The Brightside is throwing a Mean Girls party, and not being there would be social suicide. Revising the correct usages of 'fetch', 'grool' and 'ESPN' is just part of the fun. So is channelling your inner queen bee and donning your best pink outfit. Okay, okay, it's not Wednesday, but we think you're allowed to break that rule just this once. The film will be playing on repeat, but watching and rewatching its blistering take on teenage life isn't the only way you can indulge your Mean Girls love. You can drink a punch concoction that may or may not be jungle juice. You can dance just like it's the Spring Fling to a live set of pop punk classics from Hollywood Heartache. And you can prove your devotion by battling it out in a Man vs Bear-hosted trivia quiz. Every team gets a plastic crown, of course.
There's a reason Queensland Theatre Company's newest production bears the name of its hometown: this is a Brisbane story through and through. This isn't the city you know and love, though, unless you were alive more than seven decades ago. This is the war-torn times of 1942, when the state's capital was known as a big country town. Welcome to the world premiere of Matthew Ryan's Brisbane, as directed by the no-holds-barred Iain Sinclair. The coming-of-age performance enters the life of 14-year-old Danny Fisher as he tries to cope with the death of his brother in the bombing of Darwin, warms to the company of an American pilot and plots revenge. Not only does Brisbane bring the detail and devastation of the period to the stage, but it also draws upon true tales. It's a slice of history as well as a snapshot of the city at make or break point. Let's call it time travelling by theatre, and a good evening's entertainment.
Have you ever wondered whether there is something - someone - else out there? Joel Pinkerton believes there are no extraterrestrials, no life forms other than us. An insurance fraud investigator, Joel works for a company that has introduced UFO abduction insurance which, you know, is a bit weird. What’s even weirder is Joel’s call to the next investigation. Storm, a 16-year-old schoolgirl claims herself as the most recent victim of intergalactic intrusion, with the conspiracy theories to match. It would all be very easy to dismiss… except, how did Storm end up in that field far out of town? What happened during her 24-hour disappearance? As alien life grows more and more familiar for Joel, he finds himself alienated from his family. His wife, Holly, needs him back home - his bouncing baby girl is acting a little bit weird. Pale Blue Dot is the work of Kathryn Marquet. The story of togetherness and alien behaviour, what is real and what we wish to be; La Boite has taken on the tale, as foreign as it is relatable, and added their twist for modern audiences.
Country singer song-writer, Kimberley Bowden will be filling The New Globe Theatre with some very sweet tunes this weekend. Head along to listen to tracks from her latest EP, Burnt On You. Although she is now based in Brisbane, Kimberley hails from far North Queensland and has travelled the globe to the Mecca of country music – Nashville, Tennessee, to perfect her art. Her gorgeous tunes have also earned their share of radio play and 'Do I' was nominated at the Q Song Awards and The Southern Stars: The Australian Independent Country Music Awards. Treat your ears to 'Little Jane Street' and 'All Your Call'. Keep an eye out for special guest announcements on the event page. Doors open at 3pm and entry is a door donation. So why not pencil in Kimberley Bowden this weekend for an evening of wholesome country pop goodness. Yee-haw!
Electronic whiz kids don't come more stylin' than Sydney's multitalented Caitlin Park. With her 2011 debut album Milk Annual applauded Australia-wide and the 2012 Qantas Spirit Of The Youth Award under her belt, Park inked a deal with Create/Control in February this year (home to fellow Aussies Oliver Tank, Feelings, Go Violets and internationals Parquet Courts and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros). Marking the team-up with the release of her second album The Sleeper, the smoky-voiced Sydneysider will bring her brand new tunes to The Hive on Saturday, August 2. Disarmingly catchy singles like 'Lemonade' are sure to get this all-ages gig significantly toe-tappin'. (She's releasing a just-announced EP of instrumental tracks and spoken word on July 11, so she's a busy lady.) Park toured recently to promote the album's first single, 'Hold Your Gaze', but we're certainly not objecting to more of her brand of dreamy folktronic. Park has been cranking tunes aroundaboutown of late, dominating East Coast stages as well as the UK's Great Escape, New York's CMJ conference and support slots for Butterfly Boucher. Headlining her own tour aptly dubbed 'The Sleeper Tour', Park is proud to present her super slick electro-meets-acoustic album to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane crowds. The Sleeper is a sharpening of everything her first album, Milk Annual, was about — slick production, soothing sounds and deep vocals that make me wish I could use the word husky without feeling like a creep. Listen out for 'Lemonade', the album's second single. The video is a woozy, aesthetically and sonically-pleasing journey through the main character's gender identity that should appeal to anyone who appreciates good-looking people in technicolour garb dancing in slow motion (that's everyone, surely?). "I am so proud and excited about this release!" said Park. "It's louder, more rhythmic, more energetic and more complex than anything I have written before. It was made in a quiet place, so I felt like we had to fill the space. It was made with love and light and darkness. I can't wait for people to hear it." Words by Jessica Surman and Shannon Connellan. https://youtube.com/watch?v=AS1htl7smnk
The pinnacle of Brisbane’s fashion events, the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival is back for its ninth year, touted to be its most stylish event yet. The event will return to Brisbane’s City Hall for the second year in a row following the building’s make-over, once again injecting added class and awe to the festivities. Come along to see the work of our state’s creatives — including fashion designers, hair stylists and make-up artists - culminate in Queensland’s only major runway program. Every year the event marks the beginning of a new season, but also a boost for retailers and buyers who fall in love with the collections year in, year out. Six stylish days and nights comprise the fashion festival, of which the events are eclectic and the designs inspired. Art meets glamour meets opportunity; don’t miss your chance to see the best and latest in fashion, at the place where it all starts.
Brisbane Experimental Art Festival was created in 2010 with the aim of celebrating and showcasing Brisbane's brilliant art scene. The fest was formerly know as Brisbane Emerging Art Festival, so it's smoothly switched a word but not a letter in the acronym. As well as presenting various art forms for the public to enjoy, BEAF is a way for artists to connect and create new practices. Some featured artists include writer and academic Courtney Pedersen, whose work is concerned with the collision of personal and public worlds. Poetry is Dead will also be showcased. This is a collaboration between writer Josh Donella and musician Mike Wilmett. Festival goer's can also check out Rebecca Cunningham's art. She is a researcher, curator, project manager, sound and performance artist. There are lots more artists; check out BEAF's website for details. Whether you're brimming with creative talent or just appreciate art in all of its forms, head along to this free event and support your local artistic community.
If there's one thing that Ben & Jerry's loves above all else, it's the obvious: ice cream in a huge array of ridiculously named flavours. It's the brand behind Chunky Monkey, Cherry Garcia, Phish Food and The Tonight Dough — and has been responsible for Liz Lemon Greek Frozen Yoghurt, Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream and Schweddy Balls, too. And, once a year to the delight of your sweet treat-loving tastebuds, it loves giving away free scoops just as much. Indeed, to share its wares with the masses for nix, these frozen confection masterminds gave the world Free Cone Day, which is exactly what it sounds like — a day where your ice cream is on the house. It ran annually until the pandemic, then took a break for obvious reasons. And on Monday, April 3, it's finally back for the first time since 2019. Here's how it works: if you adore ice cream as much as Ben & Jerry's adores ice cream, then you just need to hit up your local participating store between 12–8pm AEST. You can choose whichever flavour you like, and you can also line up for a free cone as many times as you like within that eight-hour period. Free Cone Day is happening Australia-wide — worldwide, too, in more than 35 countries — at both Ben & Jerry's Scoop Stores and its Hoyts outlets. In Queensland, head to South Brisbane, Broadbeach Waters, Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast, Mooloolaba, Noosa Heads and Cairns, or Hoyts Sunnybank.
