Open Air at the Square 2027

Free, family-friendly twilight fair celebrating Australian-Indonesian culture through live music, dance, street food, an art market and workshops. Inspired by the Indonesian tradition of gathering at dusk to eat, unwind and nongkrong (hang out), and held at the convergence between Lunar New Year and on the eve of Ramadan, Pasar Senja is an open-invitation inclusive celebration, inviting people of all ages and backgrounds to come together as the sun sets over the city.

A must-do Open Air at the Square staple, Candlelight Concerts returns, with an intimate outdoor concert featuring Gamilaraay singer-songwriter and musician Thelma Plum, under the glow of candlelight. Free and all-ages; bring your picnic blanket and settle in for a very special live music experience at the Square.

Led by Yolŋu songwriter Terry Guyula, Drifting Clouds blend dreamy ’80s-inspired synth-pop with ancient Songlines sung in language. A transcendental coastal groove made for warm summer nights, and an intimate outdoor concert, by candlelight.

Australian experimental jazz trio The Necks will bring their hypnotic sound to the Square for a special performance. One of Australia’s most acclaimed cult bands, the trio is renowned for its distinctive improvisational performances, with no two concerts ever the same.

Back for its fifth year, Garage Band amplifies the voices of Victoria’s next generation of musicians. Open to all Victorian musos under 21, the talent quest and mentoring program culminates in a massive, multi-stage, one-day showcase of emerging music talent, with special guests Salmon Sisters and The Gnomes closing out the event.

Booming bass thrumming through supercharged stacks of towering speakers – feel the beat in your bones as this free, massive, day-to-night dance party returns as part of Open Air, featuring Jamaican reggae and dancehall artists King Yellowman and Queen Ifrica and some of Melbourne’s most exciting sound systems. Curated by local legend Stick Mareebo, come celebrate Afro Caribbean music, culture, food – and local sound system culture.

Two internationally acclaimed acts come together for an extraordinary free double bill at Fed Square. Grammy Award-winning Tuareg desert blues pioneers Tinariwen and Amsterdam-based Dutch-Turkish psychedelic rock favourites Altin Gün bring their distinctive sounds to Melbourne for a special one-night-only concert celebrating music that crosses cultures, borders and genres.

Based upon the 1908 play by Maurice Maeterlinch, and directed by Maurice Tourneur, The Blue Bird follows siblings Mytyl and Tyltyl, who are sent by the fairy Berylune on a magical quest to find the Blue Bird of Happiness. This classic silent film will be presented with a live DJ score.

Celebrated as one of the finest silent horror films, and featuring a transformative performance by “The Man of a Thousand Faces” Lon Chaney, The Phantom of the Opera was adapted from the French writer Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel about a mysterious figure who haunts the Paris Opera House. The film will be presented with a live DJ score.

Robert Wiene’s Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) is a landmark of cinema and considered one of the first horror films: a dark, dreamlike tale of murder and madness, and a defining work of Weimar-era German Expressionism. The film will be presented with live original score that responds in real time to the film’s shifting moods, mixing traditional Brazilian folk styles with Brazilian contemporary jazz, by Brazilian-born, Melbourne-based composer and multi-instrumentalist, Alcides Neto.

Directed by W.W. Young, this ambitious early screen adaptation draws on both Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, bringing Carroll’s surreal characters and encounters to life through elaborate costumes, theatrical sets and early cinematic effects. This screening will be accompanied by a live original score by multidisciplinary artist and composer Kasinda, performed by the Agaracha Orchestra.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Fritz Lang’s dystopian sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis, The New Pollutants perform their acclaimed live score alongside a newly restored version of the film. Conceived, composed and recorded over twelve months, the score blends Germanic trip hop, lo-fi electronica and classical music.

As part of Midsumma and Open Air at the Square, Melbourne Queer Film Festival presents a curated selection of short films from its 2026 program to the Big Screen, showcasing bold queer stories from Australian filmmakers and Victorian talent.

This Valentine’s Day, enjoy a romantic double bill, featuring Wong Kar-wai’s 2000 romantic drama set in Hong Kong in 1962, In the Mood for Love; and the 2011 American comedy romance Crazy, Stupid, Love, starring Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore and Emma Stone.

As Oscar season approaches, we’re showcasing some classic Academy Award-winning films that made cinematic history, including the 1967 mystery-drama exploring racial tensions in the American South, In the Heat of the Night, starring Sidney Poitier; Moonstruck, the charming 1987 American romantic comedy starring Cher in a showstopping Oscar-winning performance opposite Nicholas Cage; Bonnie and Clyde, the 1967 true crime drama starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty credited with ushering in the New Hollywood era in cinema;  and the 1988 ensemble heist-comedy written by Monty Python co-founder John Cleese and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cleese and Kevin Kline, A Fish Called Wanda.

Catch a selection of critically acclaimed and iconic music documentaries and live concert films, including the 2016 film capturing the recording of Nick Cave and the Bad Seed’s album Skeleton Tree, One More Time With Feeling; Sade Live in San Diego (1993); Martin Scorcese’s The Last Waltz (1978); James Brown: Live at the Boston Garden (1968); the 2018 film of Aretha Franklin’s live concert recorded at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in LA in 1972, Amazing Grace; and the live concert recording of the biggest benefit concert in history, Live Aid (1985)

After sold-out, smash-hit seasons in Sydney, THEY WILL BE KINGS is heading to Fed Square for this year’s Midsumma Festival and Open Air at the Square. Created by acclaimed theatre-maker Kaz Therese and The King Coach, Danica Lani, this ground-breaking performance dives deep into the politics of joy, power, and gender, through the lens of trans masc, nonbinary and lesbian Drag Kings.

ON&ON Festival takes over the Square for six days of street dance, battles, workshops, talks and performances, presented by Fed Square and Cypher Culture. A community-focused celebration of Melbourne’s street dance culture, the program brings back the much-loved City Sessions, a showcase of high-energy street dance battles.

Rotation is a new pop-up vinyl listening party, in collaboration with a local independent record store. Set up at ground level with deckchairs and beanbags, it’s a relaxed way to listen, hang out, chat with the DJs – and maybe discover some new fave tracks, record labels and artists.