MELBOURNE + TASMANIA JULY 2026

ratcharge

Hey everyone,

Long time no post. Any suggestions on what to do in Melbourne + Tasmania this coming july?

Mostly interested in good local punk/ hardcore/ garage/ indie/ post-punk/ weird noise/ free-jazz/ weird street metal/ folk/ hip-hop etc GIGS, good outsider type BOOKSTORES, places to buy ZINES and UNDERGROUND COMICS, underground ARCHIVES type places, infoshops, anything related to aboriginal culture be it museums or events or whatnot, strange things to see/ experience, OZ animals, good bars that aren't trendy feat. local characters, anarchist related events/ demos/ gatherings etc... Well basically feel free to throw in any idea if you feel like it, thanks. I've been there before but it feels like it was in another life.

BARELY HUMAN

ratcharge

Hey man! Bummed you're gonna be there when I'm in Italy, but hope you have a blast..

Loads of stuff to do in Melbourne to your tastes.. Cafe Gummo is a great anarchist bar who do gigs. Spit in Footscray is a sick DIY space, really great people run it. Bell City Tavern is also a great venue for gigs, DIY and on the downlow (the entrance is hard to find but loiter around and follow someone in). Those are my favourite spots at least. Essentially all the pubs are really good.. the Tramway does shows and is a nice place to hang out on a winter afternoon, and it's not too far from the Queen Vic markets which are a good place to get lunch. The Tote is the "iconic" pub venue and definitely worth going to for a beer or to see a show.

This gig guide is pretty reliable to check out for actual events: https://melbourne.askapunk.net/

If you're there on a Sunday the Coburg Trash & Treasure is meant to be a great flea market for finding cool things. The ACMI museum (for cinema/TV) is really cool and there's lots of good archived stuff to watch in there. I'm not sure about other museums and galleries and the like to be honest, but for Indigenous culture the Garry Foley collection at Victoria Uni has a good slice of digital content online to browse through ahead of time.

Shops for zines and books and stuff I'm not sure of these days, Rowdys Records has a good range though to get started and I'm sure they'd be able to point you in the right direction. At the very least the street that's on you can just walk along and find cool stuff as you head towards the city.

As for Tasmania! I haven't been since 2015 and a lot of their venues have closed, but it's a really really small city so you'll no doubt stumble on whatever's there. I can't remember names of anything but I remember really liking the harbour and the pubs down there at least!

Have a fun trip mate! Make sure to drink VB (best beer in the world), drink a flat white, eat a good quality meat pie, a chicken parmigiana at a pub, and you'll have more or less experienced the entirety of the "Australian" contribution to food haha. Hope it all goes well 🙂

ratcharge

Hey Max! Thanks for the thorough answer, will check some of these out for sure.

Just one more question : the Melbourne Ask a Punk site seems like a good ressource for punk hardcore etc, but isn't there some listing somewhere for shows that are more along the lines of garage/ indie-rock/ post-punk, etc?

Thanks again mate!

BARELY HUMAN

No worries! Hmm I'm not sure tbh about a more general gig guide (that doesn't also list a million shit gigs clogging it up).. if U keep an eye on the venue pages for The Tote, Tramway, Spit, Bell City, Gummo etc you should be able to keep tabs with most worthwhile things in the city. There really are a million gigs a day down there so you'll see lots of stuff. I'll ask around and see if I can find any other gig guides for ya in the meantime!