My my, at the Waterloo Hotel from Wednesday, April 5–Sunday, April 9, chocoholics can surrender to their tastebuds. This Newstead mainstay is doing Easter-themed food and drink specials — including Easter cocktails — for five days. Your next pub session just got 100-percent more chocolatey. What's better than Easter cocktails, though? Easter cocktails over an Easter egg hunt for adults. Usually, searching for foil-wrapped orbs of chocolate is for kids. Yes, you can create your own version at home, but we all know that that isn't the same. The Waterloo is also well aware that adults want in on the fun, too — and it's delivering. [caption id="attachment_896234" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Markus Ravik[/caption] While the Easter at The Waterloo festivities run across the full range of dates, that adults-only Easter egg hunt is taking place on Sunday, April 9. Pop by from 4pm each day from Thursday and you'll also enjoy live tunes at the Ann Street and Commercial Road spot, which comes with a history — it's been there since 1880. [caption id="attachment_746664" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kgbo via Wikimedia Commons.[/caption] Top image: Markus Ravik.
First, one piece of good news: Easter upon us for another year. Now, another: because every occasion and holiday is now an excuse to set up markets, this chocolate-loving period is being celebrated in a big way at the Surfers Paradise Beachfront Markets. While more than a few similar events are slinging Easter eggs and other sugary treats this April, this one also happens to be by the beach. And, Easter on the Esplanade is running for three nights — from 4–9pm between Friday, April 7–Sunday, April 9. Head on down to The Esplanade to shop, eat, soak in the scenic setting, listen to tunes and checkout handmade wares — all underneath twinkling lights and with the sea breeze doing its thing. There'll be over 100 stalls selling everything from fashion items to pet accessories, as well as roving entertainment and dance performances to help spread the Easter mood as far along the beachside as possible.
Easter isn't just about eating all the chocolate in every form you can find. It's also about embracing rabbits however you can, too. At Victoria Park / Barrambin, that means catching a double feature of suitable flicks in the open air — because the Herston patch of turf is bringing back its outdoor cinema for an Easter Treats Movie Night. Taking place from 5.30pm on Saturday, April 8, this event is free to attend. The onsite food trucks will start serving at that kickoff time, however, so you will need your wallet for that. Or, you and your mates/date can pack your own snacks and drinks, and enjoy a picnic. Movie-wise, Disney's Zootopia will play from 6.30pm, while Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland then hits the screen with its imaginative antics from 8.30pm. And, if your dog likes flicks under the stars, too, you can bring them along — but they need to remain on a leash.
Everyone has a type of food that they just can't get enough off. We all have several if we're being completely honest. So, perhaps you adore sausages — or maybe you've never met a schnitzel that you can say no to. You could get salivating over meat platters, fancy feasting on ribs or get in a flap about chicken wings as well. If one of the above dishes is your favourite, so much so that you're keen to tuck into all that you can manage, The Bavarian has you covered Monday–Friday between Monday, March 20–Friday, March 31. Each weekday, it's serving up a different bottomless deal. Arrive hungry, whichever you pick — and especially if you opt for all of them. So, Mondays are all about non-stop snags (frankfurters, kielbasas and cheese kranskys with mash, rye bread and bier jus) for $28, while Tuesdays go all in on schnitties for $32 (with parmigianas, classic schnitzels and one with mushroom sauce to choose from). On Wednesday, the regular $35 all-you-can-meat platter special is still on — aka a glorious way to spend hump day. Come Thursday, there's ribs, ribs and more ribs (slow-cooked and coffee-and-spiced barbecue pork ribs, in fact, with coleslaw and fries) for $56. And on Friday, $20 gets you non-stop wings with either hot buffalo or barbecue sauce. In terms of caveats, you'll need to note a few, including the need to buy a full-priced drink to get each deal. The Bavarian also has a five-percent service fee, and you can't combine your chosen special with another offer, get it to take away or bring any leftovers home with you after your sitting. In Queensland, you'll find The Bavarian at Chermside, The Barracks, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast, Robina, Broadbeach, Coomera, Mackay and Rockhampton.
If you like beer and you live in Brisbane, then you've probably noticed a trend in recent years. In fact, you've probably been making the most of it. That's to be expected when a certain patch of turf starts welcoming new drinking spots with frequency. Thanks to Ballistic Beer Co and Hiker Brewing Concern in Salisbury, as well as Helios Brewing Company and Slipstream Brewing Company in Yeerongpilly, there's no shortage of breweries to have a beer at on the southside. And, while you've likely been hopping between them all anyway, Beermuda gives the area's boozy crawl an official spin. Head to any of the quartet between 1–7pm on Saturday, May 20, get sipping, then catch a courtesy bus to the other three — and drink more frothy ales at each, obviously. Entry is free, and there'll also be food and live music at each brewery. Plus, you'll be able to just generally soak in the boozy Salisbury and Yeerongpilly vibes. If you remember the event from previous years, you'll know that it was originally called Beermuda Triangle — taking inspiration from the Bermuda Triangle, of course — but with Hiker Brewing Concern a new addition for 2023, there's no longer just three venues on the route.
When you're a film festival that's all about the best cinema from Spain and Latin America, and you've been showcasing flicks from the two regions for a quarter century, how do you mark the occasion? If you're Australia's annual Spanish Film Festival, you put together a hefty 25th-birthday festival filled with 32 movies. That's the just-announced plan for 2023's event, which will take over the screens at Palace James Street and Palace Barracks in Brisbane from Wednesday, June 14–Wednesday, July 5 — complete with Spanish box-office hits, stars from beloved series, a focus on female directors and plenty more. Kicking off the fest is the Australian premiere of culinary comedy Two Many Chefs, which follows a father-and-son pair reuniting in the high-cuisine scene in Bilbao. Also a high-profile must-see is the festival's centrepiece selection Alcarràs, the winner of the Berlin Film Festival's Golden Bear in 2022. It popped up at a few local fests last year, and is now finally being made available to a wider Aussie audience. Other highlights include five-time Goya Award-winner Prison 77, a smash in its homeland starring Miguel Herrán from Netflix's Money Heist; The Kings of the World, which focuses on five Medellín teenagers; and Four's a Crowd, the latest from The Bar, Witching and Bitching and As Luck Would Have It filmmaker Álex de la Iglesia. Plus, there's thriller A Singular Crime, about a wealthy businessman's disappearance in Argentina in the 80s — and Staring at Strangers, where The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent's Paco León spies on a family from inside a closet (and yes, sounds like it takes its cues from Parasite). Film lovers can also look forward to rom-com My Father's Mexican Wedding, about two Spanish siblings travelling abroad for the titular nuptials; Mighty Victoria, which sees residents of a small town try to build their own steam train in 1930s Mexico; black-and-white horror film History of the Occult; and feminist Argentinian western The Broken Land. The 2022 fest boasts an Australian link as well via Greg Mortimer, about the passengers and crew on the Australian cruise ship that left for Antarctica just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic being declared. And, the Spanish Film Festival's survey of prominent Spanish and Latin American women directors includes seven movies, while its five-title 2023 retrospective is dedicated to iconic Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura, who passed away earlier in 2023.
You mightn't remember turning five, or what kind of celebrations followed. You probably can't recall what you ate to mark the occasion, either. Hopefully it involved ice cream. All birthdays are better with ice cream. Here's one shindig that will: Happy Pops commemorating five years since starting to sling frosty desserts. First launching in Noosa, then expanding to Brisbane, this chain is getting into the fifth-birthday spirit by doing $5 ice creams. Just head on in from Tuesday, May 9–Saturday, May 13 — and to any store, including South Bank in Brissie, the OG Noosa Heads digs, and also Eumundi and Mooloolaba. For those new to the Happy Pops experience, it's all about artisanal gelato on a stick, using all-natural, preservative-free Australian ingredients. Think Maleny milk, real vanilla, Belgian chocolate and actual fruit pieces. It also serves up vegan options, using soy, rice and coconut milk, which is good news for folks who don't consume animal products but still love a frosty treat. And, you can create your own flavours — which is also included in the $5 birthday special.
