Author: We Know Melbourne

Oktoberfest in the Gardens

Oktoberfest in the Gardens returns to Melbourne for it’s fifth year. Embrace the largest Australian Oktoberfest celebrations and taste your way across Europe with a large selection of imported German beer, cider, wine and a range of other beverages. The Festival will take over Birrarung Marr with a a massive beer hall, authentic German food stalls, roving performers, a silent disco plus, beer and more beer. So even though you might not be in Germany celebrating the traditional Oktoberfest, it’s the perfect way to take part in the Bavarian Festival from afar. We’ll ‘prost’ to that! Our German friends have come to the party for We Know Melbourne readers. While the event is sold out Saturday, use the code FRIDAY BEER will get you discounted tickets to the Friday event! When: Friday, 23 October + Saturday, 24 October Where: Birrarung Marr Visit the website here. Terms and conditions here.

MSO: Back to the Future Live in Concert

Published by We Know Melbourne

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Robert Zemeckis’ classic, time-travelling comedy, Marty McFly and ‘Doc’ Emmet Brown are coming to Plenary’s big screen! Take a trip back to 1985/1955 and relive the action alongside the MSO’s performance of Alan Silvestri’s dynamic score. These screenings include the Australian premiere of additional music written by the composer especially for the film’s 30th anniversary. Completists will also note that 2015 is the ‘future’ as experienced by Marty in Back to the Future: Part II. Visit the website here.

Our Gravity Float Experience

Published by We Know Melbourne

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to exist in a world without gravity? Last week, we got to experience the true feeling of weightlessness with the latest relaxation trend – floatation therapy, at the Gravity Float Centre. If you’re scratching your head, confused about exactly what is floatation therapy, then you’re in the same boat (no pun intended) as we were. Floatation therapy dates back to the 1950s when medical practitioner and neuropsychiatrist , John Lily wanted to test the effects of sensory deprivation. Since then floatation therapy has been used widely for stress, anxiety and muscle relaxation. Gravity Float Centre is located in Northcote (right opposite Welcome to Thornbury), and their centre is focused on providing the ultimate relaxation therapy. Their range of organic skincare products, herbal teas and zen waiting room are the perfect complement to your therapy. After you have filled out the usual registration forms, you are led into your private Gravity Float room (there’s 6 of them in the centre) and a staff member runs you through what …

Stonybrook Food Truck Fest

Published by We Know Melbourne

This weekend, some of Melbourne’s most popular food trucks will be leaving their usual inner city truck stops and heading Hillside for a special once-only street food opportunity, Food Truck Feast. Iconic Melbourne food trucks including Happy Camper Pizzas, Mr Burger, Dos Diablos and Jakob’s Kitchen will be joining in on the party at the new Stonybrook estate in Hillside. For those with a sweet tooth, there will also be ice creams and gelati from Bianco Latte, or try the famous strawberry and chocolate crepes from Rue De Creperie. With sunny days forecast for the weekend, this is the perfect opportunity to escape the city! Visit the website here.

Impossible Occurrences

Published by We Know Melbourne

Our new We Know Melbourne Hit Pick!! A fantastic “old school” magic/illusion/mind reading show held every Friday night less than 5 minutes walk from The Swanston Hotel! An intimate performance in a tastefully, small room with a maximum of 60 participants lets you get “up close and personal” with master magician Luke Hockin . The overall vibe is like a turn of the century parlour show with lots of laughs and surprises! Book a dinner & show package or just simply stay for the show. Ask our friendly Swanston Hotel Concierge team for more information. 5 stars! When: Friday nights – 2 shows: 7:30pm & 9:30pm Where: The Marriott Hotel Visit the website here.

