November in Melbourne: top events in your city this month
November opens with Cup week and closes with Harry Styles, and in between Robbie Williams, Iron Maiden and Barbie all turn up. There are a couple of thousand events on around Melbourne this month. These are the forty-odd we'd actually message the group chat about.
Every pick below links to its live page on Keen, with dates, prices and the ticket link. The links retire once an event is done, so if one of them tells you it's been and gone, that's the truth doing its job. For the always-current version, what's on in Melbourne is rebuilt from the catalogue nightly.
Cup week: the long weekend and the days around it
The carnival runs Derby Day on Saturday 31 October, Cup Day on Tuesday 3 November, Oaks on Thursday 5 and Stakes on Saturday 7, and the Cup itself jumps at 3pm. Cup Day is a public holiday in Melbourne, which makes the Monday the most-requested day off of the year. Everything the catalogue holds for the carnival week is on the Melbourne Cup page, rebuilt nightly. These are the picks for the days around the racing.
5 Seconds of Summer
Rod Laver Arena · Monday 2 November
The Everyone's a Star! world tour lands on the eve of a public holiday, which is the kindest scheduling an arena show gets. Sleep in on Tuesday, then go and watch the race.
Melbourne International Dumpling Festival
Queen Victoria Market · Monday 2 November Free
Dumplings from all over the world in one market, and the question of which country does them best settled the only fair way. Free to get in; the damage is done at the stalls.
Dia de Muertos: The Catrina Walk
Fed Square · Sunday 1 November Free
MexVic's free, family-friendly festival for the Day of the Dead: folk dance, food trucks and a Catrina parade through the square. Face paint strongly encouraged.
Men at Work
Palais Theatre, St Kilda · Wednesday 4 November
The day after the Cup, songs the whole country can sing from memory, at the Palais by the sea. A gentle landing for a big week.
Nocturnal: Museum After Dark
Melbourne Museum, Carlton · Thursday 5 November
The museum's grown-ups-only night lands on Oaks Day: galleries without the school groups, a DJ and a drink in hand. Built for a catch-up that doesn't want to shout over a band.
The big nights
Robbie Williams: Britpop World Tour
Marvel Stadium, Docklands · Wednesday 11 November
A stadium, a showman and a back catalogue nobody in the room will pretend not to know. The one Wednesday this month that justifies a Thursday sickie.
Iron Maiden: Run For Your Lives
AAMI Park · Friday 13 November
The metal titans play an outdoor stadium in Melbourne for the first time, fifty years into the job, with Megadeth as very special guests. Friday the 13th. They planned that.
Harry Styles: Together, Together
Marvel Stadium, Docklands · Friday 27 and Saturday 28 November
Two stadium nights to close out the month, with a third added on Wednesday 2 December for anyone who missed the first scramble. Start the group chat now; this one needs a plan.
Courtney Barnett: Creature of Habit Tour
Palais Theatre, St Kilda · Saturday 7 November
Sharp, wry, deadpan songwriting from a Melbourne favourite in a grand old theatre. If your crew splits on this one, Charlie Puth is at Rod Laver the same night.
Jack Johnson: Surfilmusic Tour
Sidney Myer Music Bowl · Tuesday 17 November
Mellow acoustic songs under the stars at the Bowl, gates at 5:30pm for a 6:30pm start. Bring a rug and the mate who still has a surf-trip playlist.
Two Door Cinema Club
John Cain Arena · Friday 20 November
Tourist History played front to back, then the hits. Indie-disco nostalgia for everyone who learned to dance badly to it.
Robyn
Rod Laver Arena · Tuesday 24 November
The Sexistential tour from a generational pop icon. Dancing On My Own in an arena full of people doing exactly the same thing.
J Cole
Rod Laver Arena · Saturday 28 November
The Fall-Off Tour hits the arena on the last Saturday of the month. A big-name hip-hop night, and the right excuse to finish November loud.
