Literally the worst festival ive ever been to…read more I caught a tram from swanston st and it stopped in the middle of nowhere on st kilda rd. Everyone on the tram looked shocked. We then walked around 2kms to get to the festival. Once inside we had to walk a further 20 minutes to get to the tents. There was an entire area just cordoned off for Indian stalls. How bizarre. I then queued up to get to the main music stage. Music was horrid and what made it worse was that the speakers were not working properly so all you heard was white noise. I then walked a bit further and got into another stage area. Same issue here. Speaker disturbance overpowered the performer's singing. The third music area was playing a song with lots of profanity in it and I saw kids within this area. So inappropriate. Queue for hours for the rides. There was free frozen yoghurt by skyn. Free iced coffee. Lots of food stalls. Despite being a dry zone I saw someone puking in the women's porta loo. There were beer bottles and cans everywhere and lots of drunks. Where is security and police when you need them? No clear signage on how to get to and from festival. Awful organisation. Oh and why am I covered in dust. So much dust.

The first time I went to St Kilda Festival I was about 16 and came across it completely by…read moreaccident! My friends and I were on a Sunday trip to the beach soon after realising it was festival Sunday, the last day of St Kilda Fest and of course the biggest. The festival is home to a huge variety of free entertainment, local musicians, bands, dancers and performers all get together for the week long festival coming together for the grand finale on Sunday. St Kilda Festival attracts crowds by the masses, roads are closed all over the city and locals usually embrace the festivities by throwing their own St Kilda Fest gatherings in, out and on their houses. All the local bars, clubs and restaurants get involved so if attending you can be sure to have a pretty crazy time no matter where you situate yourself. The festival is a great experience Festival Sunday is one of it's own, but the talent at the events during other days of the festival are also well worth attending.

What a way to celebrate my bday. This festival blew my mind at every corner. I didn't want it to…read moreend! It's been a very long time since I went to a festival that was over the top spectacular. Nothing compares to Melbourne's special night. It felt like all of Melbourne came out to play and play nice! The city lights up even brighter in a family friendly event all across the city starting in the CBD. The news said about 650,000 came out but it looked like a million. Restaurants stayed opened, food trucks, so much entertainment. The artists in Melbourne are remarkable. So much to see and experience even down the Yarra river. The views from the bridge left me in awe. I was nerding out every other second. Fire breathing gigantic dragon, illuminated bird that flew along the river, projection art with a lovely message of friendliness love and togetherness. The frisky dancers and on my street corner. A young gentleman playing his sexyphone on the balcony. Across the street piano players and guitarists on a rooftop and so much more. All I could say is thank you Melbourne for an unforgettable bday at White Night. Mel M Yelp 18:42

Wow! First to review White Night?! This is one of my favourite nights in Melbourne. And I'm not…read morealone -over half a million people turn out for the all night art event this year. Running from sunset to sunrise, the event gets the creative juices flowing with music, dance, film, large scale art installations, performances, and projections. (Plus a number of unique quirky experiences - giant foam sculpture or 3am synchronised swimming anyone?) Many bars and restaurants stayed open late and food trucks were dotted around the city, helping revelers stay fortified throughout evening. A major tip for making the most of the evening is to stay up late or get up early. There are various hubs around the city, stretching from the Carlton Gardens, past Federation Square, and down to the NGV and Birrarung Marr. But expect large, dense crowds and long lines during prime hours before midnight. (There are 500,000 people out in the city!) By contrast, at 5am we waltzed right into the Melbourne Baths without a queue in sight. Central to White Night aesthetic are the spectacular, large scale projections on major city buildings. White Night is a memorable night out, with different experiences each year. I'll definitely be back in the crowd again next year!

I was lucky enough to read about the Melbourne International Jazz Festival while researching things…read moreto do during my visit to Melbourne. The Opening Celebration Concert at Federation Square was a lovely free event showcasing some of the artists and bands from around the world who would be playing some shows the week ahead. Can Melbourne get any cooler? I think not! Great jazz vibes on a beautiful day at the iconic Fed Square...definitely a bonus to my time here!

