The series of free live music and entertainment around Geelong begins this week.
From right now until the end of the year, Geelong is being treated to a series of live gigs by local Geelong artists all in the great outdoors as part of the City of Geelong’s ‘It’s Our Backyard’ campaign, thanks to Bay City Events and funding from the Victorian Government.
The high-profile line-up includes the likes of Rach Brennan, Marcus Hayden, Izzy Khalife, Steve Thew, Terry Fielding, Susan Ardern, and Matt Baird, as well as group performers like Spider Jazz and duo musicians Christine Middleton and Tim Shears, plus many more.
The key takeaways
- The City of Geelong has a new free street entertainment program
- The program includes a slew of high-calibre local artists who will perform free shows for the public
- The program runs from October 26 to December 31 2021
Keep up with the latest local music news via our website.
The line-up of stellar artists will also be accompanied by other entertainment, including circus theatre, puppet shows, and other roving performers who will entertain shopping and dining precincts across Greater Geelong for the remainder of the year.
Much like the previous edition, the eclectic program will run across a number of Geelong locations, with musicians popping up on the Geelong Waterfront, Pakington Street, Lara, Barwon Heads, Ocean Grove, Portarlington, Highton and Belmont.
All the events are completely free and run from Monday to Friday until the end of the year, with performances to have a Christmas element from 15 November.
Deputy Mayor Trent Sullivan said the extension of the program’s multi-faceted support measures would be welcomed by the business community.
“We’ve had great feedback from our earlier entertainment initiatives, so it’s great that we can bring this back as our economy re-opens further through spring and summer,” he said.
“Aided by the warmer weather, our open-air dining areas and public spaces will be attractive places for people to socialise and the roving performers will further add to the atmosphere.”
Cr Eddy Kontelj, Chair of the Arts, Live Entertainment and Hospitality portfolio, said the It’s Our Backyard campaign encourages the Geelong community to think local first when seeking goods and services and to ‘taste the region’.
“Our local businesses continue to need our support as they will still face capacity restrictions in the coming months,” he said.
“This program not only aims to bring people back to our shopping and dining precincts but also provides great employment opportunities for our local creative industry.
“When I first suggested the concept of the Arts, Live Entertainment and Hospitality portfolio, the aspiration was to help support, develop and promote local talent and artists, and also to bring live entertainment to the suburbs, this program allows us to do this.
“Live performances have been heavily limited over the past 18 months and this initiative allows our creative talents and audiences to re-connect.”
The perfect way to catch some live music at lunch, or take the kids for some midweek entertainment, Geelong’s new street entertainment has something for everyone.
There’s no tickets or bookings required to catch these free gigs, just suss the locations online and show up! Please note performances are weather dependant and subject to change.
To view the full daily line-ups, as well as the locations, head here.
