February events in Sydney
We may see our final summer sunsets in February, but the second month of the year is as steamy as ever. Hit up the city’s swankiest boutique florists on Valentine’s Day to show your favourite person that you care. Or, woo a new beau by shouting them some noods at the spicy Lunar New Year markets and feasts, then spread all the colours of love at Mardi Gras.
Since it’s the month of that lovin’ feeling, we’ve found some alluring bars for first dates, other watering holes to meet similarly inclined singles, and quirky, cheap date ideas that won’t leave your wallet embarrassingly bare.
RECOMMENDED: Find the best yum cha in Sydney.
February's biggest events
Laneway Festival
This year they’re once again utilising the natural amphitheatre and sandstone-rimmed courtyards of Callan Park to host their achingly cool but infectiously catchy performers. This is the festival for you if you like jangly guitars, women to and at the front, unconventional hip hop, and delightful discoveries from all corners of eccentric contemporary pop.
RuPaul’s Drag Race World Tour
After a huge US tour, RuPaul’s Drag Race stars will be returning to our shores for a huge live show in February. The Werq the World Tour will be hosted by Michelle Visage and will no doubt feature some sickening performances by some of the show’s most popular queens.
Carriageworks Summer Night Market
Kylie Kwong is calling on 60 top chefs and producers to create dishes and drinks for the next night markets to bring people together and foster a sense of compassion and community. It's inspired by the themes of Nick Cave’s Until, which is currently showing at Carriageworks.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong
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. In Peter Pan Goes Wrong, expect petty rivalries, aching artistic pretentiousness and Peter and Wendy’s back-stage bonking all ‘accidentally’ exposed like someone caught with their pants down.
Twilight at Taronga
This concert series ticks off a hefty amount of Sydney in summer ideals – harbour views at dusk, alfresco live music, and a zoo-fringed lawn to sprawl out. Add ’90s Aussie rock legends meets Triple J gold of the diverse line-ups, and you've got yourself a bloody great way to spend a waterfront sunset.
Ms Lauryn Hill
She's been in and out of the spotlight since The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and only recently started performing songs from the seminal album live again. Now you get the chance to hear Hill's distinctive voice power through the hits in her Sydney show.
Sun Run and Cole Classic
This family-friendly weekend of fitness will unharness everyone from their screens and get them running and swimming in the sunshine. There’s multiple courses and distances to conquer on land or over the waves.
Lunar Lanterns
Visitors to Circular Quay during February's Lunar New Year celebrations will see giant animal lanterns representing the creatures of the zodiac dotted around the harbour. Each one has been designed by an Asian-Australian artist and is best seen after dusk when lit up in full, vibrant colour.
How to Rule the World
Three political staffers from different cultural backgrounds want to get into power and effect real change. The only problem is, they don’t look like the type of people that political parties or voters will install in positions of power. Their solution? Find an affable white man and use him as a political puppet.
Chinese New Year Night Market
The Sydney Fish Market will keep its doors open late on Friday February 8 for one night only of colour and festive fun to celebrate the Year of the Pig. Dine on the yum cha and Chinese cuisine as well as a treasure trove of fresh oysters, cooked lobsters and crabs, and a seafood barbecue.
John Butler Trio and Missy Higgins
John Butler will join his long-time collaborators Grant Gerathy and Byron Luiters to bring their reggae, folk and bluesy tones back to the public after a four-year hiatus for the group. They'll be joined by Missy Higgins after the sell-out tour of her most recent album, Solastaglia in May.
The Wolves
This production about a soccer team of teenage girls had its debut at the intimate Old Fitz Theatre in 2018. The play, by Sarah DeLappe, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2017, and this production features Puberty Blues and Black Mirror star Brenna Harding, and is directed by Jessica Arthur.
The Prodigy
No Tourists, the Prodigy’s seventh studio album, released at the back end of 2018, proved that age hasn’t withered the Braintree beatmakers. The group’s last visit to these shores was nixed after the 2016 Soundwave Festival was cancelled due to poor ticket sales, so a jaunt to Sydney is well overdue.
Flavours of Auburn Cooking Classes
These classes not only allow visitors to experience food from around the globe, but also provide employment and training to newly arrived migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. It’s an informal setting in a commercial kitchen and allows you to chat to your hosts and the trainee teachers about their lives and cultures.
Lily Allen
Lily Allen’s fourth album No Shame marks the start of a new chapter for Allen, who has recently experienced what she’s calling at midlife crisis at age 32. Four years after her last visit, and a lifetime of sorrow and experience under her belt, Lily Allen is touring Australia.
