Sydney Festival
Make Sydney Festival Your First Stop for Live Music This Summer
In Partnership with Destination New South Wales
There are few indicators that summer is back in Sydney as clear as the return of Sydney Festival. Each year, like the sudden increase in the scent of sunscreen on your daily commute, or the chorus of cicadas, its return signals to Sydneysiders that summer has well and truly hit.
Sydney Festival has been embracing the art of summer since the ’70s. For the uninitiated, it’s more than just a festival. It’s a yearly celebration of culture and creativity that explodes across the city from the streets, beaches, stately theatres, all the way down into secret basement gigs.
Call it magic, or call it Sydney weather, but there’s really no better place to be than Sydney at this time of year, so why not use these live music acts as an excuse to extend your trip between beach dips and rooftop bars?
Hot Chip
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London’s most beloved party band are back, and you can catch them at the Sydney Opera House this January. The quintet from London have been a staple in indie-dance playlists for over two decades thanks to their melancholic yet euphoric dancefloor sound, most recognisable from their breakthrough hit “Ready for the Floor”. If you’re in town on Wednesday, January 14th, or Thursday, January 15th, grab your tickets now to hear their biggest hits as well as their new single “Devotion”.
Book tickets at the website.
Kankawa Nagarra
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If you haven’t heard of Kankawa Nagarra, you’re in for a treat. The Walmatjarri, Gooniyandi and Bunuba Elder is known as the ‘Queen of the Bandaral Ngadu Delta’ thanks to her powerful blues voice. Growing up, she’d found inspiration listening to country and rock radio while she was working on homesteads. But, it was a busker on the streets of Derby that inspired her to try her hand at making her own music. In the years since, she’s toured the world, supported Hugh Jackman on Broadway, and won the 2024 Australian Music Prize for her album Wirlmarni.
Book tickets for at the website.
Paris Paloma
If you have a TikTok account, you’ll recognise Paris Paloma from her breakout feminist anthem, “Labour”. The lyrics take aim at the patriarchy — “All day, every day, therapist, mother, maid / Nymph, then a virgin, nurse, then a servant. In her debut album — which has already clocked one billion streams — she blends gothic intensity with a powerful, feminist edge. That feeling jumps out of your headphones in her single “Good Boy”. The song is brought to life in its video, featuring a spoken word introduction from Emma Thompson and starring Tom Blyth. On stage, her presence is as immersive as her lyrics. In the crowd, books, handwritten notes and fairy messages are exchanged as the show becomes a sanctuary for fans.
Book tickets at the website.
Lonnie Holley
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Catch one of music’s visionaries in an Australian exclusive at Sydney Festival this January. Lonnie Holley’s art — performance, drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, music, and filmmaking — was born from the struggle of surviving Jim Crow-era Alabama. Holley has seven albums to his name, including 2023’s Oh Me Oh My which featured Bon Iver, Sharon Van Etten, and Michael Stipe. No two of Holley’s performances are the same thanks to his approach of total improvisation — that’s music and lyrics, entirely born in the moment. This Sydney Festival, Holley is taking over ACO On the Pier with a three-night residency. Grab tickets to catch him for improvised performances with Kankawa Nagarra and Sydney-born jazz singer, Yasmina Sadiki.
Book tickets at the website.
Enji
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Mongolian jazz singer-songwriter Enji possesses a voice unlike any other, combining Urtiin Duu with acoustic jazz to create one of this decade’s most beguiling sounds. Urtiin Duu, known in English as long-song, is a Mongolian folk tradition that outlasted the Soviets, and in a surprising twist, pairs perfectly with jazz. Her sound effortlessly brings together the breathy, ornamentation of Urtuin Duu, aspects of Mongolian throat-singing and a sense of vastness drawn from the Mongolian landscape. Expect chills at this Australian premiere.
Book tickets at the website.
Raf-Saperra
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You may have heard Raf-Saperra at Berghain, or maybe Glastonbury. His Bhangra-laced sound is the result of a youth spent in South London listening to Punjabi folk music and hip-hop while slowly forging his own identity. His catapult to fame came with UK garage throwback “N.L.S. (Nach Le Soniye)” and the grime-inspired “Modern Mirza” on his first EP. The blow up really started, though, with his 2023 Boiler Room set. Read the comments on the set and you’ll be bowled over with a sense of pride from Punjabis around the world. Don’t miss your chance to see Raf-Saperra in Sydney or risk being left behind from his whirlwind rise to fame.
Book tickets at the website.
CHAII
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CHAII”s music doesn’t belong in a category. The Persian-Kiwi artist has established her own multiverse of madness as a rapper, director, sound engineer, and producer of her music that somehow stitches together hip-hop, pop, R&B, and electronica with Persian instrumentation. You may recognise her from her club-ready single, “We Be Killing It”, or her frequent soundtrack appearances (Ms. Marvel, The Old Guard). Either way, she’s not to be missed when she takes the stage this January for Sydney Festival.
Book tickets at the website.
See what’s on at Sydney.com’s guide to summer.