Working on the gate l see lots of family's and sometimes dogs enter into the festival lots of…read morethings for the kiddies to do and a gr8 food court for all u foodies. I think to support the Lions Club with there 3 dollar hotdog which were fantastic plus other vendors have great food such as meat on sticks, Nutella crepes, veg dishes OMG sausages in bread yessssssss so exciting worth a look a little more about the festival : Inform and empower the local community to make achievable changes in their daily lives that contribute to a more sustainable way of living. The Market Stage showcasing emerging and professional bands and artists, The Community Stage representing local schools and community performance groups, and The Tribal & Animal Stage exploring the customs and rituals of first nations people and their connection with nature, alongside a massive interactive animal display and presentation

This was the first Pleasure Garden event. I'd say the first of many. I was attracted by just one of…read morethe bands, Cat Empire. I was not disappointed. But I spent most of the day here and enjoyed all the bands. It ran from 12 till 10.30pm. There were two stages so we had choice and we did wander between them. The space was large enough that we could wander about without feeling crowded. Maybe in future years it will get more popular and start feeling crowded but not this year. There were a number of food vans with enough variety to satisfy most, plus two bars. There was a little market which I didn't really check out but I saw others were. The organisers did a fantastic job. There were cute fun 'lady bugs' on stilts dancing around and a group of wise elder types dressed in white and glowing floating through the audience near the stages and around the venue. There were beach balls bouncing around the audience and at one stage later in the evening a number of lovely people with huge platters of cut fruit floated through the audience. What a great touch! The atmosphere was fun and friendly. Such a great vibe! It was located in a park in central St Kilda. Easy to get to and on closing it was orderly. Actually the whole event was peaceful and cruisy. The only thing that concerned me was the toilets. I admit it, I can be a princess. But these were clean and plentiful. Overall a well organised fun event that I'm hoping to go back to next year.

From the owner: The Pleasure Garden is a Music, Art and Gastronomy Gala. A feast for the senses, and a delight to…read morebehold. A fantastic festival of theatre, sculpture, music.

Dear AJ, You don't…read moreknow me, although I gave you $150 yesterday for the privilege of attending your music festival, 'Harvest Presents The Gathering' in Werribee; a festival so poorly organized and extortionately expensive that I woke up today feeling more ripped off than the time I got mugged in Sicily by a couple of opportunistic lads on a motorbike. You see I was excited about your festival. Love festivals. First started going to Glastonbury as a baby and all that jazz. And when I heard about Harvest I was immediately rapt. "Portishead" I beamed, "you can't go wrong with a festival featuring trip-hop extraordinaires Portishead." I was wrong. From the woefully inadequate number of toilets available which necessitated repeatedly queueing for up to an hour for a wee; to the fact that in order to buy drinks you first had to queue for roughly an hour to buy drink coupons and then queue AGAIN to buy drinks, your festival was a comedy of errors. Don't even get me started on the food which fell somewhere between 'eek' and 'meh' quality wise and again, necessitated lining up for up to an hour and a half for a humble and overpriced bite to eat. There were moments of joy and elation of course, the joy of finally exiting the venue's 'car park' after a one and a half hour wait when organizers had expressly encouraged attendees to drive; the elation expressed by a girl more patient than I who had waited an hour in line to go to the toilet and decreed her experience 'the best wee ever'. I was truly happy for her, if a little envious AJ, because frankly, my kidneys were starting to ache. I know you've boasted that Harvest enjoyed 'one of the best festival line-ups ever assembled' AJ. You were right. The line up to buy alcohol so expensive that one could only imagine that Werribee existed within some strange bubble economy in which hyperinflation was rife. The 'Werribee Weimar' as your drinks coupons shall henceforth be known. Oh that and the fact that by 4pm beer was as rare as hen's teeth but you were letting people queue up for it anyway you miserable, thoughtless cheapskate. Yours sincerely, Arabella