Gigs outdoors: gardens, racecourses and a park
Live at the Gardens: Six60
Royal Botanic Gardens, South Yarra · Friday 27 November
A big band on a summer evening in the gardens, fully standing with a small picnic-blanket area if you get in early. Doors at 5pm; the light does the rest.
Live at the Gardens: DMA'S
Royal Botanic Gardens, South Yarra · Saturday 28 November
The night after, same lawn, Sydney's finest Britpop-adjacent export. Standing room, singalongs, and the walk back along the river afterwards.
Red Hot Summer Tour: Australian Crawl
Mornington Racecourse · Sunday 8 November · 18+
A full Sunday of Australian classics on the Peninsula: Ella Hooper, Boom Crash Opera, Vika and Linda, Eskimo Joe, Birds of Tokyo, Men at Work and Australian Crawl closing from 8:15pm. Gates at 12:30pm. Sunscreen is not optional.
One Electric Day
Werribee Park · Saturday 21 November
Bachelor Girl, Chocolate Starfish, Baby Animals, Ian Moss, The Living End and Jimmy Barnes, in that order, from early afternoon until Barnesy finishes at 9:30pm. A day out that is also a history lesson.
Bundoora Beats
Norris Bank Parklands, Bundoora · Saturday 14 November Free
A free twilight picnic concert in the park, with Ben Lee on the bill. Food, blankets, the suburbs doing a festival properly.
Theatre and musicals
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Athenaeum Theatre, CBD · from Tuesday 17 November
Jason Donovan as McMurphy in a bold new staging, exclusive to Melbourne. Previews run from Friday 13 November if you'd rather see it before everyone has an opinion.
Mrs Doubtfire
Princess Theatre, CBD · from Wednesday 25 November
The film you know, rebuilt as a big warm West End musical with new songs and the dance numbers to match. Take the sibling you fought over the remote with.
My Fair Lady
Arts Centre Melbourne, Southbank · from Saturday 14 November
Opera Australia's lavish revival, built on the 2016 production that Julie Andrews herself directed. The dress-up night of the month, and the one your mum will want in on.
The Shark Is Broken
Athenaeum Theatre, CBD · until Sunday 8 November
Three actors stuck on a boat while the mechanical shark refuses to work: the making of Jaws as a razor-sharp comedy. Final week, so this is the nudge.
Opera and orchestras
La Bohème
Regent Theatre, CBD · from Saturday 7 November, from $79
Opera Australia does Puccini's starving-artists love story in a new staging from Constantine Costi. Bring tissues; act four gets everyone.
Brahms Festival: Spring Gala
Hamer Hall, Southbank · from Thursday 19 November
Sir Bryn Terfel opens, then the MSO's Brahms Festival peaks with his requiem, one of the most moving things ever written about grief. A heavy, beautiful night.
Opera Up Late with Reuben Kaye
Regent Theatre, CBD · Sunday 15 November, 9pm
Opera's late-night party comes to Melbourne for the first time, hosted by a cabaret star with no sense of restraint. The Regent at 9pm on a Sunday is a good sign of a week well spent.
Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan
Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne · 21 to 28 November, from $59
A new opera about the 1972 drowning of Dr George Duncan in Adelaide, the moment that pushed South Australia to decriminalise homosexuality first. Not light, but it stays with you.
Big exhibitions
Barbie: The Exhibition
Melbourne Museum, Carlton · from Saturday 28 November
The Australian debut of the design story behind the doll, 250 objects including rare early editions. Wear pink or don't; you'll be outnumbered either way.
Banksy Limitless
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Wharf · from Wednesday 25 November
An immersive walk through the imagery and ideas of the world's most famous anonymous artist. Arguing about whether he'd approve is part of the ticket price.
Lifelike
ACMI, Fed Square · from Friday 20 November
Original puppets and animatronics from the films that scared and delighted you, from Pinocchio and E.T. to Jim Henson's workshop. Nostalgia you can stand very close to.
