Music and nightlife
Your guide to live music and nightlife in Sydney
The best music venues in Sydney
Want to catch some live music? Whether it's a big name international or a local indie band, Sydney's got a bunch bangin' live music venues, ready to please your ears and entertain you
The best clubs in Sydney
Sydney's nightlife scene has been through tumutulous times since the introduction of the lockout laws, with clubs and late night venues hit the hardest. Hats off to the venues still giving Sydneysiders a place to boogie – and the producers and DJs still dishing out stellar soundtracks. There's live music, juice bars, drag shows, cabaret and even bowling alleys, which will lure even the most sceptical clubber to one of Sydney's favourite nightspots.
Where to see free live music every night of the week
Liven up your Tuesday with some old school funk or or get yourself through hump day at a mid-week gig. Whatever night you choose, there's plenty of free live concerts every night of the week to get you groovin', right across the city and its surrounds.
The Sydney musicians you need to know
We scoured Sydney to showcase some of the best up-and-coming musicians
Live music events and concerts in Sydney
Your guide to Sydney's music scene
The best bars in Sydney for live music
Despite the loss of some great pub-based music venues (RIP the Annandale and the Hoey), you can still catch the live gigs at these locals
Sydney's best music tees
Merch is a hot commodity for any music fan – so who's dealing the best tees?
The best music shops in Sydney
Here are the places you can still indulge in the old ways of comsuming music – your ears will thank you
The Laneway Festival line-up is in
Glass Animals, Tame Impala, Floating Points, Roland Tings A.B Orignal lead the 2017 edition of the festival
Your guide to Sydney nightlife
Late night venues without a lockout
Outside the lockout zone there are plenty of late-night options in town to keep your evening rolling along
Sydney's party crews
Meet the people that make sure you have a dancefloor destination every weekend
The best pick up bars in Sydney
In these days of app-based dating the idea of meeting someone in the real world can sound fanciful, but we swear, it happens
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Sydney's local favourites
Stellar service and optimum convenience is the order of the day at these local favourites. It doesn't matter if you're ducking in for a quick fix solution, or you don't even know what you're looking for, they're going to help out. And when it comes to the cash register, they're savvy enough to let you pay the way you want to, with no worries and no minimums.
Sunday Tex-Mex Brunch at El Camino Cantina
Tex-Mex food has put zing into café menus Australia-wide. Now Tex-Mex experts El Camino Cantina in the Rocks have a brunch special that will perk up your Sunday like a proverbial jumping bean. From 11am to 2pm every Sunday, $29 gets you a breakfast item plus unlimited beverages (Bloody Marys, Margaritas, draught beer and soft drinks) for an hour. Those brekky selections include a Breakfast Burrito packed with scrambled eggs, chorizo, diced potatoes, bacon and cheese with arugula salad; Huevos Sopes, namely poached eggs on fresh corn and chilli fritters with smoked pork and chipotle hollandaise; and Huevos and Chorizo – build-your-own tacos with flour tortillas, chorizo, scrambled eggs, pico de gallo, crema, black beans and guacamole. And if you’re lucky, there might even be a mariachi band playing. El Camino Cantina is a big, bold venue at 18 Argyle Street (right next to the Argyle) that also offers Happy Hours Sunday to Friday (with free chips, salsa, queso and drink specials), Ghost Chilli Mondays (a burger and a beer for $20) and Wing Wednesdays (with a dozen wings for $15). Book your visit at the website.
The Bank held a backyard barbecue party and we bet you're sorry you missed it
Can you think of a better way to send off winter and let the spring come in than with a Latin American barbecue cook out in a freshly re-done beer garden? Neither can we, and neither could the Bank, which is why on the 31st of August, they invited DJ Gonzo to take over the decks, and held a good old fashioned cook off, with barbecue corn, pinto beans, and plenty of charcoal chook to go around. They invited the whole neighbourhood down to celebrate and sample the new menu, and there was much feasting, drinking, and even a spot of dancing. Sorry you missed out? Don't be. That party may have been a good one, but it was just a warm up to what'll be happening at the Bank every day this spring and summer. The Bank in Newtown has been a drawing crowds to the Inner West for decades. With a famous beer garden, live music at Waywards bar where entry is always free, and craft beer bar Uncle Hops, the Bank is a one-stop party shop. Now the Bank has unveilied a new charcoal barbecue in pride of place in the venue’s famous beer garden. It's operated by a new head chef, Zac Smart (SoCal in Neutral Bay), who has devised a fresh menu based around the flavours imparted by barbecue techniques. But don’t expect the American style of barbecue that’s all too familiar to Sydney pub goers. Smart is more interested in the Latin American side of the equation, with flavours like house-made chimichurri and romesco sauce, chancaca and chillies. The menu features dishes such as cauliflower an
Liveworks
Liveworks festival is the main event in Performance Space's annual program, showcasing local, interstate and international artists pushing the frontiers of art and performance. In 2016, artists include dancer/choreographer Kristina Chan, who offers a meditation on impermance in the era of climate change, 'A Faint Existence'. Mish Grigor (of the collective post) will give 'The Talk' – in which she re-enacts awkward conversations about sexuality she had with her family members. Visual artist Ross Manning will transform CarriageWorks' public spaces into a psychedelic landscape with his installation 'Melody Lines'. Meanwhile Indigenous acoustic outfit the Stiff Gins will give a music-based performance about Indigenous artefacts held in museums.Experimental musician and composer Jon Rose will showcase his extraordinary collection of hand-built instruments for 'The Museum Goes Live'. Taiwanese performance artist River Lin will ask visitors to nominate 'unclean' parts of their bodies in a work titled 'Cleansing Service'. And there's more besides: check the website for the complete line-up. For a limited time CarriageWorks is offering an Earlybird discount of 20 per cent off all tickets for Liveworks.