Melbourne live reviews
Here’s to being taken on an ‘emotional rollercoaster’ at a St Kilda car park
Performed outdoors on Thursday night, this gig by The Streets is anything but a nostalgic wink.
- Michael Dwyer, Sonia Nair, Tony Way and Cameron Woodhead
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The floor is sticky, it smells bad, and a pint is $10. It’s perfect
Rain Dogs performed at The Tote in a gig that dripped with atmosphere and sweat.
- Will Cox, Martin Boulton, Tony Way and Sonia Nair
- ★★★★★
- Live reviews
Pulp just gave us the best one-two opening punch I’ve ever seen at a live show
Last night there was both a blood moon and Pulp’s return to Melbourne. I know which one I’ll remember better.
- Will Cox
- ★★★★★
- Live reviews
Hula-hooping and a nip slip: Grace Jones delivers chaos and fun at St Kilda gig
On an ominous, stormy night on St Kilda foreshore, Grace Jones makes a declaration that sounds a bit like a threat: “I’m gonna have some fun tonight.”
- Nick Buckley
Ed Sheeran provides intimate one-man performance to a stadium of thousands
It’s an experience you don’t usually get at a concert, let alone a 2½-hour stadium show. Despite being the only person on-stage, Sheeran keeps everyone engaged.
- Nell Geraets
This is a red-letter event for any committed theatregoer worth their salt
Red Stitch is offering the vanishingly rare opportunity to see Ray Lawler’s Doll Trilogy, which gives deeper context to the beloved Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.
- Cameron Woodhead, Tony Way, Jessica Nicholas and Marcus Teague
With a severed mannequin head and a high-energy gig, Kesha is taking control of her own story
The 38-year-old American singer-songwriter’s The Tits Out Tour feels like a reclamation of her identity and music.
- Vyshnavee Wijekumar, Andrew Fuhrmann, Cameron Woodhead, Jessica Nicholas, Nadia Bailey and Marcus Teague
A ruckus and a proposal as one of the world’s biggest acts hits the Melbourne stage
With a line-up featuring Chappell Roan, Geese, Lucy Dacus, Role Model and Wet Leg, this year’s Laneway Festival took crowds on a fantastical ride.
- Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
- ★★★★★
- For subscribers
Wildly silly and littered with obscenity: This show will make you laugh until it hurts
The Book of Mormon remains one of the funniest Broadway musicals of all time, not least because it’s willing to slaughter every sacred cow in sight.
- Cameron Woodhead
Tradition and modernity collide in this story of loneliness
La Mama springs back to life with the opener of its 2026 season, 月を見る夜 Moongazing – a bilingual play written by Maki Morita modelled after the aesthetics of Noh theatre.
- Sonia Nair, Will Cox, Tony Way, Cameron Woodhead and Andrew Fuhrmann