Fringe Festival Review: The Sparrow Men

Published by We Know Melbourne

The fun thing about improv is that you can go to the same show every night for a week, and quite literally never see the same thing twice. Having seen these two in action before at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, I was once again (as always) impressed by their quick wit, fast ability to throw themselves into character and to draw energy and direction from each other with the smallest of cues. As with most performances of this genre, the audience are asked to throw out their best and brightest one-word ideas for the theme of the night’s show. In this instance we were visibly taken from the sumptuous, marble-roofed home of two fussy retirees, one nosily and jealously spying through the venetian-blinded windows on the new wealthy neighbours as they were moving in, over to the neighbours themselves, past two would-be assassins Russian with a penchant for ham (by the gram) – and then right back around to the beginning, each set of characters somehow linked to one-another as part of the story – it all becoming …

Fringe Festival Review: Showga

Published by We Know Melbourne

Reading the bio for this piece, I was expecting to go along and have a good laugh at someone satirically poking fun at the pretentiousness and fake elements of the yoga / wellness industry which at the moment, is so very trendy – and for the most part I did. What I didn’t expect was an hour-long performance which was actually quite insightful – playing on not only the aforementioned pretension and perceived judgement of many so-called wellness “guru’s” but also the hidden undercurrent themes of this genre like low self esteem and hiding one’s own self-loathing by projecting it out onto others… kind of like blowing out someone else’s candle, so yours can shine that little bit brighter. A clever and relatable piece, with plenty of crowd interaction, dressed up in 12 inch glitter platforms, a green two-piece and a feathered headdress reminiscent of of Bollywood-themed Priscilla, Chelsea Evans (aka Chakanunda Vaganunda Chikki Chikki Wa) is one flexible, funny woman. Showga has finished it’s Melbourne Fringe Festival run, with the last show running Sunday evening, 20 September 2015 at the …

Fringe Festival Review: Torte e Mort: Songs of Cake and Death

Published by We Know Melbourne

The biggest challenge one faces when they go and see a cracking Fringe Festival performance, is how do you talk about the show without actually giving away the best bits? It’s a bit like Fight Club – the number one rule is; you don’t talk about it… Channeling a gorgeous Marie Antoinette, Anya Anastasia, backed by Bec Matthews (aka ‘The Executioner’) on drums, kazoo, saw and more, delivered clever and catchy songs that took us at a rapid and humorous pace through the life, death and hereafter of the infamous French queen – from her hedonistic ‘let them eat cake’ beginnings through to her untimely end and beyond. The performance was rounded out with visits from prominent afterlife figures positioned throughout the show to add deeper, life lessons to the show which were packed with satire, wise-cracking puns and glow-in-the-dark paint. I actually was sort of sad when the show came to an end. If you are a fan of perfectly placed puns, don’t mind a little bit of intellectual humor balanced with gorgeous costumes, …

Channels Australian Video Art Festival

Published by We Know Melbourne

Channels Australian Video Art Festival, Australia’s only biennial celebration of video art and culture kicks off with a bang this Thursday. The 10-day curated festival will feature 60 artists in 21 events and will present the very best contemporary video practice from across the globe in Melbourne and in the digital sphere. International festival guest Sam Smith’s new exhibition Slow Fragmentation will mark the launch of the event and the evening will screen a selection of twelve video works from artist-run-initiatives in Australia and New Zealand at Screen Space. Other highlights include: Saturday 19th September, 4-6pm – opening event with drinks at Incu and Zambes. Selected by Project QUAD, seven video works are presented in non-traditional exhibition spaces including shopfronts, restaurants and hotels along one of Melbourne’s busiest laneways. Flinders Lane, CBD. Saturday 19th September, 10am – 5pm – In the Epoch of the Near and Far opening. In the Epoch of the Near and Far features work by Petra Cortright (USA), Heath Franco (AUS), Marian Tubbs (AUS), Emile Zile (AUS/NL), Keith Deverell (UK/AUS) and Aaron …

It’s Joy O’clock – Celebrate with Cadbury Chocolate.

Published by We Know Melbourne

From next Wednesday to Friday (16th – 18th September), Cadbury will take over Federation Square bringing joy to thousands of Melburnians! The festival will transform Federation Square into a purple inspired wonderland – with a live DJ, heaps of freebies and thousands of Cadbury chocolate products for visitors. Schedule it in to your calendars and reclaim a lost but treasured moment of the day – the afternoon break. The entertainment will kick off on Wednesday at 2pm, with a big reveal at 3:30pm to mark Joy O’clock. There will also be an oversized alarm clock which will be ticking down to something big… We’re excited! When: Wednesday 16 September – 8:00am-5.30pm (with Joy O’Clock surprise at 3.30pm), Thursday 17 September – 8:00am-5.30pm , Friday 18 September – 8:00am-5.30pm Where: Federation Square