White Night Melbourne 2014 Full Music Programme Announced

An impressive selection of local bands and an interactive tribute to Prince have joined the music selections of the White Night Melbourne 2014 programme.

Another 50 free events have been added to the programme for the 24 hour creative arts festival, taking place on Saturday 22nd February from 7pm to 7am. You could always try and navigate your way through the White Night Melbourne 2014 online programme, but we’ve decided to cut straight through to the stuff that matters most to music fans.

Northern Lights Music Stage

The first concrete details of White Night’s return emerged last December, including the news that the event’s main music hub, the Northern Lights stage, would be relocating to the State Library – on La Trobe Street near the corner of Swanston – from last year’s massive Flinders Street Station stage.

Today, a selection of the bands performing at the Northern Lights precinct has been revealed, including all-female, AMP-nominated fuzz rockers, Beaches, Milk! Records favourite Fraser A. Gorman, plus electropop duo and self-described “purveyors of turn-of-the Nineties Business-class Australiana,” Client Liaison (who have just dropped a new video/single, ‘Free Of Fear’, watch below).

Joining them on the White Night programme is Melbourne bands such as funk collective The Cactus Channel, dronetronica outfit Black Cab, one-man post-pop act Lost Animal, and Triple J Next Crop 2014 pick (and King Gizzard mates) The Murlocs.

An interactive tribute to Prince

Another new musical addition to the Northern Lights precinct for the White Night Melbourne programme is Purple Rain, an audio-video installation by French artist Pierre Ardouvin directly inspired by Prince’s blockbuster album and movie of the same name.

First appearing in Nuit Blanche (White Night Paris – the event that inspired White Night), the interactive homage to the Purple One will see patrons talking an umbrella and strolling through a space that “literally interprets the 80s melancholic spirit with a piercing soundtrack to match.” (So yes, you can totally realise Prince’s lyrical dreams of ‘dancing in the Purple Rain’, in full).

Late night Jazz, early morning RnB

Fans of jazz, swing, rhythm and blues, can also get excited at the announced lineup for the outdoor J+R&B stage. Springing up at Bourke Street Mall and programmed by Julie O’Hara, who has performed and liaised with big bands, gypsy swing, traditional jazz, R & B, swing bebop and other styles for almost 20 years.

O’ Hara has brought that experience to the J+R&B stage, which will feature performances from Andrew Nolte’s Orchestra, Blow, Benny & The Flybyniters, Cannonball featuring Chantal Mitvalsky, Paul Williamson’s Hammond Combo, The Hoodangers, Ultrafox, The Shuffle Club, Julie Wilson Trio, and Coco’s Lunch.

Music exhibitions, installations, and activities

White Night Melbourne also coincides with the closing night of RMIT Gallery’s free music exhibition, Melbourne, Music + Me, celebrating 40 years of Melbourne’s rock history through the lens of Michael Gudinski’s Mushroom Group. ACMI’s Spectacle: The Music Video Exhibition will also be on show along with multi-channel video work The Calling, special soundtrack event Vladmaster ViewMaster™ Experience, and Title: Sequence. ACMI’s lightwell will also be transformed into the LightLounge, featuring projections and music from VJ/DJs.

Other selections for music fans in the White Night programme include Arcadian Reverie, where music, lights, film and sculpture from a variety of local and international artists transform an urban park, Above The Sound Of Many Voices – a video and sound installation created by Josephine Telfer with composer John Phillips, and I Could Have Danced All Night returns for another dance-filled extravaganza featuring 12 different dance styles to keep everybody moving into the early AM hours.

Classical music lovers will be delighted by Rachmaninoff Live, a Hamer Hall-hosted performance from piano virtuoso Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff, and En Masse is described as “part concert, part film, part installation,” a collaboration between Australian recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey and UK filmmaker Marc Silver, with further creative collaboration from Big hART’s Scott Rankin.

And over 100+ more events

Aside from the music features, White Night Melbourne 2014 will offer over 100 events and activities, ranging from arts, theatre, film, and street art, taking place in and around the CBD, involving its most iconic scenery and landmarks well into the early hours at iconic locations such as the National Gallery of Victoria, up to the Melbourne City Baths, the Melbourne Museum, and everywhere in-between.

This year’s White Night follows on from the event’s debut last year, drawing crowds of more than 300,000 to enjoy the Melbourne CBD in a unique setting that showcased the Victorian capital’s unique cultural benefits. “The inaugural White Night Melbourne was an extraordinary success,” said Artistic Director Andrew Walsh, promising an even bigger and better turn-out for this year’s edition on Saturday 22nd February.

Further details of the full White Night Melbourne 2014 program – including the list of bands and artists performing – are available at whitenightmelbourne.com.au