When Spilt Milk announced that it wasn't taking place in 2024, instead delaying its next festivals until 2025, it looked like fans of the event were in for a hefty wait till they could next hear live tunes echo from its stages. But if you're on the Gold Coast — or can get there — that's no longer the case. Spilt Milk's regular fests remain postponed until next year; however, it's still returning in November for a new gig series. Meet Spilt Milk House Party, aka the shindigs you throw when you're not throwing your regular shindig. If the tactic sounds familiar, that's because Yours and Owls is deploying it in 2024, too, calling it a pre-party instead. The idea is the same, though: get a bunch of acts to play at a smaller event, rather than the usual big festival rollout. For its version, Spilt Milk hasn't skimped on talent. In addition to his already-announced Australian tour, Troye Sivan leads the Spilt Milk House Party lineup. For company, he'll have Glass Animals, G Flip, Artemas and Sycco. The quintet have a date with the Broadwater Parklands on Saturday, November 23. Spilt Milk House Party Lineup: Troye Sivan Glass Animals G Flip Artemas Sycco
When Pixar is at its best and brightest, the animation house's gorgeous and heartfelt films flow across the silver screen. They glow with colour, creativity, sincerity and emotion. In movies such as WALL-E, Inside Out, Soul, Toy Story 4, Up and Ratatouille, the Disney-owned company's work floats beyond the ordinary as it flickers — and yet, it's also grounded in genuine feelings and insights, even while embracing the now Pixar-standard "what if robots, playthings, rats and the like had feelings?" setup over and over. Accordingly, it makes sense that the studio's Elemental draws upon the sensations that its features usually inspire. It seems like something that was always destined to happen, in fact. And, it's hardly surprising that its latest picture anthropomorphises fire, water, air and earth, and ponders these aspects of nature having emotions. What's less expected is how routine this just-likeable and sweet-enough film is, with the Pixar template lukewarm instead of an inferno and hovering rather than soaring. Elemental also treads water, despite vivid animation, plus the noblest of aims to survey the immigrant experience, opposites attracting, breaking down cultural stereotypes and borders, and complicated parent-child relationships. The Captain Planet-meets-Romeo and Juliet vibe that glinted through the movie's trailers proves accurate, and also something that the feature is happy sticking with exactly as that formula sounds. Although filmmaker Pete Sohn (The Good Dinosaur) draws upon his own upbringing as the son of Korean expats growing up in New York City and its distinctive neighbourhoods — that his family ran a grocery store is worked in as well — and his own marriage, his second stint as a director is too by-the-numbers, easy and timid. Elemental looks like a Pixar film, albeit taking a few visual cues from Studio Ghibli in some character-design details (its bulbous grassy creatures noticeably resemble Totoro), but it largely comes across like a copy or a wannabe. Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis, Nancy Drew), the feisty fire sprite at the picture's centre, has footsteps to follow in herself: not just William Shakespeare's most famous couple without the tragedy given that this is an all-ages-friendly Pixar release, but also her father Bernie's (Ronnie del Carmen, Soul). With her mother Cinder (Shila Ommi, Tehran), he left their homeland behind for better opportunities, worked hard to overcome prejudice and discrimination, and started The Fireplace, which sparked Element City's whole Firetown district — and, since she first started simmering, he has always told his daughter that it was all for her. But Ember's temper is heated. It's prone to boiling over with frustrating customers, which doesn't bode well for a convenience-store proprietor. So, while she's spent her whole life preparing to take over the terracotta- and iron-filled shop when her dad retires, he's never been convinced that she's ready. Bernie adores Ember, has put his entire flame into the family business and is as passionate about only one other thing, apart from Cinder. Due to the xenophobia and unkindness that greeted him when he first arrived in Element City, he's scorchingly certain that fire and other elements don't and shouldn't mix. Sohn and screenwriters John Hoberg (American Housewife), Kat Likkel (also American Housewife) and Brenda Hsueh (Disjointed) set out to extinguish that belief, which is where Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie, Archive 81) comes in. When H2O streams into The Fireplace via a busted pipe, it brings in the water element, who is also a municipal inspector. To save the store, the explosive Ember teams up with the go-with-the-flow, freely emotional Wade to work out what's caused the leak — and, although she's initially reluctant about him and leaving Firetown, romance gushes, as does an appreciation of burning beyond her comfort zone. As it lays its scene, Elemental also brings Pixar's 2022 highlight Turning Red to mind, which doesn't do the studio's new film many favours. That exuberant straight-to-streaming effort focused on a boyband-worshiping teen rather than a dutiful young woman who's a whiz at blowing glass (an advantage of being constantly and literally fiery). It honed in on its protagonist's relationship with her mother, rather than father-daughter bonds. But both movies are about struggling with balancing cultural traditions passed down through generations, and the strict expectations that can come with them, as kids try to become their own people and remain true to their own, heroes, dreams, desires and personalities. Sohn's film just combines those notions with an element-crossed lovers rom-com — Pixar's take on Moonstruck, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Big Sick and other multicultural romances. With everything that Elemental endeavours to ape — which is clearly a lengthy list — this 27th Pixar feature trickles from a lesser stream. That the flick's four different types of elements are thinly sketched out and lean on simplistic cliches dampens its impact, too, all uncharacteristic moves for the usually deeply thoughtful Mouse House outfit, and never more glaring than with the Lumens. With the director also receiving a story credit, there's again no faulting Sohn and his scribes' intentions in exploring societal inequality, decrying racism, and conveying a statement about inclusion and diversity at viewers young and old. Still, the film is at its most shimmering emotionally and narratively when it gets specific rather than broad. The more kindling that it adds to Ember, the stronger it beams. The more that it relies upon its familiar tropes and plot components, the more it recedes. Two parts of Elemental are perennially buoyant, however: the imagery and voice cast. Fire isn't easy to animate, let alone fire beings, but Ember is especially dazzling. She's always blazing, but those flames can grow and fade based on mood, be doused completely by water, get radiant in the dark and change hues depending on her surroundings — and, as a result, she's an expressive marvel. Also stunning: the world of Element City that's conjured up around her, as tinted with a dreamy palette and watercolour look, which its leads walk and talk through like they're in one of the Before movies. As they chat and swoon, and in general, Lewis matches her character's fire. Athie makes a suitably cruisy Wade, while Catherine O'Hara (Schitt's Creek) is an unsurprising delight as his mum Brook. And yet, Elemental also feels like Pixar is taking its titular term to heart in the worst way, making for rudimentary rather than particularly ravishing or resonant viewing.
If your ideal winter involves sipping warmed-up wine and getting cheesy in the tastiest possible way, then it probably also includes pretending that you're somewhere far frostier than Brisbane. Both are easy on King Street this June and July, with the Bowen Hills precinct serving up wintry dishes and taking its cues from the French Alps. All that's left is to dress as cosily as the River City's weather calls for at any given moment. This two-month-long excuse to embrace the season has been dubbed Après Ski — what else? — and it's all about bites and sips to suit the occasion. Head to King Street Bakery for a croque monsieur, then hit Il Verde for some mulled wine. There's also pork wonton noodle soup at Fat Dumpling and jalapeño cheese bites at Xin Chao. The menu features gravy-slathered black angus steaks at Winghaus as well, plus lamb ragu stirred through gnocchi at Kuhl-Cher. Whatever you decide to tuck into, and wherever, expect to find fur cushions and warm blankets to really lean into the European skiing-holiday vibes.
In 2023, Thursday, June 22 marks an important occasion: winter solstice, or the day with the shortest span of daylight and longest stretch of night for the current 12-month period. Since ancient times, it has been a time of celebration — and that's what Northey Street City Farm does each and every year. Hosting this stint of revelry on a Thursday wouldn't be much fun, though, so this year's Winter Solstice Festival will take place on Saturday, June 24. At the Windsor spot, everything from food and live music to talks and workshops is on the bill, and there's also a lantern parade and a sizeable bonfire. The leafy venue has been getting into the wintry spirit for more than 25 years now, so expect quite the party. Community fire-twirling, chats on a variety of topics, organic markets, poetry slam, building your own glow-in-the-dark coral reef and more than 60 musicians are all on offer as well. The event kicks off from 3pm, with $40 tickets on sale now. You can also purchase a pay-it-forward ticket for $25, which'll go to someone who can't afford one. And, this year's festival will also be a zero-waste affair, so bring your own reusable containers, crockery, cutlery and water bottles, as none will be given out at the food and drink stalls. Image: Northey Street City Farm.
