Seven Summertime Events That'll Help You Beat the Back-to-Work Blues

We all know purse strings are a little tight after the holidays, so free outdoor entertainment is welcomed news. All about live music, tasty bites to eat and kicking back in a grassy spot a stone’s throw from the inner city, QPAC’s Green Jam offers an ace (and free) start to your weekend every week, returning for 2021 from Friday, January 8. But, because Shrek the Musical is also hitting up QPAC to start the year, Green Jam is unleashing a ‘monster edition‘ — and running not only on Friday arvos, but on Saturdays as well.

Held between 5.30–7.30pm on both Fridays and Saturdays from Friday, January 8–Saturday, February 6, the outdoor songfest takes over the Melbourne Street Green (aka that vibrant patch of turf just past the Cultural Centre walkway) with live tunes — with plenty of street food, of course.

The music lineup changes every week and, as for your stomach, it can feast on pizzas, broad bean and feta dip (with warm bread to go with it), and pumpkin and provolone arancini — while sipping spritzes, wine and beer. You’ll have to pay for the eating part of the evening (and any bevs you place in your hand), but it’ll be worth it.

Brisbane has long been partial to a party boat. The Island did the honours from the 80s through until early last decade, Seadeck has cruised the river over the past couple of years, and Yot Club has started sailing into the city’s waters, too. The latter has been making quite a big splash, in fact — as you’d expect from a huge yacht with two bars, a stage, a dance floor and, in normal times, a 400-person capacity.

Returning for 2021 — and under COVID-safe guidelines again, so it won’t be jam-packed — Yot Club’s next series of shindigs are floating through town on selected weekend days from January 30–February 21. The glamorous, custom-built vessel calls itself “the world’s first super yacht entertainment venue”, and it’s certainly something that southeast Queensland hasn’t seen before. Sprawling over two levels, it measures nearly 40-metres long and over 22-metres wide, and blends a licensed floating club and a luxe function space. With lounges across an open deck and undercover, a VIP room in the hull, and the promise of bands and DJs on its lineup, Yot Club wants to be the region’s one-stop watery hangout.

It serves up more than water, of course, thanks to a menu of classic and creative cocktails, plus brews chilled in the 45-keg-capacity cool room. Yot Club sets off from City Botanic Gardens River Hub, with tickets starting from $39.95 depending on the day and time you’re planning to hop onboard. You can pick between Saturday lunch (12.30pm) and sunset (6pm) sessions on January 30, and February 7, 13 and 20 — or for a Sunday sunset (4.30pm) cruise on January 31 and February 8, 14 and 21.

When the Mountain Goat Valley Crawl kicked off in 2016, it did so in simple but great style. Recognising that the key to many a good night out is a multi-venue itinerary, it made hopping between Fortitude Valley’s finest hangouts a streamlined, well-organised yet still laidback experience — with brews aplenty and an ace live music soundtrack.

Come 2021, the sprawling music and beer festival will still be going strong — even after the events of the past year. On Saturday, February 6, attendees can jump between ten Valley spots to see a huge heap of interstate and local artists. The simultaneous sonic fun takes place at The Brightside (both indoors and outdoors), Black Bear Lodge, The Outpost, The Foundry, Ric’s Backyard, O’Skulligans, Greaser, Blutes and The Zoo. As always, the agenda includes running between each to sip frosty beverages and catch crackin’ sets, with the entertainment once again sponsored by a brewery.

The whole shindig kicks off at 5pm, so the only thing left for you to do is clear your calendar for an ace day of tunes, brews and hopping around the Valley. Well, that and wait for the lineup.

Top image: katexjean

Thirsty? If you’re not now, you will be once you’ve read this. That’s the only appropriate reaction to a festival of beer, after all. Just think of all the amber liquids and foamy goodness.

Okay, enough drooling; here are the important details that every ale-lover needs. When Beer Fest On The Grass returns from 11am on Saturday, March 6, 2021, more than 130 beers and ciders will be on offer from over 50 different brewers. To line your stomach, there’ll also be a range of international food trucks. Basically, if there’s a beer heaven, this is it.

It’s the eighth year that Eatons Hill Hotel has hosted the tipple-fuelled shindig, once again celebrating drinking, eating and enjoying a day in Brisbane’s glorious outdoors. If you’re serious about your beverages, you’ll want to taste, sip, sample and chat to folks from a huge selection of breweries. And if you’re serious about fun, you’ll want to gather some mates and take part in the event’s other fun activities — in previous years, there’s been an inflatable beer obstacle course, a keg-stacking comp and a life-sized game of foosball. Tickets are on sale now, with entry costing $10.

Top image: Brisbane Beer Fest.

If you’re going to watch Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet on the Titanic, or just see Leo hang out at an idyllic secret beach in, well, The Beach, you may as well do so while you’re splashing around in a pool. That’s what’s on the bill at Brisbane’s returning outdoor cinema pop-up — the fittingly called Float In Cinema. A collaboration between W Brisbane and Openair Cinemas, it’s taking over the riverside hotel’s WET Deck for three Wednesday nights in January, pairing swim-in movies with food and cocktails.

Screening on January 13, 20 and 27 — with a 7pm seating time for a 7.30pm start — Float In Cinema costs $25 per person. Your ticket includes a recliner chair, a dip in the pool and use of a towel. You’ll have to buy your food and drinks on top, but they will be delivered to you on floating trays.

If you’re keen, you might want to get in quick, as only 32 seats are available per session. Also, if you’re a fan of shark movies, you can check out Open Water as part of the program, too.

At the end of 2019, Brisbane scored a brand new music festival, with Wildlands focusing on dance, electronic and hip hop, and showcasing a heap of local, Australian and international talent. The event boasted an impressive pedigree, too, hailing from the teams behind Melbourne’s Beyond The Valley and Perth’s Origin Fields fests. And, it filled Brisbane Showgrounds for one mighty big day.

Wildlands didn’t return in 2020, because that’s just what last year was like — but, come Saturday, March 6–Sunday, March 7, 2021, it’ll be back in the same spot as a two-day affair. There’ll be just one stage per day, so you can see absolutely everyone. And each day will be ticketed separately.

As for who you’ll be checking out and dancing along to, the lineup unsurprisingly focuses on all-homegrown talent, as headlined by Golden Features, Lime Cordiale, Cosmo’s Midnight, The Veronicas and What So Not.

Mosey along to one day, or both — the choice is yours.

Walking around Brisbane is a great way to enjoy your own backyard, see the local sights and get in some exercise. For a 17-day period between Friday, March 12–Sunday, March 28 in 2021, doing just that will also allow you to engage with a series interactive installations. They’re called ‘curiocities’, and they’re part of the returning Curiocity Brisbane festival, which focuses on the interaction of science, technology, innovation and the arts.

Spread around town — across a 6.8-kilometre circuit that links the City Botanic Gardens, South Bank, the Cultural Precinct and the Brisbane CBD, in fact — these hubs will serve up both physical and virtual experiences. One, Platonic Volumes & Cosmologies by Bits to Atoms, is a large scale-translucent matrix of recycled plastic beams, while another, Evanescent by Chimera Atelier and Pineapple Design Studios, will use colour-changing film that’ll make it look like a huge bubble. Or, you can check out two augmented reality works, either venturing back to Brisbane on the day prior to First Settlement or working with other folks to build a digital ecosystem.

Also on the bill: a chat-fuelled program called Curious Conversations, where Benjamin Law will host a range of speakers to talk about the future. And, a number of other big events fall within the program also — such as World Science Festival Brisbane and GOMA’s Up Late sessions as part of its new motorcycle-focused exhibition.