Dua Lipa, one of the biggest pop stars in the world, will play a one-off show at St Kilda’s Palais Theatre in October as part of a new state-sponsored, two-month-long music festival.
The British disco-pop star is the top billing of the Victorian Always Live festival line-up, which was unveiled on Thursday and includes rapper Sampa the Great and Australian acts Crowded House, Yothu Yindi and Magic Dirt.
Singer Dua Lipa will perform for just 2500 people at St Kilda’s Palais Theatre in October.Credit: AP
Only 2500 fans will be able to see 26-year-old Lipa perform at the iconic St Kilda venue as part of the festival, and it will be the only small theatre show of the singer’s global tour. The star is separately performing already-announced stadium shows around the country in November.
Taking place over October, November and December, the not-for-profit Always Live event is supporting more than 90 shows in regional venues across the state including in Horsham, Phillip Island, Queenscliff, Echuca, Wodonga, Bendigo and at Hanging Rock in the Macedon Ranges. The Victorian government is spending $14 million on supporting the event.
British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, best known for her iconic track Murder on the Dancefloor, will play an intimate show in the gardens of the National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda Road. American indie rock band Big Thief is playing the Melbourne Recital Centre.
Crowded House will play at Gateway Lakes on the Murray River in Wodonga alongside folk outfits Angus & Julia Stone and Boy & Bear, while pub acts Magic Dirt, Wendy Matthews, Kate Ceberano and The Black Sorrows will all play heritage venues in a series of suburban shows.
Sampa the Great will be playing a one-off exclusive show at Hamer Hall in December after supporting superstar Billie Eilish. ARIA Award-winner Jessica Mauboy will play in Bright in the state’s high country while Yothu Yindi also plays Hamer Hall.
At Thursday’s line-up reveal 23-year-old Melbourne singer-songwriter Ashwarya said being part of the festival as the support act for Lipa at the Palais was “wild”.
“I only started putting out music in lockdown so my experience with live [performance] is really limited,” she said. “Now I’m supporting Dua Lipa. What is life?”
Rapper Briggs and singer Ashwarya at the launch of the Always Live program at The Palais Theatre on Thursday.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Rapper Briggs, who will be playing a “house party” event upstairs at the Curtin Hotel in Carlton with his music crew Bad Apples, said the festival’s focus on smaller venues was significant not just for musicians but for roadies and backstage staff who also lost work during lockdowns.
“Those who put stages together, who do the sound at these smaller places... sometimes a lot of that gets forgotten – the people who make the shows happen.”
Always Live was the brainchild of the late Michael Gudinski, who first pitched the concept to Premier Daniel Andrews after he helped the premier and his wife Catherine secure tickets to see Billy Joel at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 2017.
From there, the idea of using taxpayer money to bring the Piano Man to Melbourne morphed into a 2018 election promise to stage a 10-day, statewide music festival. The festival will now stretch over an almost three-month season.
Metro shows
- An exclusive evening with Dua Lipa: Palais Theatre, Sunday, October 3.
- Rockin’ the Burbs, various: Saturday, October 22 – Monday, October 31.
- Bad Apples House Party – Briggs, Mo’Ju, Chasing Ghosts and more: Curtin Hotel, Saturday, November 5.
- Blaktivisim – Yothu Yindi: Arts Centre Melbourne, Saturday, November 5.
- Chapterfest 30: Northcote Theatre, Saturday, November 5.
- Flow Festival: Footscray Community Arts Centre, Saturday, November 5.
- An intimate audience with Sophie Ellis-Bextor: NGV International Garden Restaurant, Thursday, November 11.
- Claptone – The Masquerade: Riva, Saturday, November 19.
- Jess Cornelius: The Night Cat, Saturday, November 19.
- Toro Y Moi: Northcote Social Club, Wednesday, November 23.
- Frente 30 Years of Marvin the Album: Brunswick Ballroom, Thursday, November 24.
- Big Thief: Melbourne Recital Centre, Friday, November 30.
- Lovely Day: Palais Foreshore, Sunday, December 4.
- Sampa the Great: Hamer Hall, Friday, December 9.
Earlier this year headline acts Nick Cave and Billy Joel were announced to play at Hanging Rock and the MCG respectively. Already on the docket were performances from Khruangbin, Amyl and the Sniffers, Tash Sultana, Baker Boy, Isabella Manfredi, Middle Kids, Alice Skye and Isaiah Firebrace.
A one-night Foo Fighters show at Kardinia Park in Geelong in March was also supported under the Always Live banner.
Always Live chief executive Steve Smith said it took nine months negotiating with Live Nation touring to secure the intimate show with Lipa at the Palais, on the side of her tour of arenas around the country.
“She can sell out arenas, so the concept was, ‘let’s do something really up close and really special’,” he said.
How much government money is being paid to international artists like Lipa for Always Live is not revealed publicly.
Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos said the line-up was a “good balance” at one-third international acts and two-thirds local acts.
“Why we invested in these parts of it was to embed Victoria’s place nationally and globally as one of the huge musical capitals of the world. You don’t do that just with local talent, you do that with a mix of offerings,” he said.
Dimopoulos said the various gigs in regional Victoria would also be “pretty profound economically” for small towns.
“Many towns will get Airbnb or hotel accommodation [bookings] and the local pubs will benefit from this,” he said.
Smith said he hoped to see the festival become a permanent, annual fixture with state government funding.
Regional shows
- OK Motels (Savage and the Last Drinks, Nice Biscuit, Elizabeth, Vintage Crop, Bad Bangs, Skyscraper Stan, Kino Motel, Smarts, Baby Cool, Enola and more): Charlton, Friday, October 28 - Sunday, October 30.
- Crowded House (supported by Angus & Julia Stone and Boy & Bear): Gateway Lakes, Wodonga, Sunday, November 3.
- The Alpine Festival – Jessica Mauboy: Pioneer Park, Bright, Saturday, November 12.
- Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (supported by Courtney Barnett): Hanging Rock, Friday, November 25 and Saturday, November 26.
- Almost Summer Festival: Capital Theatre, Bendigo, Friday, November 25 - Sunday, November 27.
- QMF x First Plays – Queenscliff Music Festival (Baker Boy, Isabella Manfredi, Middle Kids and RVG): Queenscliff, Friday, November 25 - Sunday, November 27.
- Hometown – Isaiah Firebrace: Girgarre Sound Shell, near Echuca, Sunday, December 4.
- Hometown – Alice Skye: Sawyer Park Sound Shell, Horsham, Saturday, December 10.
- Tash Sultana (with Pierce Brothers, Kim Churchill, Kee’ahn, Little Green and Mark Howard) - Ocean Sounds: Churchill Island, Saturday, December 10.
On Thursday Matthew Gudinski, Michael’s son and heir to the Mushroom music empire, said the music festival would “reaffirm” Victoria as the music state of Australia.
“Always Live was a dream my late father had to reassure our state’s live music roots and I am proud to be part of the team making it a reality,” the Always Live chairman said.
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