Everyone in Brisbane has been to the Ekka on more than one occasion, but have you heard of the food and drink-focused equivalent? There mightn't be any rides, sideshows, goldfish, fireworks or flu at the Royal Queensland Food and Wine Show; however, there are plenty of tasty delights of the edible and drinkable kind, all vying to be crowned the state's finest in their respective category. Don't worry — if you're wondering why you haven't come across RQFWS before, that's because it's not open to the public. Well, not usually, anyway. Grape Grazing by Night is a delicious, alcohol-infused exception. Yes, it's all there in the name. Here, vino is in the spotlight. That's the case for one celebratory evening in the Exhibition Building at Brisbane Showgrounds — although this year's event will also showcase award-winning brews from the Royal Queensland Beer Awards for just the second time. The big boozy evening takes place on Friday, July 14, and hundreds of wines have been submitted for the judges' seal of approval. Now, they can also compete in another taste test: yep, that'd be yours, for $98 a ticket. You'll sample award-winning tipples, snack on cheese, beef, lamb and other canapés, and chat with the experts, too — all while raising your glass, or several, to the best boozy grape drinks in the country.
When Riverbar and Kitchen on Eagle Street reopened its doors in October 2022 following an eight-month closure due to Brisbane's most recent floods, things started looking brighter for the Solotel and Matt Moran co-owned venue. Expect the radiance to ramp up a few notches this winter, however, when the waterfront watering hole gives itself a temporary neon-hued revamp. There'll be entrancing lights, live performances from 7pm every Friday and Saturday night, and also glowing cocktails. When dusk hits this stretch of the Brisbane River, the bars along its banks bask in the glow of the Story Bridge, of course. But, from Friday, June 23–Sunday, June 30, Riverbar's Nightfall & Neon will give the River City's famous structure a run for its luminous money. Live tunes will also provide a soundtrack as Oscar Production Company's talents bust out their best — and the venue's bartenders freshen your drinks. Entertainment-wise, there'll be neon hula hoopers, mirrored men and fluoro feathered dancers — and that's just the beginning. The lineup will rotate across the six-week season, so you'll never know what might greet you in advance. On the menu: lit-up sips, such as the Light Me Up Gin & Tonic, Electric Dream (made with Bombay Sapphire, blue curaçao, lemon, sugar and soda), Pretty in Purple (Bombay Bramble, lemon juice, sugar and soda), Citrus Moonrise (Bombay Citron Pressè, lemon, sugar and soda) and Parlez Vous Francais (Bombay Premier Cru Murcian Lemon Gin, fresh lemon juice, Leftbank Brut and sugar syrup). The food range will be all about warming bites, too, including pizzas.
Add another date into your doggo's diary — the NewBARKet Markets are upon us for another year. On Saturday, July 22, Newmarket Village is going to the dogs again, but in a good way, with the adorable event taking over the inner north shopping centre. Take your pupper along from 11am–3pm, with plenty of treats and pats on offer. Fingers crossed that your cute canine can hit up the bone bar again — in previous years, it has given out free bones to all good woofers (while stocks last). The main attraction, as the name makes plain, is stalls selling all kinds of goodies for your four-legged friend. Expect dog food, accessories, threads and grooming, and usually dog desserts as well — dog ice cream and pupcakes have also been on offer in past years. For attendees of the two-legged variety (no, your clever canine standing on their two back legs doesn't count), there'll also be food for humans. And if you're sadly lacking in the pooch department, don't worry — everyone else will have you covered, so you'll be in for a top day of dog-watching.
It calls itself a "micro mezcal mecca". It's small, adores agave spirits, and prides itself on being one of the best places in Sydney for a margarita (and for a drink in general). And, it's coming to Brisbane for one night only: Cantina OK!, that is, for a pop-up at Fortitude Valley's Savile Row that'll not only bring the former's top-notch cocktails north, but also raise money for a great cause. If you're wondering why Cantina OK! is considered such a standout watering hole, that's partly because the pint-sized bar's tequila and mezcal collection is that extensive, and also packed with both rare and wild varieties. The venue keeps earning worldwide acclaim, becoming a World's 50 Best Bars list mainstay since opening. In 2023, it came in at 41st, as one of only two Aussie venues on the list. Cantina OK! also placed 23rd in 2021 and 28th in 2020. [caption id="attachment_714476" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kimberley Low[/caption] So, behind Savile Row's orange door and beneath its eye-catching chandelier, that's what's in store for Brisbanites from 7pm on Monday, August 14. With Cantina OK!'s Creative Director Storm Evans and Group Manager Ryan Bickley in attendance, the Ann Street bar will pour a trio of cocktails from its Sydney guest: a margarita made with mezcal and orange oil; a sour with salted peanut and banana meringue; and the Nevada OK!, which features lime leaf, Thai basil, watermelon and jelly. All three will hero Los Arcos Tequila. The good cause mentioned above isn't just letting Brissie agave fiends sip Cantina OK!'s drinks. The evening will also raise money to help boost the quality of life in rural Mexico via charity S.A.C.R.E.D. Cantina OK! will whip out its seltzers, too, thanks to Seltzer OK!. The bar's own line of sparkling margaritas in a bottle, its sips come in regular and passionfruit flavours.
It's a shopper's dream: walk into a store, browse the racks, and then nab a highly discounted bargain. Trust those vintage fiends at Vinnies to put the idea into practice, and to keep raising money for charity in the process. The Vinnies Feel Good Finds: 50 Percent-Off Sale is exactly what it sounds like. Expect the usual array of clothing, accessories and other items to grace their racks, not that there's anything usual about trawling for secondhand treasure. Not knowing what you'll find is all part of the experience — but, this time, you're paying much less than what you'd normally pay. The sale runs from Thursday, June 1–Saturday, June 3 at Vinnies stores across Queensland, with the full list of sites — which includes Fortitude Valley, Newstead, Paddington, West End, Annerley, Coorparoo, Stones Corner, Wilston, Cannon Hill, Corinda and Kenmore shops — available on the organisation's website. As well as boosting your wardrobe, you'll be helping a good cause — so, this shopping spree is a win-win situation.
