September in Perth: top events in your city this month
There are hundreds of events on around Perth this month, and a long weekend at the end of it. These are the thirty-five 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 Perth is rebuilt from the catalogue nightly.
The big nights
Swervedriver play Raise in full
Freo.Social, Fremantle · Tuesday 8 September · 18+
The shoegaze greats return to play their classic debut in its entirety, plus an extended set of the rest. Guitar worship, Tuesday edition.
Candlelight: The Best of Hans Zimmer
Perth Town Hall · Friday 11 September
Interstellar and Gladiator on strings in the old Town Hall, candles everywhere. The series runs all month, including Joe Hisaishi's Ghibli scores on the 18th, which is the one to fight for.
Bjorn Again: ABBA Forever
Freo.Social, Fremantle · Thursday 17 September · 18+
The only ABBA-endorsed tribute show, in full glitter. Resistance is pointless; wear something that shimmers.
Gina Williams-Ghouse and Band
The Duke of George, East Fremantle · Saturday 19 September
Songs and stories in Noongar language from an award-winning voice, in one of Freo's best listening rooms. Quietly one of the picks of the month.
Kita Alexander: The Rage Tour
The Rechabite · Friday 25 September · 18+
The sophomore album RAGE gets its Perth night at the Rechabite. Big pop feelings in a room built for them.
Bootleg Rascal
Freo.Social, Fremantle · Friday 25 September · 18+ Free
Ten years of Asleep In The Machine, celebrated with a free show. The best price-to-nostalgia ratio in this post.
Sounds of Soul ft. Nabeel Khan
Perth · Monday 28 September
Sarangi by candlelight from an eighth-generation player, on the long weekend Monday. The rare gig that leaves a room completely silent, in the good way.
Ben Lee & Georgia Maq
The Rechabite · Tuesday 29 September · 18+
The Two Most Annoying People You Love Tour, which tells you exactly what you're in for. A second night runs at Freo.Social on the 30th if the first sells through.
Shinedown and Bush
Perth HPC, Mt Claremont · Tuesday 29 September
Two big rock names sharing one bill. A school-night show that will not behave like one.
Comedy
Alright Hey: Bring Back Glamour, Again!
The Rechabite · Thursday 10 September
Glamour and filth, back by popular demand. In an undeniably ugly world, this is the corrective.
Merrick Watts: An Idiot's Guide to Wine, Volume 3
The Rechabite · Friday 11 September · 18+
A wine tasting run as a comedy show by someone with genuine wine chops pretending otherwise. Educational in ways nobody intended.
Barefaced Stories: Seemed Like A Good Idea
The Rechabite Hall, Northbridge · Thursday 24 September · 18+
Real people telling true stories with no notes, on a theme that guarantees carnage. Perth's best eavesdrop.
Experimental Comedy Club
Lynott's Lounge, Northbridge · Tuesday 8 September
A dozen comics testing brand-new material on you for twelve dollars. Some of it will die; that's half the fun.
Canned Comedy
Comedy Lounge · Wednesday 30 September
World-class stand-up at the friendliest price in town, supporting Foodbank WA. Bring a can, leave lighter.
Food and drink
The Viticulturists' Table
Mayfair Lane, West Perth · Wednesday 9 September
Ten wines, five of the growers who made them, and one long table of twenty-four. The serious wine night of the month.
La Gran Fonda Freo
Freo.Social, Fremantle · Saturday 12 September · 18+
A proper Chilean fiesta: live music, traditional dance and the real food. Twenty-five dollars to leave the country for an evening.
Old School R&B Brunch
Sorrento Beach Club, Hillarys · Sunday 13 September
Nineties and noughties R&B by the beach with an open-bar hour built in. Sunday afternoon, handled.
Festival days
Perth Moon & Lantern Festival
Langley Park · Sunday 20 September, 3pm to 9pm
Lantern tunnels, an Asian night market and street food under the mid-autumn moon. The photos will do the inviting for you next year.
Celebration of Motorsport
Langley Park · Sunday 20 September, 9am to 4pm
Rally cars, hot rods and a full day of engines on the riverfront, same park, earlier shift. Do both and you've had a very complete Sunday.
VegoZen Food and Art Festival
Oak Lawn, Crawley · Sunday 27 September
Vegan food stalls, craft, tai chi and calligraphy on the lawn. The gentlest possible start to the long weekend.
Out in the spring air
Heart of the Park
Kings Park · Friday 11 September
Three hours through the banksia woodland with a guide who knows every plant, right in wildflower season. Ten dollars for the best classroom in the state.
Wildflower Photography Workshop
Kings Park · Sunday 20 September
Macro, light and composition among the wildflowers with an award-winning nature photographer. For the mate whose camera roll deserves better.
HALO Rooftop Tours
Optus Stadium, Burswood · sessions all month
Climb to the top of the stadium's sails for the whole city at your feet. The visitor plan that locals secretly love.
Toodyay Picnic Race Day
Toodyay Racecourse · Sunday 27 September
Country picnic races on the long weekend: frocks, lawn, and a full day out an hour from town. Organise the carpool early.
On stage
The Local
The Jarrah, Hillarys · Monday 21 September
An award-winning Irish play staged in the back room of a pub, fresh from a sold-out season. Twenty-eight dollars, one interval, no notes.
Everything Sassie: A Decade of Sass
The Court · Friday 18 September
Ten years of drag in one night: costumes, lip syncs and guests. A celebration, loudly.
Late ones
DEVØTION, Chapter I: Lift The Veil
The Rechabite · Saturday 12 September · 18+
Techno with aerialists and fire artists working overhead. Sound, movement and spectacle in one very committed room.
Showpony
Connections Nightclub, Northbridge · Saturday nights
The Saturday institution at the longest-running LGBTQIA+ club in the Southern Hemisphere: resident DJs, drag and fifty years of floor fillers.
ARIA Perth
Air Nightclub · Sunday 27 September · long weekend eve
Eelke Kleijn, 8Kays and Silver Panda in one room, melodic techno all night, and no work in the morning. That is the whole pitch.
DJ Heartstring
Ice Cream Factory, Northbridge · Sunday 27 September
Big emotional trance in a warehouse on the long weekend. Expect tearjerkers you can sprint to.
Something different
The Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy
Perth Town Hall · from 17 September · 18+
Four of Poe's most famous tales staged around you over ninety minutes, themed cocktail in hand. Halloween warm-up, six weeks early.
Perth's Theatre of Magic
Parmelia Hilton · sessions from 19 September
World-class close-up illusions and magic-themed cocktails in an intimate hotel theatre. The reliable jaw-dropper.
Cannibal: A Dinner Party to Die For
Escape This, Northbridge · sessions all month · 18+
A genuinely nasty horror escape room you will talk about for weeks. Take the bravest four people you know.
Ballet of Lights: Cinderella
Subiaco · sessions from 19 September
Cinderella danced in glow-in-the-dark costumes. The one on this list for the whole family, small people included.
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. With a long weekend closing the month, the timing is not subtle.
September's thirty-five 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 Perth this weekendGet Keen free on the App Store or Google Play.
Keen. Made in Melbourne, live across Australia.