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The Weekender: January 13 – 15

Meld Magazine

Thu Jan 12 2017

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Australian Open Festival
Saturday, January 14 – Sunday, January 29 (Various times) | Birrarung Marr Park (Across three terraces)

Every January, Melbourne  goes into tennis frenzy with the Australian Open. To mark the opening of the tournament, excited tennis fans can visit the Australian Open Festival happening at Birrarung Marr Park (itself on the way to the tennis grounds of Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena) beginning this Saturday!

The Lower Terrace will give fans the opportunity to get ticket upgrades, win prizes, experience the Elly Lukas Skin & Bodycare nail and massage service and buy official AO merchandise. The Middle Terrace meanwhile will feature a broad line-up of bands to dance to. A Food Truck Park will also be on site. Do note however that this section of the festival is only available to those with valid AO tickets.

The Upper Terrace of the AO Festival will become available next Monday but festival goers can look forward to watching matches on the big screen and experience some of the best in Melbourne dining including names like Jimmy Grants, Hotel Jesus, Huxtaburger and Tokyo Tina.

For more information the Australian Open Festival, visit the event page over at the official website

Shimmerlands
Wednesday, January 4 – Sunday, February 24 (Various times) | The University of Melbourne, Parkville

Organised by Shadow Electric, Shimmerlands will be providing outdoor entertainment on The University of Melbourne’s campus grounds all weekend long. What can you expect?

On Friday, catch a free gig from Slippy Mane x Lalic and catch an outdoor cinema screening of Oasis: Supersonic (ticketed), a documentary about one of Britpop’s most iconic bands, Oasis.

Saturday will see an outdoor party from Brooke Powers and supporting local queer talent with a screening of Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash starring Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson and Matthias Schoenaerts.

And on Sunday, you can catch a screening of the latest Ghostbusters film!

For more information on Shimmerlands, visit the official website

Brickvention
Saturday, January 14 – Sunday, January 15 (9.00am – 5.30pm)| Royal Exhibition Building (9 Nicholson St, Carlton)

Lego lovers of all shapes and sizes won’t want to miss out Brickvention, Australia’s premier two-day convention for all things Lego!

The two-day public display will give plastic brick enthusiasts the oppurtunity to see some of the country’s most bizarre and wonderful creations as well as designs and structures from international modellers and collectors. Sculptures and recreations of famous buildings, scenes from famous films and more will be on display!

And of course, if you want to buy your own set of Lego, there’ll be plenty of chances to do so at the merch area (you can even get Lego artwork!).

More on Brickvention can be found at its official website

Midsumma 2017
Sunday, January 15 – Sunday, February 5 (Various times) | Various locations

Kicking off this Sunday is the 2017 edition of Midsumma, Melbourne’s premier queer arts and cultural festival. The festival celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and to get festivities rolling, Midsumma will open with an all-day and all-night party like no other.

Taking place at the Alexandra Gardens, live music will be popping all day long at the Midsumma Carnival and T Dance with a myriad of local acts performing live. If you fancy yourself a lipsync idol, have a crack at Lipsync Limelight, a drag competition for queens, kings, bios, new-drag performers or drag virgins.

Fresh brews and bevs will be supplied throughout the day but for those under the age of 18 can also take part in the festival’s inclusive Minus 18 zone where a line-up of DJs will be performing too.

At night, the party will still be popping with T Dance, where more DJs will be spinning tracks to get the dancefloor raging all night long.

For more information on other happenings at Midsumma, check out the festival’s website

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