There's rarely a still moment in BlackBerry. Someone is almost always moving, usually in a hurry and while trying to make their dreams come true everywhere and anywhere. Those folks: Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel, FUBAR) and Douglas Fregin (Matt Johnson, Anne at 13,000 Ft), who created the game-changing smartphone that shares this movie's name; also Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), the executive they pitch to, get knocked back by, then hire as co-CEO. That near non-stop go-go-go look and feel — cinematography that's constantly roving and zooming to match, too — isn't just a stylistic, screenwriting or performance choice. It's a case of art imitating the impact that the BlackBerry handsets and their tiny QWERTY keyboards had on late-90s and early-00s life. Before the iPhone and its fellow touchscreen competitors took over, it was the key device for anyone with a work mobile. The big selling point? Letting people do their jobs — well, receive and send emails — on the move, and everywhere and anywhere. Should you blame Research in Motion, the Canadian technology company that Lazaridis and Fregin founded, for shattering work-life balance? Dubbed "crackberries", their phones played a significant part in extending the office's reach. Is anyone being inundated with after-hours emails on a BlackBerry today? Unless they have an old handset in their button-pressing hands, it isn't likely — and BlackBerry the film explains why. Spinning on-screen product origin stories is one of 2023's favourites trend, as Tetris, Air and Flamin' Hot have demonstrated; however, history already dictates that the latest addition to that group doesn't have a happy ending. Instead, this immersive and gripping picture tells of two friends with big plans who achieved everything they ever wanted, but at a cost that saw the BlackBerry become everything, then nothing. Like its fellow object-to-screen flicks, it follows a big leap that went soaring; this one just crashed spectacularly afterwards. "A pager, a cell phone and an e-mail machine all in one": that's how Mike and Doug explain the PocketLink, the idea that'll turn into the BlackBerry, when they're trying to drum up investors. It's a winning concept, including in 1996 when the film kicks off, but these two pals know computers, coding and tech better than getting their creation out into the world. Balsillie, after rejecting them in a job he's feeling undervalued in, approaches the pair with an offer to assist. Give him a title, authority and a stake in the company, and he'll put in his own cash, become their business saviour and get their phone out into the world. And he does. BlackBerry devices were everywhere in the 2000s. Then Steve Jobs launched the handset that's become ubiquitous since, RIM responded, and the aftermath is well-known in everyone's pockets. There's a cautionary-tale air to this quickly compelling third feature from Johnson, who doesn't just slip into Doug's shoes while rocking an ever-present red headband — he directs and writes, as he did with The Dirties and Operation Avalanche, co-scripting here with Matthew Miller (Nirvanna the Band the Show, another Johnson-starring and -helmed project). BlackBerry isn't content to merely chart an upswing and downfall, plus a trouncing by a corporate adversary, digging into the perils of at-any-cost perspectives in every frame. Always as glaringly evident as a BlackBerry's buttons: if RIM hadn't made short-sighted choices and shady deals, cut corners, and played everything fast and loose while splashing around cash, the film mightn't wrap up as it does irrespective of the iPhone's success. Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs inspired dramas (see: The Social Network, Jobs and Steve Jobs), but Lazaridis, Fregin and Balsillie have sparked a tragedy meets farce. Stepping through IRL events that concluded badly, famously so, doesn't stop Johnson from staying playful as a filmmaker. Indeed, BlackBerry is firmly a satire. Non-fiction book Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry by journalists Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff provides the movie's starting-off point, the overall rise-and-fall arc sticks to the facts, and the era-appropriate aesthetic and pop-culture references — including The Strokes, Moby and The White Stripes needle drops; The Breakfast Club quotes; and Point Break posters — are spot on, but this flick would also go well with The Office or Office Space. The core character dynamic demands a sense of humour, pairing a smart but socially awkward couple of mates with big hopes with a ruthless and shark-like salesman. Reality demands it, too, with the film taking a "what else can you do but laugh?" approach to capitalism in action at its worst. That restless, shaky, zipping-around cinematography by Jared Raab (also The Dirties, Operation Avalanche and Nirvanna the Band the Show, plus We're All Gonna Die (Even Jay Baruchel)) captures plenty that's ridiculous and yet also never surprising. BlackBerry is an eager parody — it purposefully isn't 100-percent accurate in every single detail, and it's as offbeat in vibe as Johnson's past work — but the peppily paced picture remains affectionate about an undersung chapter of Canadian history. So, it chuckles, boggles and chronicles. It perfects the gist of RIM's journey to great heights and back to earth again so savvily that everything feels authentic (emotionally at least) and winking at once. BlackBerry makes cheeky jokes about the device's name, shows LANs and movie nights that couldn't be further away from the corporate normality, giggles when eye-watering figures are thrown at other company's employees and lets Howerton lean into the cut-throat exec type with visible relish — and always keeps clicking as a portrait of faking it till you make it, chasing a quick win over a long-term plan, tech-industry greed and hubris, and selling out over going with your gut. The cast, especially Howerton, buzz on the film's wavelength on the strongest setting possible. While he'll forever be Dennis Reynolds, as he has on the small screen across 16 seasons so far since 2005, he's also a powerhouse as the relentlessly calculating, hockey-loving, take-no-prisoners figure who knows that he's a predator — and he's equally and astutely hilarious. Sporting a shock of greying hair even while playing a thirtysomething, Baruchel is similarly excellent, and subtler. BlackBerry isn't chortling at Balsillie, or at Lazaridis and Fregin, though. Rather, it's amused by the fact that each does exactly what they were always bound to based on their personalities, taking RIM's tale down the only path they probably could with this trio thrust together at the helm. Blackberry phones were once a character-defining status symbol; this can't-look-away movie is three fascinating character studies inside a comedic corporate horror show.
When Winnie-the-Pooh moseyed into a slasher movie in Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, the film endeavoured to prove that there's room in the pop-culture honeypot for multiple takes on AA Milne's beloved bear. More horror flicks are coming, because of course they are. But, embracing the usually cuddly figure's sweet and innocent side, so is a supremely nostalgic, family-friendly stage musical from Disney. Winnie the Pooh: The New Stage Adaptation debuted back in 2021 Off-Broadway, then took the Hundred Acre Wood and its famous felt residents to Chicago, back to New York, on a tour of the US and to London. The next stop on the Mouse House-created show's itinerary: Australia, including Brisbane Powerhouse from Wednesday, July 12–Sunday, July 16. Hailing from American Australian producer, writer and director Jonathan Rockefeller, Winnie the Pooh: The New Stage Adaptation brings Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Owl and Tigger to life with puppets — life-sized versions, which look as cuddly and fuzzy as anthropomorphic stuffed toys should. Also joining them is Christopher Robin, in a production that brings together a heap of songs from past Winnie-the-Pooh movies. Again, this is a firmly all-ages affair, so expect plenty of young Winnie-the-Pooh devotees in attendance.
When it premiered at Brisbane Festival 2022, Fourteen gave the fest one of its regular big stage premieres with local relevance (see also: Boy Swallows Universe in 2021 and Love Stories when 2024's event rolls around). Missed it the first time? Keen to see it again? The production is also making a comeback this year from Wednesday, June 6–Saturday, July 7. Once again, Shannon Molloy's memoir heads to QPAC, bringing the journalist's time as a queer teenager at an all-boys Catholic school in regional Queensland to the theatre. The play is returning to the Cremorne Theatre, too, still exploring growing up gay in the centre of the Sunshine State in the process — and Brisbane-raised actor Conor Leach (Sequin in a Blue Room) is still starring as the onstage version of Shannon. Even if you haven't lived the same experience, you can likely imagine it. The year is 1999. Rugby is an obsession. And coming out would change Shannon's high-school years forever. Given the time that it's set, Fourteen features everything from Shania Twain and the Spice Girls to S Club 7 on its soundtrack. A 90s-era coming-of-age tale wouldn't be complete without them. Molloy's memoir comes to the stage courtesy of Shake & Stir Theatre Co, continuing an impressive run of page-to-stage adaptations alongside past versions of Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Dracula and Jane Eyre. Images: David Fell.
The year was 1992. Aladdin, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Batman Returns, Lethal Weapon 3 and A Few Good Men ruled the international box office. Slipping into a habit and sliding in next on the list, becoming the sixth-biggest hit of the year: Sister Act. The film about singing nuns spawned a sequel, with word of a third movie floating around for years since — and, as everything from Mean Girls and Muriel's Wedding to Groundhog Day and Beetlejuice has also done, it inspired a stage musical as well. The theatre take on the Whoopi Goldberg (The Color Purple)-led film franchise debuted in California in 2006, then hit West End in 2009 and Broadway in 2011. Now, it's finally Australia's turn — including in Brisbane. After seasons in Sydney and Melbourne, Sister Act has locked in a stint at QPAC's Lyric Theatre in the River City from Saturday, February 8, 2025. The first movie was filled with songs like 'Rescue Me', 'My Guy' and 'I Will Follow Him', ensuring that its soundtrack was a smash, too, so the film was always primed to tread the boards. The Sister Act musical features original tunes, with Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid) doing the honours. Among the show's rewards so far: five Tony Award nominations and six Olivier Award nominations.Story-wise, the production follows Deloris, who witnesses a murder and has to go into protective custody. Her hideout: a convent. It's there that the nightclub singer finds a struggling choir, which she begins to help. For the Australian run, Casey Donovan (& Juliet) is leading the cast, while Genevieve Lemon (Billy Elliot) co-stars as Mother Superior. Images: Daniel Boud.
