is not going to be quite that big – it was the biggest event in town since the Sydney 2000 Olympics, to be fair – Mardi Gras is bringing a diverse program of more than 100 events in 2024, and it's bursting at the sequinned seams. There are a bunch of festival favourites from Mardi Gras' past, and hits from Sydney WorldPride making valiant returns, in addition to new events, a handful of which are tailored for overlooked and at-risk groups with

Do names like Piscasso and Monet ring a bell for you? Yes? What about Kandinsky?...   If the latter doesn’t immediately conjure mental images for you, it’s time to change that. Lucky for us, the biggest exhibition focussed on the hugely influential artist to ever come to Australia is now open in Sydney, exclusively at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Simply titled Kandinsky, it’s on show until March 10, 2024. “Recent research has shown that the most requested of all the pre-eminent figures of modernism is Vasily Kandinsky,” the Art Gallery of NSW’s director Michael Brand told a small crowd who gathered to preview the exhibition the other day. Considered a pioneer of Western abstraction and European modernism, Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was born in Moscow. He lived and worked all over Europe, his prolific career overlapping with World War One and the tumultuous years that surrounded it. However, his life could have gone a very different way – when he was approaching his 30th birthday in 1986, Kandinsky was offered a professorship at a university in Estonia (oh yeah, he possessed the equivalent of a doctorate in law and economics) but he turned it down, hopped on a train to Germany and pursued the life of a painter.  Photograph: Alannah Le Cross | Installation view of 'Kandinsky' at AGNSW The more than 50 paintings on show at the Art Gallery of NSW – sourced from the collection of New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, which collaborated on the exhibition – showcase th

While we at Time Out are firm fans of Sydney and lovers a big night out in the Emerald City, we're also realistic – Sydney’s nightlife scene is not what it once was. Two decades ago, our city was a magnet for live music fans with punters packing into pubs for the bands rather than the beers. Great strides have been made to return our city to her former glory after the impacts of the lockout laws that were finally scrapped in 2021, and the overlapping Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns which affected cities globally. But there's still more work to be done. Sadly, half of NSW’s live music venues have closed down over the past ten years. But while we’re still mourning the loss of ripper places like legendary CBD rock'n'roll haven Frankie’s Pizza, live performance hub the Giant Dwarf, popular gig bar HiWay on Enmore Road, and the all-too-short-lived Meraki Arts Bar on Oxford Street, we’re not giving up hope. And the NSW Government hasn't given up either, announcing plans to revive our once legendary live music scene – and it’s quite literally music to our ears. For the first time, they’ll conduct a statewide survey of artists and music professionals, where they’ll question participants about the strengths of the industry and the challenges holding them back.  John Graham, the Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy (amongst other titles) said: “The last decade of lockouts and lockdowns has led to a grassroots music venue crisis in this state. We know the live music sector is facin

The evolution of Sam Smith has reached its euphoric peak through the Gloria tour. This curated three-part experience of Sam’s discography takes you from their early days of stripped-back soulful songs of heartbreak, starting with ‘Stay With Me’, through the uncomfortable growing pains of learning to love themself, and to a celebratory round of queer discotheque, ending on a high with ‘Unholy’. Smith kicked off the two-date Sydney leg of their world tour at the Qudos Bank Arena on Friday, November 3. Featuring Australian-grown Meg Mac as their supporting act – who provided a suitable warm-up with her soulful and emotive music which speaks to Smith’s early work. Sam is an artist who has lived out much of their personal and professional journey in the scrutinising glow of the public spotlight. A nod to the non-binary singer’s growth and commitment to personal truth in spite of this comes early on, when the lyrics “cause I’m just a man” in ‘Stay With Me’ are updated to “please baby understand”.  Meanwhile, their vocal performance is as strong as ever. As crystal clear as a mastered studio recording, their voice is like brown butter – it goes down smooth, but you can feel every tangy grain of grit and pain. A beacon of megawatt stage presence, Sam simultaneously has a relaxed charm.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by SAM SMITH (@samsmith) The Sydney dates fall towards the tail end of the Gloria world tour. Despite this, the stage is full of energy. As