The Beer Run
If running isn't your favourite activity, you could trick yourself into having a good time with this 5k beer run. Competitors will stop in at five different brew houses, for an infusion of liquid courage after every kilometre.
Lunar New Year Festival
When you catch sight of pig floats and lion dancers waltzing down Forest Road, you know you’re in the right place for Hurstville’s Lunar New Year Festival. This celebration sees more than 50,000 visitors flock to the centre of this South Sydney suburb for a full day of entertainment and traditional Chinese ceremonies and blessing.
So Pop
Ever wanted to hop on the Vengabus with the Vengaboys, ride a rollercoaster with B*Witched and move your body with Eiffel 65? You’ll want to snap up tickets to this new nostalgia-fest. It'll be bringing a host of ‘90s and ‘00s artists to Australia for the first time.
Eddie Izzard: Wunderbar
Eddie Izzard's new show has been in development for quite a while now – it started with an improvised show performed in French at La Nouvelle Seine, a floating theatre in Paris, and was then developed through further improvisation in Berlin.
Chinese New Year Dragon Boat Races
As part of the Lunar New Year festival each year, dragon boat races take place on Cockle Bay in Darling Harbour. Thousands of paddlers will battle it out over two days, with more than 100 races running every ten minutes, each carrying 22 rowers, plus a drummer to lead the paddling with a rhythmic beat.
Haiku Hands
Electronic music collective Haiku Hands have announced their debut national tour. The Sydney-based group has gained attention with their extremely boppy anthem ‘It’s Not About You’ and the funky ‘Jupiter’. After a killer set of European shows, they are ready to tour Australia in full force.
Dead Cat Bounce
Mary Rachel Brown's Dead Cat Bounce tells the story of a woman in a relationship with a man 20 years her senior who has a problem with alcohol. It's a grown-up love story with real baggage. The play will be directed by Mitchell Butel.
Mary Stuart
Caroline Brazier and Helen Thomson will be going head-to-head as Mary, Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth I, respectively, in this radically reimagined take on Friedrich Schiller’s play about the two rivals. Imara Savage is directing this new adaptation by Kate Mulvany.
Little May
Following what has already been a busy year for the indie-pop outfit Little May, these Sydney locals are now preparing for their own headline tour. Best known for their haunting harmonies, this East Coast road-trip marks a new era for the duo and high school besties, Liz Drummond and Hannah Field.
Werther
It’s been a decade since Elijah Moshinsky's sleek, updated production of Massenet’s romantic opera was last seen. If it needed a reason to return it’s this: American tenor Michael Fabiano will be making his role debut in the title role.
Cat Power
Chan Marshall most recent album, Wanderer, was her first in six year after her previous label rejected the record. Expect folkie tracks, an undercurrent of blues, and emotional rawness, all carried by Marshall’s voice; a beautifully smoky lament that could soften the stoniest of hearts.
Sugar Republic
Several different sensory rooms will be taking over one of Myer's shopping floors, and we can guarantee they will satisfy every kind of candy lover. The Sugar Republic team are expecting to build on their Melbourne pop-up with a host of new rooms and interactive installations to play with.
The Jungle Giants
Ever since ‘Mr Polite’ was released in 2011 the Jungle Giants have had us hooked. Now that their third album Quiet Ferocity has earned a place in Australian hearts and airwaves, they’re becoming increasingly well known for their danceable tracks and comfortable sing-along style.
Chatswood Year of the Pig Festival
The colourful celebrations will fan out across the suburb with markets, parades, dining events and art exhibitions. Get lost among the dragons and lanterns at the Golden Market in Chatswood Mall from January 29-February 8.
Rudimental
This four-man dance music troupe is coming to Sydney to share the inclusive vibes from their newest album, Toast To Our Differences. It’s been three years in the making, but well worth the time spent recruiting stars across a delightful mash-up of genres like Anne-Marie, Major Lazer, Macklemore and Kevin Garrett.
Cork and Canvas
This boozy art class includes your artistic tutelage, two hours of bubbles, beer, wine and snacks, as well as some killer views of Sydney Harbour and our city skyline at sundown. The masterpieces you’ll attempt to replicate will change week by week.
Damien Rice
If you like your guitar acoustic and your lyrics nakedly candid, you’re almost definitely a Rice devotee and, while he may not be enjoying the same level of commercial success right now as he did a few years back, he’s lost none of the spellbinding intensity that have made his live performances so renowned.
For the lone wolves
The best things to do when you're alone in Sydney
There ain’t nothing wrong with a little people watching in one of Sydney’s best parks, or ordering a feast for one at the best restaurants in the city. Carve out some ‘you’ time and explore these exciting, relaxing and delicious solo activities in Sydney.