No matter what he's singing, or whether he's crooning tunes as Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane or The Thin White Duke, David Bowie has always been a talent like no other. That isn't just confined to his time behind the microphone, though. On-screen just like onstage, Bowie has always been inimitable, unique and iconic — and he has the filmography to show it. Only two years back, a fantastic new documentary arrived about that very fact, actually — and Brett Morgen's Moonage Daydream is indeed part of the Gallery of Modern Art's new The Cracked Actor: Bowie on Screen film season. But that's just one of the program's delights, alongside a wide array of blasts from the legend's past that deserve to be seen on a big screen (with some showing on rare 35mm prints). From Saturday, August 17–Saturday, October 5, playing each Saturday and on most Wednesday evenings, Brisbanites can discover why Bowie couldn't have been better cast in The Man Who Fell to Earth (the movie, not the recent TV series sequel). And, you can dance, magic dance along with Labyrinth, aka the 80s gem to end all 80s gems, plus one of the most wonderful things that Jim Henson has ever made. Also on the bill: Bowie sinking his teeth into vampire territory in 1983's The Hunger, playing a centuries-old bloodsucker with effortless cool; Bowie heading to World War II with Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence; Bowie teaming up with Martin Scorsese for The Last Temptation of Christ; and Bowie entering a place both wonderful and strange in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. The program takes its name from 1975's documentary Cracked Actor, but features everything from The Prestige and Basquiat to Absolute Beginners and The Linguini Incident as well. Catch short film The Image and you'll see Bowie's first-ever on-screen role. And for a killer double feature, Moonage Daydream is followed by concert film Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars on Saturday, August 31.
Anything a human can do, a dog can do too — at least according to every single canine that's become someone's best friend. If you have a pet pooch, you know the drill. Wherever you go, they want to go. Wherever you sit, they want to sit. Whatever you eat, they want to eat as well. Sadly for your four-legged bestie, that mindset doesn't always pay off — but throughout August at The Prince Consort in Fortitude Valley, it's Pawgust time. The Wickham Street pub is dedicating the entire month to pairing pints with pooches. The beers are for you, obviously, not your barking companion. A heap of special events are on the agenda, including Paws and Pints sessions every Sunday, a pooch pub crawl from 11am on Sunday, August 25 and a Puppies and Comedy gig from 11am on Saturday, August 31. Also on offer: gourmet hot dogs, plus fundraising for the Animal Welfare League Queensland. Indeed, $1 from each of those special hot dogs will go to the AWLQ.
2024 marks ten years since La Macelleria set up shop in Brisbane, gifting the city's residents with an array of inventive gelato and sorbet flavours. Over that period, it has taught ice cream lovers how to make their own, served up all-you-can-eat sweet treats and expanded its footprint by adding more than a few new shops — and, as it likes to whenever it's birthday time, now it's throwing a big Italian fiesta on Sunday, August 11 to celebrate. For its latest huge milestone, La Macelleria will spend a day doing what it does best, but also doing more than that. Gelato will be on the menu, obviously. Also, it's whipping up gelato cocktails, with free sips on offer if you buy a pizza from Scugnizzi, which will be onsite with Roman-style slices for the occasion. The merriment runs from 12pm, which is when Scugnizzi will serve lunch, finishing at 2pm. If you're keen on pizza for dinner — and those gelato cocktails — that's available from 5–7pm. Also on the agenda: Casa Motta stretching mozzarella and burrata live, plus balloon art for kids, as well as supporting one of Brisbane's dessert havens.
Star Wars Christmas is here for 2024, and may the force be with you on May the fourth. If you're looking for a way to celebrate beyond viewing the many, many movies and TV shows in the space saga, and you're also fond of dancing like no one in the galaxy is watching, May the 4th — Star Wars Rave is your port of call. The cantina to head to in Brisbane: Wonderland, with the party kicking off at 7pm. On the right date to commemorate the huge sci-fi franchise on the dance floor, you'll get free glow sticks and lollipops as part of your entry fee — and you'll be able to drink Skywalker Spritzes, Jedi Juice and Darth Drank. This Saturday-night shindig follows in the stormtrooper boot-wearing footsteps of Shrek and Hello Kitty raves, because every pop culture favourite can be an excuse to make shapes in an adoring crowd if you want it to be. Dressing up is encouraged, obviously. Are jedi robes comfortable to dance in? Here's your chance to find out. The best outfit on the night will win a $100 voucher.
Not content with terrifying southeast Queenslanders with their unsettling shipping container installations just once, the folks at Realscape Productions keep bringing back their disquieting Darkfield experiences again and again. The next chance to set your nerves on edge? HOTA, Home of the Arts on the Gold Coast, and in the lead up to Halloween. The event inducing chills? Well, the fact that it's called Flight says plenty. This immersive favourite involves stepping inside a 40-foot steel box, sitting in pitch darkness and listening to a particularly heightened soundscape while the production plays with your sense of reality. For those who aren't fond of flying or don't cope well with the possibility of things going awry in the air, you might want to stay away. If your stomach can handle all of the above, step onboard. You won't actually be jetting anywhere, of course; however you will be strapping yourself into a section of a real commercial airliner, then pondering the many possible outcomes if the cabin suddenly happened to lose pressure. Created by Glen Neath and David Rosenberg, Flight draws upon the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics while taking attendees on a multi-sensory journey. If you're keen, Flight's latest run spans Thursday, September 7–Sunday, October 1 at the Surfers Paradise venue. Buckle up, and prepare to have your head completely messed with — unless you're claustrophobic, pregnant, or suffer heart or back conditions, in which case you'll have to firmly stay on the ground. So fare, more than 88,000 people have gone on the Flight journey — so expect to have company as well. Images: Mihaela Bodlovic / Realscape Productions.
On any given Saturday morning across Brisbane, plenty of pooches can be found descending upon the city's markets. Come 6am–12pm on Saturday, October 14 in Carseldine, dog lovers and their furry four-legged BFFs will be doing what they usually do — with the added bonus of attending the northside spot's returning Barktoberfest. What do cute canines have to do with celebrating this time of year? Nothing, but don't let that get in the way of a dapper doggo-friendly morning out. As well as the usual food and fresh produce, an array of pet-related stalls will ramp up the fun to barking great levels. There'll also be a pupper fashion parade and a pawparazzi photo contest — to determine just which canine cutie friend is the most adorable. Also on the lineup this year is canine cool-down station with pools. It is getting warm again, after all, and we're betting that your pupper also feels the heat. Dog-focused demonstrations, pupper prizes — they're all on offer, too. Entry is free, and live entertainment is part of the 200-plus-stall market as well.
Musical theatre fans just keep getting more reasons to celebrate Jonathan Larson. In the past few years, none other than Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda took one of the composer, lyricist and playwright's works and turned it into a movie. After tick, tick…BOOM! hit screens, a stage production toured Australia as well. Next, Aussie audiences can catch the show that made him an icon: Rent. In 2024, it too will do the rounds Down Under, kicking off in Brisbane. Larson created and composed the smash-hit production. Also, his Rent journey comes with quite the heartbreaking behind-the-scenes story. In the 90s, Larson passed away at the age of 35 on the day that that now-huge show premiered its first off-Broadway preview performance. So, he didn't get to see the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning phenomenon that it would become. Plenty of other people have — when it first hit Broadway, Rent ran for 12 years, making it one of the famed theatre district's longest-running shows. And among those prizes is the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer for Drama, all for a tale about seizing the moment, facing adversity and finding one's community. Loosely based on Puccini's La Boheme, and written to include real-life locations and events, the rock musical will bring tunes including 'Seasons of Love', 'Take Me or Leave Me' and 'La Vie Bohème' to the QPAC Playhouse from Saturday, January 27–Sunday, February 11. If you need a refresher on the story — or you're coming to Rent for the first time, having missed past performances and the 2005 film version — then prepare to step back to New York in 1991. Over the course of the year, as their neighbourhood is being gentrified and HIV/AIDS casts a shadow, a group of friends chase their dreams and strive for their place in the world. Images: Pia Johnson Photography.
