This was published 9 years ago
Events in Melbourne: People just love going out
If Melburnians have one defining characteristic, it's their love of going out, reckons Ben Groundwater.
Done that: Melbourne turned out in force for the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition.Credit: Eddie Jim
My brother looks surprised. "Whoa, it's packed in here," he says, scanning the art gallery foyer, taking in the crowds. It's almost shoulder-to-shoulder at the entrance to the National Gallery of Victoria tonight, and there's a line out the front of even more people waiting to come in.
They're here to see art, and to listen to music, and to drink beer and wine and eat canapes and do it all under one roof.
My brother shouldn't really be shocked. Melburnians will turn up for anything. They'd come to to see the installation of a fridge. That they're queued out the front of an art gallery on a Friday night isn't exactly a stunning revelation.
People in Melbourne just love going to stuff. There aren't many local quirks that set some places in Australia apart from others, but the Melburnian desire to leave the house and go out and see things seems to be one of them.
Which other city could support a calendar that's jam-packed to the point of overlapping with festivals and events? Which other city could almost single-handedly prop up an entire football code?
This isn't one of those Sydney versus Melbourne things. That gets old quickly. It's not an anyone against anyone thing. It's just an observation: in Melbourne, if you put on an event, people will turn up. Lots and lots of people.
Take White Night. It's a bunch of colourful lights beamed on CBD buildings, and this year more than 500,000 people came along to see it. I've been in mosh pits that were more sedate than the area outside Flinders Street Station that night.
I went to a free ballet show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and had to share the experience with tens of thousands of my closest ballet-loving friends. Ballet!
At the Night Noodle Markets a few weeks ago it felt like the entire city had come out in search of dumplings and sunshine.
And it doesn't even have to be a festival or a big event. This is a city in which any old band can be playing on any old night in a dingy bar in Fitzroy or St Kilda and there'll be a crowd there to watch them. Choose any sports game – there will be people there.
That's the thing about culture: if you want to have it, you need to appreciate it, and participate in it. Melbourne has culture, and cultural events, because its citizens do just that.
They go along to things like "Friday Nights at Jean Paul Gaultier", an evening opening of the NGV that includes live music and the chance to check out the collection of Jean Paul Gaultier garments after a glass of wine or two. And they go along in their droves.
The night my brother and I are visiting coincides with Melbourne Music Week, yet another festival on the city's packed calendar. You'd think there would be some sort of festival fatigue in this great southern city, but you'd think wrong. People still show up. They're turning out for the free shows at the Queen Victoria Market, they're coming along to the paid gigs around the city, and they're leaving the rooftop bars and the sunshine in favour of an arty Friday night at the NGV.
The exhibition is spectacular, but really, the gallery didn't have to go to so much trouble. It could have thrown together a Jean Paul Gaultier outfit or two and put on a no-name DJ and people would have shown up. The fact that it's an incredibly comprehensive collection of haute couture and a few well-known bands hardly seems necessary.
In fact, no one need try so hard to attract a crowd in Melbourne.
Down at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image they're working feverishly right now on next year's David Bowie exhibition, ensuring they get it right, ensuring everyone in the city knows about it, ensuring it lives up to expectations.
Of course, it will be a success. All they'd need is a few film clips and a short doco and people would come to see it. But it will be so much better than that, because that's what seems to happen in Melbourne.
There are events on, and they're good. Melbourne Music Week is good. It's a celebration across the city, ranging from pop-up concerts in corporate office elevators to outdoor gigs by the biggest modern acts. Like the comedy festival it seems to briefly take over the consciousness of the city, cementing the reputation of our live music capital.
It's packed in the NGV because it's packed everywhere. Melburnians just like going to events.
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