November in Newcastle: top events in your city this month
November is Newcastle's stadium month: the Foo Fighters play McDonald Jones Stadium for the first time on the 12th, Robbie Williams follows five days later, and on the last Saturday Suzi Quatro headlines a six-act afternoon at Speers Point Park. In between, the first Saturday of the month squeezes a craft beer festival and a street party into one day. These are the thirty 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 tells you it's been and gone, that's the truth doing its job. For the always-current version, what's on in Newcastle is rebuilt from the catalogue nightly.
Cup Day, Newcastle style
Tuesday 3 November, and the race jumps at 3pm. It's not a public holiday this side of the border, which is exactly why the long lunch was invented.
Melbourne Cup at The Beach Hotel
The Beach Hotel, Merewether · Tuesday 3 November, from 10am
Jess and Rohan from HIT 106.9 hosting, sweeps, fashions on the field and the big screen, then live music once the race is run. $63 a head and a full day of it, so clear the diary properly.
Melbourne Cup Lunch at Roundhouse
Roundhouse, Newcastle · Tuesday 3 November, midday to 3:30pm
Champagne on arrival, three courses and a three-and-a-half-hour drinks package on the rooftop. The dressy option, and the one with the view.
Melbourne Cup Day Luncheon on the harbour
Queens Wharf Terminal, Newcastle · Tuesday 3 November, 1pm to 4:30pm
Buffet lunch, the race on the big screen and three and a half hours on the water. $93, and nobody has to be the driver.
The big ones
Foo Fighters: Take Cover Tour
McDonald Jones Stadium, Broadmeadow · Thursday 12 November
Their first ever Newcastle show, a full stadium of career-spanning anthems. Fair warning: the Newcastle Herald reports it sold out, so this one is for the people who moved fast, and the resale page for everyone else.
Robbie Williams: Britpop World Tour
McDonald Jones Stadium, Broadmeadow · Tuesday 17 November, from 5pm
One of the great showmen on his first trip to the city, and the only stop on the Australian leg outside a capital. It's a Tuesday, so the Wednesday sickie is already being planned somewhere near you.
Red Hot Summer Tour: Suzi Quatro
Speers Point Park, Speers Point · Saturday 28 November, doors 12:30pm
Six acts across one long afternoon on the lake at Lake Macquarie: Choirboys, Rose Tattoo, Dragon, Baby Animals and Jon Stevens, then Suzi Quatro from 7:30pm. Bring a hat and a chair, this is a whole day.
Festivals, frocks and froth
Crafted Festival
Camp Shortland, Newcastle East · Saturday 7 November, 11am to 8:30pm
Third year on the Foreshore for the frothy one: a long list of the country's craft breweries, good food, live music and a headline band as the sun goes down.
Darby Street Festival
Darby Street, Cooks Hill · Saturday 7 November, midday to 8pm
The whole street given over to live music and performers, with the shops and bars trading late. Walk up from Crafted and keep the day going.
The Newcastle Herald Hunter Race Day
Newcastle Racecourse, Broadmeadow · Saturday 14 November, from 10:30am
The $1 million race that stops the city, ten on the card, and Hot Dub Time Machine on the lawn once racing is done. Frocks optional, sunscreen not.
City Cellar Door Newcastle East
Various venues, Newcastle East · Saturday 21 November, 1pm to 5pm
Seven Hunter Valley and Orange wineries pop up in seven East End venues for one afternoon. Wander the trail, taste as you go, and end up wherever the last pour is.
The Big Pour
Club Kotara, Kotara · Saturday 28 November, midday to 6:30pm
Craft beer, wine, spirits and live music across an afternoon at the club. Same day as Speers Point, so pick a lane and commit.
Gigs and good nights
BUNT. at The Beach Hotel
The Beach Hotel, Merewether · Friday 6 November, from 6pm
The German DJ behind Clouds, 350 million streams and a festival-circuit live show, in a beachside pub. $64, and worth getting there early.
Candlelight: Queen vs The Beatles
Adamstown Uniting Church · Friday 6 November, 8:30pm
Queen and The Beatles traded song for song under a few hundred candles, from $41. The calmer fork in the road on BUNT. night; pick a side on the way in.
Katchafire with Mike Love
King Street Band Room, Newcastle West · Saturday 7 November, 7pm
Roots reggae from across the ditch, with Hawaii's Mike Love opening on his own and the two of them sharing a new single. A Saturday night that goes down very easy.
