Bleach* Festival 2019

Overview

12 days. 28 shows. 132 performances. That's what's on offer at this year's huge Bleach* Festival — the event's biggest lineup yet, and all the proof you need that there's more to the Gold Coast than the trio of sun, surf and sand.

That said, when Bleach* returns from Wednesday, April 17 to Sunday, April 28, the fest's 2019 program doesn't forget the Goldie's biggest attraction. Instead of simply sunbathing and splashing around at the beach, attendees can watch a tidal-influenced contemporary dance piece on the shore thanks to Dancenorth's Tectonic or peer up at The Cleaners' performance installation, which takes place seven metres above the ground. At the festival's beachside hub at Burleigh, there'll also be live music, a pub choir session and a bar on the sand. Or, you can listen to the sounds of a hand-operated, multi-octave fire organ. It's free, and it really is driven by a furnace.

With festivities taking place all across the coast, the list of shows goes on — whether you want to see a dark staging of Verdi's Requiem, enjoy the mesmerising sights of Limbo Unhinged, catch a grindhouse cabaret about this sprawling country of ours in Terror Australis, or watch street dancers face off in Between Tiny Cities. You can also go for a swim as part of Landing, where folks will take part in a continuous watery relay that covers the distance between Manus Island and Australia, or sit in your car for Throttle, aka a live-action drive-in.

And the visual arts spread also delivers too, with an exhibition dedicated to surfers who make art (and surf culture in general) an obvious standout.

Image: Scott Belzner