Overview
It's no secret that here at Concrete Playground, we love an event or two (hundred). Every single day, our fair city is buzzing with cool, classy and downright crazy happenings. Sure, the daily grind can often leave you wanting to crawl straight into bed at tools down, but that inner culture vulture of yours needs to be fed. So, we've teamed up with uberPOOL to round up the best things to do in Sydney after work tonight. Rather than heading straight home, check out a whole bunch of free art, a martini trolley or an $8 movie and have something interesting to talk about at work tomorrow. And with Uber's newest service, which allows you to share rides with people heading in the same direction as you, getting to these events has never been easier — or cheaper (see: free).
To celebrate the Australian launch, the ride-sharing service is giving you five free uberPOOL trips in select Sydney suburbs until Friday, May 11 (to be booked between 4pm and 8pm), so you can save your precious dollars for all the excellent events below. The day is still young, so figure out what you'll be doing tonight, order that uberPOOL at the closing bell and pat yourself on the back for not succumbing to the call of your usual almost-Friday Netflix and binge session.
-
6Read more Buy Tickets
Your must-see movie list just keeps growing, but your wallet doesn’t want to play ball. Call Dendy Cinemas’ latest special a case of great timing, then, with the chain offering up discount tickets that’ll solve your problem. Starting today, and as long as you purchase online, you’ll only pay $8 for your movie (or movies) of choice at Dendy Newtown or Opera Quays. With everything from Avengers: Infinity War to Unsane to Breath currently screening, there’s plenty to watch if you’re keen to spend as much time in a darkened room as possible. And if you’d like something a little more luxurious, you can also nab a Dendy Lounge ticket at Newtown — aka their version of gold class — for $20 during the same period (they’re usually $26).
Book tickets for tonight here.
-
5Read more
Sit back with a gin cocktail at Busby’s Bar in Sydney’s picturesque Royal Botanic Garden. Named after 19th-century viticulturist James Busby, the pop-up bar is situated in the garden’s historic Victoria Lodge with sprawling views across Sydney’s sparkling harbour. If the crowds at the other harbourside venues are anything to go by (hello, Opera Bar), you’ll have to get in early to nab a seat. To get there, enter through Victoria Lodge Gate via Mrs Macquaries Road.
Stop by after work for a cheeky gin in the garden and watch the sunset.
-
4Read more
In its ninth year, the Head On Photo Festival has returned to Sydney, setting up its festival hub once again in Paddington and introducing a new venue at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Running until Sunday, May 20, the festival brings over 100 exhibitions from around the world this year, showcasing 700 photographers from 22 different countries. So from now until the 20th, you could conceivably go from peeking into intimate moments of George Harrison and Eric Clapton‘s lives captured by Pattie Boyd, to running away with the circus at Queensland photographer Craig Holmes’ Of Caravans and Canvas, which depicts Australia’s longest-running family-run circus, Ashton Circus, to exploring the booming (with an annual revenue of 80 billion dollars) wedding industry in China — and all in one day.
Find out what’s on tonight here.
Image: George Harrison, Eric Clapton & Me: The Photography of Pattie Boyd. Credit: Pattie Boyd.
-
3Read more
If you love classic cocktails, you probably enjoy knowing a bit about the intriguing stories behind them. And one cocktail with a long, star-studded history is the martini. To honour the legacy of this iconic drink, Sydney cocktail bar Eau de Vie is launching a bespoke martini service — that doubles as an alcohol-fuelled history lesson. The Star of Bombay Martini Trolley combines the classic martini service — a tradition in old-school ritzy hotel bars — storytelling of the cocktail’s history and the dramatic crafting of drinks using liquid nitrogen. The four martinis from the new menu are made theatrically on the trolley in front of you and include the sweet-noted Edwardian, a twist on the hanky panky from the Savoy Hotel in 1903; a James Bond-inspired Magda Martini; and the Captain Ritz — an ode to the Ritz Paris’s famed sidecar cocktail. You’ll also have the chance to experiment with bitters, brines and garnishes to create your own personalised martini.
The Star of Bombay Martini Trolley is available tonight from 6pm to midnight. One martini is $24 and the sample board of all four is $50.
-
2Read more Buy Tickets
The Sydney Opera House has announced a new biannual performance series, UnWrapped, that features rarely seen, critically-acclaimed works by both new and established independent artists and small performing arts companies. It will take place under the sails every May and August, with the inaugural season already underway until May 13 at The Playhouse and The Studio. What’s more, the series aims to make performing arts at the Opera House from theatre to circus accessible to all, so all tickets cost just $45.
In both spaces, emerging artists will showcase alongside established artists who are boldly trying something different. In The Playhouse, Aussie artists Brian Lipson and Gideon Obarzanek star in Two Jews Walk into a Theatre…, a dry, humorous exploration of the father-son relationship that sees both performers take on new artistic territory. They’ll share the space with performances of Personal, an intimate piece by award-winning Jodee Mundy who expresses her experience growing up as the only hearing person in a deaf family. Presented in two languages, Auslan and English, the piece combines performance, storytelling, multimedia and animation. Tickets for UnWrapped cost $45 for one performance or $80 for two shows — a bang-for-your-buck deal, considering the calibre of performances to be expected.
Tonight, book into a double feature for Personal at 6.30pm and Two Jews Walk into a Theatre… at 8.30pm.
Image: Ashley de Przer.
-
1Read more
We love it when art takes over the city, and this week there seems to be art cropping up all over the city. If you’re anything like us, you’re still making your way through all the excellent works on display for the Biennale of Sydney. Perhaps Australia’s best-known contemporary art event, the 21st iteration features free exhibitions showcasing 70 leading local and international artists across seven of Sydney’s top-notch galleries, museums and unconventional spaces until Monday, June 11.
As per the first announcement, provocative Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is the headline act, which comes off the back of his 2016 double-bill exhibition alongside the works of Andy Warhol at the National Gallery of Victoria — the highest selling event in the gallery’s history. He’s installed a 60-metre-long inflatable boat on Cockatoo Island, which will be made from the same materials as the boats used by asylum seekers crossing the Aegean Sea. Meanwhile, there’s French multimedia artist Laurent Grasso, whose art considers science and the supernatural; the sculptural works of South Korean artist Haegue Yang who transforms space with found and forged objects; British artist Oliver Beer uses the human voice to take over the Opera House for his acclaimed Resonance Project; and Sydney’s own Yasmin Smith takes to Cockatoo Island to create a ceramics studio, an open-air kiln and a new installation that’s finished in a hand-made wood ash glaze.
Tonight, venture around the Biennale in your uberPOOL by following our arty itineraries from the MCA to Cockatoo Island, Haymarket to Carriageworks and the Opera House to Woolloomooloo.
Image: Letícia Almeida.