Passage: The Art of Atong Atem
The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square · open all month Free
The first major solo show for the Melbourne artist whose vivid photographic self-portraits turn identity and diaspora into something close to myth. Free, and worth a slow lap.
Comedy and talks
Russell Peters: Live
Crown LIVE, Southbank · from Tuesday 10 November
One of the biggest stand-ups on the planet doing a run of nights at Crown. Recommended for 15 and over, which tells you roughly where the material sits.
Dan and Phil: Hard Launch World Tour
Palais Theatre, St Kilda · Monday 23 November
The internet's favourite duo on stage at the Palais. If a mate has been sending you clips for a decade, this is the night you finally get it.
An Evening with Mary Beard: Talking Classics
Hamer Hall, Southbank · Sunday 22 November
The scholar who refuses to let the ancient world stay ancient, live on stage with her new book. The rare talk that works as a Sunday night out.
TGIF! with Charlie Pickering
ABC Southbank Studios · Friday afternoons Free
Be in the studio audience while Charlie Pickering and some of the country's best comedians recap the week, live to air. A free Friday knock-off that starts before the pub does.
Festivals and free days out
Colours of Asia: Garden of Wonders
Alexandra Gardens · two weekends from Friday 13 November Free
Lantern gardens, street food from across Asia and performance by the river, across two weekends. Go after dark; that's when the lanterns earn the name.
Polish Festival
Fed Square · Sunday 15 November Free
The 22nd year of pierogi, folk dancing and a whole day of Poland in the square. Arrive hungry and leave with amber jewellery you didn't plan on.
Palestine Cultural Festival
Fed Square · Saturday 7 November Free
Ten years of dabke, music, theatre and food trucks in the heart of the city, from 4pm into the evening. The dancing will not stay on the stage.
African Music and Cultural Festival
Fed Square · Friday 20 to Sunday 22 November Free
Three free days of music, food, fashion and art, opening with an evening of African-Australian performers on the Friday. Plan for the full weekend and nobody will mind.
The Little Food Market
Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton · Friday 27 to Sunday 29 November, from $15
Over 200 food and drink producers from Australia and New Zealand under the big dome, with summer on the menu. Tasting is the whole point; lunch takes care of itself.
Late ones and the weirder stuff
Peking Duk: Paradise Album Tour
The Timber Yard, Port Melbourne · Friday 27 November · 18+
A decade of Australian dance anthems, outdoors in the yard on a Friday night. If your crew has ever lost its voice to High, this is where it happens again.
Icons Only
The Timber Yard, Port Melbourne · Saturday 21 November · 18+
Some of the biggest names in drag under one roof, Violet Chachki and two Sashas among them, on a tour of five cities. The outfits in the crowd will compete with the stage.
Live at the Gardens: Renfair Rave
Royal Botanic Gardens, South Yarra · Friday 20 November, from $90
The Renfair crowd takes over the botanic gardens with DJs, costumes and a kingdom's worth of nonsense. Deeply specific, deeply fun, and yes, people will come as dragons.
Candlelight: Tribute to Fleetwood Mac
Collingwood Town Hall, Abbotsford · from Friday 6 November, from $30
Rumours and the rest on strings, by candlelight, in a town hall. Pick a side of the room and sing the harmonies.
The part where you actually go
That's the list. The gap between reading it and standing in one of those rooms is the same as ever: someone has to pick a date and make the call.
That's the job Keen does. The quickest way in is Find a time: pick two or three dates that could work, add an idea or two from this page, and drop one link in the group chat. Everyone answers from their browser, no app and no account needed. You see which date wins, tap once, and it's a real plan with RSVPs and a chat of its own.
And once your mates are on Keen too, it starts doing the noticing for you: everyone marks the nights they're free, and when yours line up, Keen tells you, along with what's on that actually suits the crew. Cup Day is Tuesday 3 November, a public holiday in Melbourne, so the month opens with a long weekend and the group chat has no excuse.
November's forty-odd best excuses are above. Pick one, name a night, and send the message.
Start closer in. See what's on in the next few days, pick a night, send the link.
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