Choirboys: Great Australian Rock N Roll Stories
Civic Theatre Newcastle, Newcastle · Saturday 7 November, 8pm
The band behind Run to Paradise telling the stories from the wild years between the songs, in a theatre seat. They're back three weeks later on the Speers Point bill if you want the loud version.
Fanny Lumsden: Fanny Has A New Album Tour
The Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield · Sunday 29 November, from 5:30pm
A new album, Traditions, played live exactly the way she and The Daddies recorded it. A Sunday evening show, so you're home at a sensible hour with a very good excuse.
On the harbour
Drag Bingo Afloat with Timberlina
Queens Wharf Terminal, Newcastle · Sunday 1 November, 11am to 2pm
Timberlina calling the numbers aboard the MV Calmer, sequins and disco hits between rounds, $40. It sails again on Sunday 22 November if the first one fills up.
The Great Gatsby Party
Queens Wharf Terminal, Newcastle · Saturday 7 November, 7pm to 10pm
Flapper dresses, live jazz and showgirls, three hours on the harbour after dark. $40, and yes, dress the part.
The Oils: Midnight Oil tribute cruise
Queens Wharf Terminal, Newcastle · Sunday 8 November, midday to 4pm
Three sets of Oz rock anthems on a Sunday afternoon on the water, and every chorus sung back at the band. $40, sunscreen advised.
A Night of Prince starring Andrew De Silva
Queens Wharf Terminal, Newcastle · Saturday 14 November, 7pm to 11pm
Andrew De Silva doing Prince out on the harbour, Purple Rain and the falsetto included. $40, four hours, and the lights of the city doing the stage design.
Stage, screen and a good talk
Richard III: Shakespeare Under the Stars
Fort Scratchley, Newcastle East · Wednesday 11 to Sunday 15 November, 8pm
Shakespeare's most infamous villain scheming for the throne, outdoors on the fort with the harbour behind him. Pack a picnic and a jumper: it's 90 minutes with no interval, and it goes ahead in light rain.
She, Her & I
Civic Theatre Newcastle, Newcastle · Thursday 12 to Saturday 21 November
A new play set in Newcastle during the hottest summer on record: three estranged sisters, the childhood home, a dying mother, and a lot of humour in the heartbreak.
I Love Your Faces: The Don Lane Story
Civic Theatre Newcastle, Newcastle · Sunday 8 November, 4pm
PJ Lane telling his father's story with the songs of the golden era of Australian television. Take a parent; they'll know every name.
Stuff the British Stole: Marc Fennell in Conversation
Warners Bay Theatre, Warners Bay · Tuesday 3 November, 7pm
The dodgy backstories of the treasures in British museums, told off the record by the man who made the podcast and the TV show. An hour, $20, out at Lake Macquarie, and the best Cup Day comedown going.
Rufus Rice: Rice Age
Newcastle Comedy Club, Islington · Sunday 8 November, 7:30pm
Jokes, songs and the sauciest stories from TikTok's lovable rogue, in a proper New York-style club room. A Sunday night that will not feel like one.
Newcastle International Short Film Festival
Royal Exchange Salon Theatre, Newcastle · Saturday 21 November, 8pm
Ninth year of Newcastle's own short film festival: shorts of every genre from around the world on one screen in one night, with a crowd that has opinions.
Free and a bit different
Jackalope Block Party
South Newcastle Beach Skate Park, Newcastle East · Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November Free
An international skate contest on the beach, with a trip to the next Jackalope festival in Virginia Beach for the local who stands out. Free, loud, and right by the water.
Newcastle Pro Wrestling: Breakout
Hamilton North Bowling Club, Broadmeadow · Saturday 7 November, 8pm Free
Local pro wrestling at the bowlo, seats assigned on the night. Free ticket, loud crowd, no irony required.
The Olive Tree Market
Civic Park, Newcastle · Saturday 7 November, from 9am
Makers, street food and local bands with a festival feel, on the first Saturday of the month. Start the big Saturday here, then Crafted, then Darby Street. There's a second one on Saturday 21 November.
Hunter Arts Network Art Bazaar
Lambton Park, Lambton · Sunday 22 November, 9am to 2pm
Local artists and makers in the park, a market that's been running since 2002, with coffee on hand and the Christmas list quietly sorted early.
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 a Tuesday and the big Saturday is the 7th, so start there.
November's thirty 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.
What's on in Newcastle this weekendGet Keen free on the App Store or Google Play.
Keen. Made in Melbourne, live across Australia.