Meet the most well-known singer and artist DUA LIPA | Dua Lipa will perform at the biggest music festival in Victorian history, Always Live.
As part of another state-sponsored, two-month-long music festival, Dua Lipa, one of the world’s biggest pop stars, will perform one-time only at St. Kilda’s Palais Theater in October.
The Victorian Government’s Always Live concert series has added Dua Lipa, Crowded House, and Sampa the Great to its lineup, which will play at venues across the state in the not-too-distant future.
Today’s announcement adds to a slew of previously announced gigs, including Amyl and the Sniffers’ headlining Chopped festival in Victoria’s Goldfields, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis at Hanging Rock in the Macedon Ranges with Courtney Barnett, Khruangbin at Sidney Myer Music Bowl with Kamasi Washington, and others.
Always Live, dubbed “the biggest music event in Victoria’s history,” will feature performances by more than 150 local and international artists at more than 90 events in 12 regions at well-known venues like the Palais Theater in Melbourne.
The statewide celebration of live contemporary music was Michael Gudinski, an Australian music promoter and executive,’s long-held dream.
The Victorian Always Live festival lineup, which was announced on Thursday and includes Australian acts Crowded House, Yothu Yindi, and Magic Dirt, includes the British disco-pop star.
Only 2500 people will actually want to see Lipa, 26, perform at the storied St. Kilda venue as part of the festival. This will be the singer’s main small theater show on her global tour. In November, the star will perform solo at stadium shows across the country, as of now.
The not-for-profit Always Live event will take place in October, November, and December and will support more than 90 shows in provincial venues across the state, including Hanging Rock in the Macedon Ranges, Horsham, Phillip Island, Queenscliff, Echuca, Wodonga, and Bendigo. The event’s support is costing the Victorian government $14 million.
A private concert will be held in the gardens of the National Gallery of Victoria on St. Kilda Road by English singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who is best known for her iconic song Murder on the Dancefloor. Big Thief, an American indie rock band, will perform at the Melbourne Recital Center.
In addition to folk acts Angus and Julia Stone, Boy and Bear, and Crowded House, bar acts Magic Dirt, Wendy Matthews, Kate Ceberano, and The Black Sorrows will all play heritage venues in a series of suburban shows at Gateway Lakes on the Murray River in Wodonga.
In December, Sampa the Great will perform a one-time only show at Hamer Hall in honor of supporting superstar Billie Eilish. Jessica Mauboy, who won an ARIA Award, will play Hamer Hall in Bright, which is set in the high country of the state. Yothu Yindi will also play Hamer Hall.
Aishwarya, a 23-year-old singer-songwriter from Melbourne, stated that the festival’s support act Lipa at the Palais was “wild” at Thursday’s line-up reveal.
She stated, “My experience with live performance is really limited because I only started releasing music during lockdown.” I’m now behind Dua Lipa. What is existence?
Briggs, a rapper, will perform with Bad Apples at a “house party” upstairs at the Curtin Hotel in Carlton. He said that the festival’s focus on smaller venues was important for musicians and roadies and behind-the-scene staff who lost work during lockdowns.
“The people who make the shows happen—those who put stages together, do the sound in these smaller places—sometimes get forgotten.”
The late Michael Gudinski came up with the idea for Continuously Live. He had previously pitched the idea to Premier Daniel Andrews after helping the premier and his wife Catherine get tickets to see Billy Joel in 2017 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Using taxpayer funds to bring the Piano Man to Melbourne evolved into an election promise in 2018 to host a 10-day state music festival. Currently, the festival will run for approximately three months.
Recently, it was announced that Billy Joel and Nick Cave would perform at Hanging Rock and the MCG, respectively. Performances by Khruangbin, Amyl and the Sniffers, Tash Sultana, Baker Boy, Isabella Manfredi, Middle Kids, Alice Skye, and Isaiah Firebrace are currently on the schedule.
Under the Always Live banner, a single-night Foo Fighters performance was also held in March at Kardinia Park in Geelong.
Steve Smith, CEO of Continuously Live, stated that it took Live Nation touring nine months to secure Lipa’s private show at the Palais in favor of her arena tour across the country.
He stated, “The concept was, “let’s do something really up close and really special.” She can sell out arenas.
It has not been made public how much money the government gives to international artists like Lipa for Always Live.
The lineup, according to Steve Dimopoulos, Minister for Tourism, Sport, and Major Events, had a “good balance” with one-third international acts and two-third local acts.
“We invested in these parts to establish Victoria’s position as one of the world’s major musical capitals, both nationally and internationally.” He stated, “You do that with a mix of offerings, not just with local talent.”
Dimopoulos stated that the various gigs in Victoria territory would also have “pretty profound economic effects” on small towns.
He stated, “The local pubs will benefit from this, and many towns will get [bookings] for accommodations through Airbnb or hotels.”
With funding from the state government, Smith stated that he would have preferred to see the festival grow into a consistent annual event.
The Mushroom music empire’s heir, Michael’s son Matthew Gudinski, stated on Thursday that the festival would “reaffirm” Victoria as Australia’s music state.
The chairman of Always Live stated, “I am proud to be part of the team making it a reality” because “Always Live was a dream my late father had to reassure our state’s live music roots.”
The primary intimate theater performance of Dua Lipa’s global tour will take place at the Palais Theater in Melbourne, according to today’s announcement. With Angus and Julia Stone and Boy and Bear, Crowded House will perform at Gateway Lakes in Wodonga, on the Murray River, while Sampa the Great will showcase their forthcoming album As Above, So Below at Melbourne’s Hamer Hall.
Always Live chairman Matt Gudinski, whose father, Michael Gudinski, considered the drive prior to his passing, says, “I am proud to be part of the team making it a reality.” “Always Live was a dream my late father had to reassure our states’ live music roots.”
The legendary Yothu Yindi at Hamer Hall and Jessica Mauboy performing a show for the community in the Victorian town of Bright are two other highlights of the Always Live program. In the NGV Garden restaurant, 100 people will see the UK’s Sophie Ellis-Bextor perform, and the pioneers of chillwave Toro y Moi will play at the Northcote Theater.
In a different location, Briggs, Mo’Ju, and Chasing Ghosts will perform at the Curtin Hotel as part of an event that Briggs’ Bad Apples label has planned to highlight First Nations talent. Chapterfest, which will unite any semblance of NO ZU, Laura Jean, Gregor, Teether, and Kuya Neil, and the sky is the limit from there, will mark the 30th anniversary of Melbourne label Chapter Music.
Emily Ulman, who is in charge of programming, stated, “It has been my honor to work with the music community to dream up this Always Live program.” In addition to establishing Melbourne and Victoria as the live music capital of Australia, the enormous selection we present today reflects the vigor and atmosphere of contemporary live music in Victoria.
The biggest music event in Victorian history will feature Dua Lipa as the headlining act. https://www.instagram.com/dualipa/