Fish Lane's Town Square is putting its patch of pavement to good use, with markets now popping up in the South Brisbane spot. While bars and eateries line the laneway, and festivals have taken it over as well, Fish Lane has only hosted its own stalls for three years now — and given you a reason to head by to browse and buy locally made art, ceramics and other goods. In 2023, that also includes the return of Fish Lane's Christmas markets. Running from 9am–1pm on Saturday, December 16, it'll span a heap of stalls filled with everything from fashion, plants, art and jewellery to natural skincare and accessories for your dog. In fact, the road between Hope and Grey streets will be closed down for the day to accommodate the market — and you can obviously bring your four-legged friend with you as you browse. Food-wise, Fish Lane's existing cafes and eateries will keep you feed and caffeinated while you shop.
There's no shortage of ways to celebrate Halloween, whether scary movies, eerie art, a trick-or-treating stint, playing with Lego or themed mini golf is your thing. Here's a particularly tasty one: getting dressed up in costume and scoring a free Krispy Kreme doughnut. The chain is known for giving away its round treats, including handing out 100,000 of them each National Doughnut Day. For Tuesday, October 31, it isn't locking in an exact number of doughnuts that'll be on offer — but it will give one to everyone who turns up to a Krispy Kreme store dressed for the occasion. If that isn't an excuse to don your spookiest outfit, then what is? To snag yourself a signature glazed freebie, head to your closest Krispy Kreme store in Queensland — there's eight different doughnut shops to pick from, with the most central in Albert Street in the Brisbane CBD — on Tuesday, October 31 while wearing a Halloween-appropriate costume. You'll receive one original glazed doughnut per person, and you don't have to buy anything else to nab the treat without paying a cent. Of course, Krispy Kreme is hoping that you will be possessed by the Halloween vibe while you're in-store — or beforehand — and treat yourself to something from its themed range. On offer until Tuesday, October 31: four different varieties.
Not quite certain what to get your loved ones for Christmas this year? Then you clearly haven't spent enough time at a festive market. It's virtually impossible to browse your way through hundreds of stalls and come up empty-handed — in fact, that'd take more effort than picking gifts for your nearest and dearest. Your next place to put the above theory to the test: the Nundah Christmas Twilight Markets, which take place from 4–10pm on Saturday, December 2. Yes, there really will be quite the lineup of places to grab handmade presents, including clothes, jewellery, art, homewares, soap, candles and all things edible. You'll find both gourmet foods and festive treats on offer as well (including bites to eat while you're there). For your $3 entry fee, you can enjoy a stint of shopping under the site's fairy lights at Nundah Markets' usual spot on Station Street. And, you can stop in at the North Pole-themed bar, too. Decorations will be decking the walls with more than boughs of holly, and live music is also on the agenda.
At the beginning of 2024, Woolloongabba's South City Square promised to spend some of its Friday nights this year hosting market-fuelled food festivals — and the inner-east precinct keeps delivering. First came a Latin Fiesta Pop-Up, and then a Vegan/Vego Laneway Fest. Next, it's time for an Asian Hawker Feast. On Friday, June 14, heading to the Logan Road spot after work means eating dishes from a selection of Brisbane's Asian food stalls while listening to live tunes. From 4–8.30pm, everyone from Uncle Hugh's Korean and Yum Yum East Tibetan to Little Mamak and Yakitori Kiku Charcoal Grill will be onsite, plus Yummy Nami, Chef 365, Yu Fang and Get Loaded Roti as well. Alongside music for a soundtrack, there'll be a rice paper Chinese art activity to extend the fun beyond everything that's tempting your tastebuds. And if you do need more culinary options, Little Red Dumpling, Hane Sushi and Uncle Don are among the permanent South City Square eateries that are already perfect for the event. Entry is free, as is onsite parking for five hours — and if you're wondering what else is to come in South City Square's monthly series, look out for a European Food Trail in the future.
Almost glowing in hue and tasting like sunshine in a liqueur, limoncello is one of Italy's many culinary gifts to the world. It's also a drink to while away an afternoon with. Fancy spending a spring Sunday in Brisbane sipping, eating Italian snacks and enjoying a DJ-spun soundtrack? Make a date with Allonda. On Sunday, November 19, the Newstead restaurant is throwing a laneway party to mark the arrival of limoncello in a can. The shindig itself is the first piece of good news — and if you like grab-and-go convenience or the potential for a refund for recycling, or you're just a general fan of drinks in tins, you'll clearly have another reason to celebrate. Running from 12–5pm and costing $95.55 to attend, this cruisy way to spend a Sunday afternoon includes a zesty limoncello upon arrival as part of your ticket, plus a food menu curated by Head Chef Sam Todd. If you're keen for more beverages, you can then hit up the cash bar. Canapé-style cacio e pepe will be among the culinary options, while the drinks hail from Solbevi, which is launching its new 250-millilitre tins Down Under — ready for citrusy summer sips. Don't expect too much company, either, with tickets limited to 75 people.
It's the studio that's given Brisbanites the gift of puppy pilates and kitten yoga over the years; however, with Stretch Yoga's community classes, it's sharing its bending and stretching for free. On Saturday afternoons from 3–4pm throughout January and February in Holland Park, sessions won't cost you a cent. How's that for getting your 2024 fitness resolutions started? You'll benefit from a class without challenging your budget, which is perfect if you're a newcomer keen to finally try yoga, or you're just feeling a little less financial. And Stretch Yoga's graduate instructors will benefit, as they'll be teaching the classes as they approach their 350-hour teacher training certification. Beginners are welcome — in fact, they're encouraged — with the sessions taking you through vinyasa-style yoga. And gathering the gang to bring along with you is encouraged as well. That said, places are limited, so bookings online are essential, even though this won't cost you a thing. Top image: Stretch Yoga.
Enjoying a Cantonese meal with cracking river views at Stanley, the Howard Smith Wharves restaurant that pairs the two in fine style, is an all-year-round treat. That said, stopping by to celebrate Lunar New Year is obviously a must. And, to mark the Year of the Dragon, Head Chef Louis Tikram is adding special dishes to the menu. The sample menu includes mixed seafood and black truffle dumplings, garlic butter mud crab, five-spice roast duck with blood plum sauce, and southern rock lobster steamed with white soy, ginger and shallots. Whatever ends up on offer, your tastebuds won't be disappointed based on how delicious Stanley's regular spread always proves. LNY specials such as grilled baby abalone, XO pipis with crispy noodles, and truffle and spanner crab egg fried rice with caviar will be available alongside the usual a la carte and banquet offerings, too, so you can enjoy the best of both worlds. You'll need to make a date between Friday, February 9–Tuesday, February 13, with seatings for lunch and dinner. At 6.30pm and 8.30pm each evening on the Friday and Saturday, there'll also be lion dances.
What does it take to amuse a city? How many funny folks need to hit the stage, showcasing an array of different jokes, formats and comedic styles? By the numbers, 2025's Brisbane Comedy Festival is set to host over 135 acts, getting the Queensland capital giggling and chuckling at four venues across five weeks. When you're not laughing along with Rhys Darby, Ross Noble, Nazeem Hussain, Melanie Bracewell and Sh!t-faced Shakespeare doing A Midsummer Night's Dream, you'll be enjoying the comic efforts of Sara Pascoe, Tom Allen, Matt Okine, Janty Blair, Guy Montgomery and Shrek burlesque parody Shreklesque. The event's 16th edition is on the calendar for Wednesday, April 23–Sunday, May 25, with attendees heading to Brisbane Powerhouse, The Tivoli, Fortitude Music Hall and The Princess Theatre. There, you'll catch Danny Bhoy, Mark Watson, Elf Lyons, Andrew Hansen, Adam Kay, Claire Hooper, Joel Creasey and Zoë Combs Marr, too, and also Jimeoin, Ray O'Leary, Luke Heggie, Becky Lucas, Bron Lewis, Chris Parker, Guy Williams, Laurence Mooney and Schalk Bezuidenhout. Brisbane Comedy Festival is filled with impressive names — and also galas and all-star celebrations teeming with them, such as the annual Brisbane Comedy Festival Opening Gala, the Aboriginal Comedy Allstars and the Best of the Edinburgh Fest. For fans of late-night laughs and free after-work shows, BCF's popular After Hours and Knockoff sessions are also back. But stand-up isn't the only type of amusement on offer. A comedy troupe giving one of the Bard's great works a go while one member of the group is completely sloshed is just the start there, as is getting saucy with Shrek as well, joined by improvised whodunnits, a dog-friendly screening of Best in Show and a cabaret paying tribute to Kate Bush. Fancy a comedy show that's also a wine-tasting session? The return of Wankernomics? Brisbane's LGBTQIA+ improvisers making Thank God You're Queer a must-see? A performance of every Penguin Classic novel ever written, all in an hour? They're just some of the other highlights on the bill. Updated Thursday, April 10, 2025.
