The Sydney Road Street Party is an unmissable event on the Brunswick Music Festival calendar, taking over Sydney Road on March 5 from 12pm ‘til late.
Marking the beginning of autumn is the world-renowned landmark of the Sydney Road Street Party. Yes, world renowned. What’s more alluring than a blocked off Sydney Road with the infrastructure to showcase some of Australia’s most musically talented all afternoon? It rivals carnivals around the world as being one of the best urban parties ever.
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As biased and perhaps embellished as this may be, the Sydney Road Street Party is back after the drawn-out and debilitating interruption of the pandemic. This year, the 2023 rendition is going to be huge!
Next month the Street Party will be taking place on Sunday March 5, acting as the opening event for the Brunswick Music Festival that will span across the following week.
What’s on
As always, the street party will feature food stalls selling delectable cuisine, market stalls boasting a mixed array of trinkets and wares, all the types of entertainment you could imagine and more as well as music at almost every corner and in every venue splattered along the distinguished main road of Brunswick.
Running from midday to 6pm, six stages of musical programming have been arranged through Brunswick Music Festival. However, these don’t include the stages featured in venues such as The Retreat Hotel, Stay Gold, Brunswick Ballroom and the four stages within the Bergy Seltzer. Across the entire footprint of the street party there will be 14 stages hosting musical displays.
Teeming with musical talent a selection of music inclusive of and eclipsing all genres, explorations and sounds will be performed throughout the entirety of the Street Party. It will be harder than planning which artist to see at your favourite summer music festival, undoubtedly creating conflict within those wanting to make the most of the offerings.
The lineup
Realistically one won’t be able to witness all of the acts performing on the day, but standout artists such as June Jones, Kira Piru, Palm Springs, Cable Ties, Mindy Meng Wang, Ajak Kwai, Pinch Points and Black Jesus Experience, all of which are based in Naarm/Melbourne are nearly unmissable.
From the rapture of experimental ethio-jazz synonymous with the name Black Jesus Experience to the stripped-down and occasionally angelic modern take on folk of Palm Springs. To the heavy-hitting franticness of Cable Ties and then onwards into the transcendental and journeying sounds of Mindy Meng Wang’s reinvigoration of classical Chinese music. Round it all out with the punchy post-punk guitar riffs of Pinch Points and you have you’ve only experienced a micro-cosmic example of the diversity apparent in Naarm/Melbourne’s current music scene.
Further expanding this long list of musical diversity featured are the notable Sunfruits closing out the Brunswick Ballroom stage, Teether and Kuya Neil wrapping up proceedings at The Retreat Hotel, and The Miffs, Dr Sure’s Unusual Practice and Dumb Punts gracing the Stay Gold stage throughout the course of the day.
The afterparties
Although the festival – or that which operates on the street – will conclude at 6pm, musical performances will continue well into the night and sprawl out into the early hours of the following morning. The Bergy Bandroom will be humming until after 1:00am.
With secret headliners yet to be revealed the already confirmed wealth of talent set to perform on the day, has venues keeping surprises close to their inner circles to add to the suspense and tension already high in anticipation for the Sydney Road Street Party.
All in all, the return of the Sydney Road Street Party is a welcoming one for residents of the northern suburbs of Naarm/Melbourne, but also for those living across the city and those that are lucky enough to be travelling in the area in early March.
It’s nothing short of ecstasy leading up to the largest and most exciting celebration of music and culture in the streets of Brunswick, a tradition that has been dearly missed over the last two years.
Sydney Road Street Party takes over Brunswick’s Sydney Road on March 5, the opening day of Brunswick Music Festival.
Beat is an official media partner of Brunswick Music Festival.
