Previous Acts

Conjure the dark side of cabaret, in a prohibition era speakeasy, in the middle of a junkyard, performed by a punk band. This dusty gin- house cavalcade will entrance and enchant you, seduce and romance you.

It was the winter of 2007 and what had started as a “joke” between a handful of down and out Melbourne musos, quickly spiralled of out control and what became is known as, The Barons of Tang. Lashing Tango, Rockabilly, Metal and Gypsy feels together with hard hitting guitar riffs, double kick blast beats and massive horn arrangements, to serve up their self described ‘Gypsy Death-core'. The catchy tunes and punk ethos all tie together to mean one thing, dancing is inevitable!

Guitar lines that rip, tear and shred through a thick and heavy atmosphere. Beats that trip, hop and pulse their way through your body, bass lines that pump, bump and grind, vocals that thunder like a storm rolling up and out of the graves of every soul diva that has ever lived and don't no more.

Mr Fibby hail from the delightful eighteenth century seaside village of Canberra, and crash around the countryside telling tales of fox spirits, dead men, heart broken gypsies and the blood red Moon, confusing and delighting audiences with their enchantingly depressing faux-fairytales of love and death.

Brothers Grim and the Blue Murders are four Blues Hounds from Melbourne, reviving 20's blues, in an unwholesome, moon howling, sweat dripping, groin shaking fervour. Their reputation has been built on their extremely live and animated mutation of the Blues with elements of Rockabilly, Swamp blues, Delta blues and Rock sensibilities...the rest is varying percentages of idol gossip, guilt, manic energy, slander, a thirst for the mischievous and a bias for doing things their own way.

Le jazz devientmusique du Monde. Les styles, les rencontres, les échangesdeviennentessentiels.

In Australia for the Sydney International Jazz Festival, Akepé Motion are making one of their three shows the Melbourne Boho Ball, we are extremely pleased to present their potent and world travelled jazz fusion.

Spegieltent regular Juke Baritone is a bad man, the kind of bad man you love. Think New Orleans-vaudeville with a pinch of terror. Stomp rock and glee.

After a decade of questing through the audio underworld, wrestling crocodile-headed samplers and taming fire-breathing speaker stacks, Spoonbill has returned to the earth's surface, ready to address the planet with a wild spectrum of sonic entertainment. Squishy pulsating bass lines carpet the undergrowth, while dirty squelchy synth licks frolic in a warped menagerie of neurotic cyborgs, rattlesnakes, sirens, champagne froth, fireworks and crushed eggshells. The jamboree coalesces to form a single groove shrieking beat-creature, covered with feathers, scales, bells and whistles.

The Crooked Fiddle Band delivers a no-holds-barred mash-up of gypsy passion, bluegrass swamp-stompers and mayhem. Intertwining folk traditions with modern evolutions, this Sydney-based acoustic four-piece (double-bass, violin, drums and guitar/bouzouki) incites wild dancing and abandon.

Kooii rises from Brisbane and shines a vibe of the city and it's surrounds. Its music strikes a chord with young and old. Songwriter, singer and trumpet player, Peter Hunt, provides the seeds of most of the groups songs. Together they create the groups' distinctive flow and sound that reflects the members' love for reggae, latin, jazz and African music.

AMelbourne based five to six piece featuring fiddle, boom booms, choir, shredded vocal, bass guitar, electric and acoustic feedback. With guttural lead vocals, murder-ballads, cheating lovers, ghostly harmonies, raucous drinking songs and hedonistic solos.

These underground creatures seduce audiences direct into a world of Berlin-style rock 'n' roll debauchery. Infamous for their exploding live shows - drawing on elements of performance art rock, spoken weird tales and experimental cabaret. GBGV's pants-off-punk-kabaret-músik is not for the faint hearted!

Headed by world-smyth Captain Imon Starr (winner of the mpc battle for supremacy 2003 and son of legendary blues musician Taj Mahal) and King Homeboy (aotearoabeatbox 2006-2007 champion). It has been described as an intense surreal sound-scape complete with giant robots powered on pure spiritual energy in combat for the future of our planet and life as we know it.

Hailing from Melbourne's cutting-edge electronic music scene production duo Editor from Omelette Records are renowned for tearing up dance floors and wonking out sound systems wherever they set foot.

With members from Ukraine, Hungary and Australia high-energy Gypsy band Lolo Lovina draw influences from across Eastern Europe and Latin America.The bulk of the band’s lyrics are in Rromani, the language of the gypsies, from which the derive their name “Red Beer”.

Miles Merrill combines poetry with theatre, experimental audio, hip-hop beats, stand-up and political confrontation, flinging words in a rapid-fire onslaught of versified emotion. He has opened for Saul Williams, jammed with Shane Koyczan, created Australia's first spoken-word festival and is founder of the national literary performance competition: The Australian Poetry Slam.

Life after the Bone Palace Orchestra, Martin Martini has some new songs. I hear one of them is about this aging movie star from Egypt who went to the US to become rock star and ended up dying on stage of a brain haemorrhage while belting a high C.
If you’ve never seen Martini you should get there to hear him, he writes simple, honest music about the absurdity of life.
He asked me to write this, because he didn’t mind what I’d write, so I guess I’ll add that the last concert I went to of his was in a tiny cabaret club where I wept openly, laughed and broke up with my girlfriend afterwards.

Frankie Valentine, sets old time glamour on fire with a signature sensuality that has venues all over Australia smouldering. Wild, inspired and criminally seductive, the stunning Frankie Valentine is here.

A dream of golden age burlesque brought to life before your very eyes! Performing Sassy stripteases from New York to New Zealand, Viola’s impeccable sense of theatricality and captivating command of old school burly-q and classic showgirl dance styles sees her at the forefront of Australia’s burlesque comeback.

Not for the faint hearted. The Space Cowboy is a multiple world record holder for sword-swallowing and other acts of dare. He is also a mind reader, spoon bender and creates a high-energy stage show that tours the world. He also is the custodian of one of the world’s largest travelling freak-show museums.

A man like no man, The Birdmann accidently debuted on a tour of Universal Studios at the age of five, going on to uncover his unique talent in fifteen countries worldwide. A vaudeville humourist of uncommon exception, combining traditional and modern forms to develop a genre of his very own on a tour fantastic.

The Caravan of Dooomis a three person demolition derby masquerading as a dirty dark-hearted absurdist punk sideshow. September-October will see them tearing up the East Coast on their "Save the Unicorns" tour of Brisbane, Sydney, Newcastle and Melbourne. Their motto is Go Weird, Go Hard!

Gordo Gamsby has shocked and amazed audiences around the globe with his sideshow and circus skills. With over 10 years experience he is on the forefront of new unique sideshow combining acts that include sword swallowing (holder of 2 Guinness world records for sword swallowing) neon light swallowing, human blockhead, human pincushion, cigar box juggling, and fire eating!