Next time that you slurp down some oysters, you needn't solely opt for natural molluscs served with lemon and Tabasco. There's nothing wrong with that old favourite; however, it has company among the oyster dishes at One Fish Two Fish's returning Oyster Frenzy. Between Wednesday, January 22–Sunday, January 26 the Kangaroo Point eatery is serving up 2025's six-course oyster feast, taking seafood lovers through six different flavours. Start with the tried, tested and aforementioned combination, then move onto oysters with apple, cucumber and dill; served with tarragon butter gratin; and paired with native pepper berry and oak-aged chardonnay mignonette You'll also be snacking on a cheesy barbecue mornay variety, plus oysters with limoncello, macerated lemon and caviar. A sitting will cost you $95 per person. Because oysters are always popular, bookings are essential — with Oyster Frenzy running at 6.30pm Wednesday–Friday for dinner, plus 12.30pm for lunch Friday–Sunday.
Brisbanites love a market — especially one that specialises in top-notch pre-loved clothing. There's nothing like finding a quality item at a clothing market. There's the thrill of searching through the racks to stumble upon the piece, plus shopping secondhand and upcycled clothing is more sustainable than buying your clothes new. If this all sounds entirely relatable to you and you're doing your festive shopping, head to the Second Life Markets when it hits Brisbane for Christmas on Saturday, December 14–Sunday, December 15 2024. Taking place at Superordinary — and expanding across two days — the event will host pop-up stores boasting vintage, secondhand and upcycled clothing. The stalls will span all ranges of clothing, including masculine, feminine and unisex pieces. There's your gifts covered, whether you're buying for someone else or yourself. The Second Life Markets run successful quarterly events across Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, London and, of course, Brisbane. The seasonal events bring together local sellers and independent designers, as well as a heavy dose of good vibes. Brisbane's Christmas market will run from 11am–4pm on both days. Entry varies from free to $30 depending on what time you'd like to head by (the later, the cheaper) and if you're keen to hit up both days. In the sustainable spirit of the market, it's asked that you bring your own reusable shopping bag(s) with you. There'll also tunes and snacks options onsite, because shopping is hungry work.
The Terrace at Emporium is an impressive spot for a drink every day of the year. Being perched 21 storeys above South Bank will do that. Come Easter, it doesn't need to do much to get its patrons in a sweet mood, then — but the sky-high venue is pouring themed cocktails anyway through until Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Two seasonal tipples are on offer for those who like their Easter spirit with some actual spirits. The first is a banoffee cocktail made with spiced rum, caramelised banana, coffee caramel, chocolate and meringue, and will set you back $24. Also available: a $26 drink called the Sunny Side that's made with vanilla vodka and lime zest oleo, and features a mango yolk that looks incredibly realistic. Whether you're doing your Easter celebrating over lunch or after work — or before, during or shortly after the occasion itself — the cocktails are available every day of the week.
First, there was the Weekend of Darkness. Then came the Weekend of Tartness — aka the sister festival The Scratch just had to have. Where the former has celebrated ales, porters, stouts and other tipples at the dark end of the spectrum since 2013, the latter cartwheels to the opposite end of the extreme spectrum of beer styles. If it is tart and tangy, it is likely to be on the menu. Between Friday, February 21–Sunday, February 23 in 2025, beers from more than two dozen breweries will take over the taps of the Milton hangout — tipples of the funkiest, sourest, most refreshing beers being produced in Australia and around the world. It might sound like a gimmick, but these biting brews have been around longer than you might think. In fact, historically, all beers used to be sour. Drinking is only part of the fun, whenever the need for a sour brew hits over the five unique sessions across the three days. As for what you'll be knocking back, breweries that usually take part include Queensland's own Black Hops, Felons, Newstead, Range and Sea Legs, plus Garage Project, Puhaste, Tiny Rebel, Wildflower, Fairweather, Cascade, Batch and Blood Brothers from elsewhere.
It wasn't all that long ago that chocolate Easter eggs came in two types: small and solid, plus larger and hollow. Sure, there were also an array of different flavours available in each, but Easter eggs weren't also Frankenstein's monster-style desserts filled with other desserts. We bet that your tastebuds are happy that things have changed. Here's one 2024 sweet treat that you should be supremely thankful for, and hankering to try. Tiramisu-filled Easter eggs are exactly what they sound like, and they're on offer at Massimo Restaurant and Bar for five days from Thursday, March 28–Monday, April 1. No matter what else you order — burrata with warm truffle honey to start, then chargrilled octopus with beetroot pesto and sand crab cavatelli, perhaps — a trip to this Amalfi-inspired Italian restaurant by the river over Easter can involve tucking into a decadent treat. The Tiramisu-filled Easter eggs cost $26 each, measure 13 centimetres in size and are designed to share — so bring your date/mates. Images: Markus Ravik.
Day in, day out, Pig 'N' Whistle Brunswick Street serves up beer. Every day of the week until at least 11pm, in fact. But only Saturday, January 28 will see the long-standing Fortitude Valley venue turn its love of yeasty, hoppy beverages into an afternoon-long beer festival. That fest? Beer Festival on Brunswick. Here, beer lovers can sip plenty of brews, obviously. While the full beer lineup is being revealed gradually, you can start looking forward to tipples from Gage Roads Brewing co, Last Man Standing, Newstead Brewing Co, BrewDog, Young Henrys, Balter Brewing, Sea Legs and Big Drop Brewing Co — aka some of the best breweries that Australia has to offer. Beer Festival on Brunswick kicks off at 12pm, running through till 6pm, with listening to the Triple J Hottest 100 followed by live music on the bill as well — because what's a festival without a soundtrack? Entry is free, although you'll need your wallet to buy more than a few drinks, which are available via tokens. Buy three in advance for $25, pair them with a bowl of wings for $40, or nab five for $45 or ten for $85.
Almost five decades ago, a filmmaker wanted to journey to a galaxy far, far away, and he needed a republic cruiser's worth of epic tunes to go with it. Enter John Williams and the theme everyone now knows. When the first notes of Star Wars: Episode VI — A New Hope's score started playing over the film's opening crawl, movie and music history was made. Neither Williams nor George Lucas could've known just what they'd unleashed, nor that Luke and Leia, Han and Chewie, plus the next generation of wannabe jedis and empire lackeys, would be gracing cinema screens years and years later. They also couldn't have known that the Star Wars movies, classic and recent alike, would keep hitting the big screen in a new concert format — pairing all those space-opera antics with a live orchestra playing the soundtrack. Thankfully, that's what's been happening on this very planet — alongside oh-so-many other reasons to embrace The Force, including TV shows such as Andor and The Mandalorian — and one such gig is returning to Brisbane in 2023. Get ready to revisit the first film in the franchise's third main trilogy, the seventh movie in the saga all up, and the one that brought in Daisy Ridley (Chaos Walking), John Boyega (The Woman King), Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight) and Adam Driver (White Noise) alongside a host of returning faces: Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens. We don't need to have a good feeling about what promises to be a force-filled evening of sound and vision, because it's been doing the rounds for a few years now. Still, on Saturday, April 22 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra will pick up their instruments to perform the corresponding score as The Force Awakens plays. The flick itself is already epic, and so is this experience. QSO will bust out Williams' Oscar-nominated music live across two concerts, thanks to a 1.30pm matinee and a 7.30pm evening gig.
