Now or Never Festival 2026: Our Picks Worth Booking
A citywide festival of art, sound and technology, with several worthwhile picks.
Now or Never returns to Melbourne from 19 to 30 August 2026, taking over venues across the city with light installations, live music, talks and performance under this year’s theme, A Whole New World. The program runs from free outdoor art through to overnight sleep concerts, so there’s a real range here. We’ve pulled together the events we think stand out, whether you’re after a proper seated concert, a free wander along the Yarra, or something a bit stranger and more thought-provoking than your usual night out.
What is Now or Never?
Now or Never is City of Melbourne’s annual festival of art, ideas, sound and technology, running across venues from Melbourne Town Hall to the Royal Exhibition Building and along the Yarra.
Expect installations, talks, live music and performance art, much of it experimental and built around ideas of technology, AI and “worldbuilding.”
A good deal of the program runs late into the night, so it’s worth checking start and finish times before you book. We’ve highlighted below the events with times, formats and content that we think will appeal.
1. Philip Glass: Piano Etudes + In the Upper Room
Orchestra Victoria performs Philip Glass’s In the Upper Room, originally composed for Twyla Tharp’s ballet, followed by acclaimed pianist Maki Namekawa performing his Piano Etudes. It’s a proper seated concert, and Glass’s music, built on repeating, hypnotic patterns, rewards a patient ear.
- When: Friday 21 August, 6:30pm–9:45pm (around 3.5 hours including interval)
- Where: Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton
- Tickets: Premium $130, General Admission $75, BLAKTIX $50, plus booking fee. General Admission seating is unallocated, so arrive early if you’d like a good spot; Premium gets you a reserved seat.
- Book tickets here.
- Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible, with an accessible toilet on site. Companion Card holders qualify for a complimentary second ticket by entering the code COMPANION at checkout.
2. Derrick Gee’s Radio Hour
A live music talk show rather than a straight concert. Sydney-based tastemaker Derrick Gee, known for his YouTube interview series with artists like Lorde and Jamie xx, brings a “radio hour” format to Melbourne Recital Centre, mixing curated tracks, live performance and conversation with guests including singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin. If you enjoy music documentaries or a good chat about culture as much as the music itself, this is worth a look.
- When: Wednesday 26 August, 7pm–8:30pm
- Where: Melbourne Recital Centre, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Southbank
- Tickets: General Admission $55, Concession $45, BLAKTIX $45, plus booking fee
- Book tickets here.
- Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible, hearing loop available on request, accessible toilet on site
Read our venue guide for Melbourne Recital Centre here.
3. Revivification
This one is unusual, and we mean that as a recommendation rather than a warning. Revivification is a living sound installation built from the donated biological cells of experimental composer Alvin Lucier, who died in 2021. His cells, grown into “mini-brain” organoids, generate real-time neural activity that shapes an ever-changing soundscape. It sits right at the heart of current debates about AI, creativity and what happens to art after the artist is gone. If that sounds like your kind of conversation starter, it’s a genuinely interesting way to spend twenty minutes to an hour.
- When: Runs most days from 21 to 30 August, with daytime sessions available — for example, Friday 28 to Sunday 30 August it’s open 10am–3pm. Check the specific dates for full session times, as hours vary through the festival.
- Where: Melbourne Town Hall, Swanston Hall
- Tickets: General Admission $10, plus booking fee
- Book tickets here.
- Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible, relaxed sessions and accessibility chaperones available, accessible toilet on site
- Worth knowing: the festival flags content warnings for loud or sudden sounds and mature themes, so it’s not a quiet, gentle browse — more a considered, immersive one.
4. Free installations along the Yarra and CBD
If you’d rather not book anything, several free outdoor works are running most nights of the festival and make for a good early-evening wander, especially paired with dinner in the city.
- Multimmersion, at Birrarung Marr Lower Terrace, sees laser light dance across the river’s surface in a seven-minute looped display. It runs Thursday to Sunday across two weekends (20–23 and 27–30 August), 6pm–10pm (9pm close on Sundays). The festival flags photosensitivity content here, so it’s not the right choice if bright flashing lights are a concern for you.
- The Falls Before Us, nearby at Evan Walker Bridge, uses mist and scent rather than flashing light, and runs nightly from 20 to 30 August, 6pm–10pm.
- XYZZY REDUX, projected onto the Hamer Hall facade, is a large-scale animated light work described as a “digital hallucination” — striking rather than restful. It runs nightly from 19 to 30 August, 6pm–10pm (9pm close on Sundays), and also carries a photosensitivity warning.
All three are free, wheelchair accessible, and an easy stroll apart along the river and Southbank precinct.
A few things worth knowing before you book
The rest of the program leans heavily into late-night territory: overnight sleep concerts running until 8:30am, club nights that go past midnight, and installation art with more explicit content warnings. None of that is a reason to write off the festival; many of us enjoy pushing into new artistic territory, but it is worth reading each event page carefully before booking, since formats and finish times vary enormously across the program.
A few practical tips for browsing the program yourself:
- The full program can be filtered by category, including a “Free” filter if you’d rather not commit to a ticket.
- Every event page lists clear accessibility icons (wheelchair access, hearing loop, low vision access and more), plus any content warnings, so you can check suitability before booking.
- Seniors Card holders are eligible for concession ticket pricing, alongside pensioners and Health Care Card holders, though the festival notes concession pricing doesn’t apply to every event, so check the individual listing.
- Companion Card holders qualify for a complimentary second ticket across the festival, bookable using the code COMPANION at checkout for eligible events.
Getting there
- Royal Exhibition Building (Carlton): The closest tram stop is Melbourne Museum/Nicholson Street (Stop 11), serviced by routes 86 and 96. The nearest train station is Parliament, a walk of around 10–15 minutes. On-street parking on Nicholson and Rathdowne Streets is limited and time-restricted, including some accessible spaces. The Melbourne Museum car park (entry via Rathdowne or Nicholson Street) is open 5:30am to midnight daily, with designated disabled parking on level P2 near the lifts.
- Melbourne Recital Centre and Hamer Hall (Southbank): Both are an easy walk from Flinders Street Station, or the Southbank trams along St Kilda Road.
- Melbourne Town Hall: Trams along Swanston Street and Collins Street stop close by, and it’s a short walk from Flinders Street Station.
- Yarra installations (Birrarung Marr and Evan Walker Bridge): The closest tram stop is Fed Square/Swanston Street (routes 1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67 and 72), and the nearest station is Flinders Street.
Now or Never Festival
For ticketing enquiries, contact Now or Never via nowornever.ticketing@melbourne.vic.gov.au
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