Northcote is pretty much hipster central. For those yet to venture over to the north side; think…read morequirky cafes, organic supermarkets and edgy locals. So it's only natural that Northcote's annual street festival, High Noon, was absolutely packed with Melbourne's trendiest. The streets were teeming with energy as hordes of vintage stalls, delicious multicultural delights and a thriving music scene jostled for the crowd's attention. Inside the cordoned off drinking areas, merry folk queued for ciders under the sun, whilst munching on smashed avocado ciabattas and kangaroo burgers. This being Northcote there was, of course, only the most gourmet fare on offer. Not a sausage sizzle in sight. Local pubs, such as the Wesley Anne and the Peacock, were packed to the limit, with bands playing to packed dance floors late into the night. Held on Sunday the 18th of September, it's a date to be penned into your well-worn leather diary. So pull on your skintight denims, grab your fixie and head on down to High Street Northcote.

I have never seen as many pedigree dogs within the confines of the Northcote stretch of High Street…read moreas I did on the day of the High Noon festival in September. Whether that's a gauge of how cashed up Northcote has become or how laid back the festival is I have no idea but it is what it is. Inexact dog barometer aside, the High Noon festival is a damn good free festival - offering food, music, arts and crafts - in a very interesting area which does a very good - and hugely well organised - job of showing off Northcote's many talents. Boasting three sponsored stages with an eclectic music lineup of local bands covering genres including reggae and rock; countless pop up food and craft stalls; and a very lovely crowd, High Noon festival is definitely worth a visit. The festival draws so many people to the area that local bars can become hugely crowded and there is the occasional queue for food, but all in all High Noon is a hugely well executed free festival that I would definitely return to next year.

Great event in the beautiful location of Catani Gardens in St Kikda. Lots of amazing beers from…read morelocal (and not so local) breweries. Plenty of ciders available too. The food was great. Went for the world's best nachos ever at Smokin Barry's Slow Cooked BBQ; loaded with plenty of mouth watering brisket. The comedy was pretty decent too. Saw three of the acts and they were varied and funny. The only thing that could have been improved was the weather. Was a bit chilly by the bay.

Superb event, probably the best beer festival I've been to due to the availability of both…read morewheat-beer and saison. These are usually quite rare but not at this one which made me very happy. It was also well spaced out which made it uncrowded and had a lot of toilets (especially important for a beer event:-D ). The comedy was a welcome addition, I wish it had gone on for longer. We discovered at least 1 new comedian to look up for the comedy festival. Joey's (I think that was the name) slow cooked place had the best nachos I've ever eaten.

Awful organisation and a total rip off for buyers and sellers alike…read more Whoever operated this business needs to learn a lesson in event management - likely they took the money and ran for the hills after the last showing. Oh I see the operator got out quickly.. just wrong.

Oh dear. It could have been brilliant...but it wasn't…read more I'm not sure if Melbourne's weather caught the organisers of this event off-guard or if it was always going to go somewhat wrong. Held in the basement car park at Circa, we were lucky enough to score a pair of free tickets. Thanks goodness, because if I had coughed up the $60 I would have been p*ssed - and not in the good 'too much wine' kind of way. Turns out it was 26 degrees on the day of this event - turning the car park, coupled with a few hundred people, into an instant sauna. The free bottles of water and fans provided gave small relief, but nowhere near enough. The stall holders looked like they were struggling with the heat and to top it off, they had to yell over the music that was far too loud given they were trying to tell us all about their beautiful wines. Because they were beautiful - all that gorgeous pinot that I'm not too much the wiser about now because after about 40 minutes I had to get out of there. The layout wasn't great meaning people all bunched up at one end making it difficult to move around the stalls - especially the NZ section down the back. Which also happened to be hiding a Tasmanian winery I wanted to try. Tasmania is in Australia guys... Compared to a couple of other wine events i have attended over the last few months this one just didn't hit the spot. Hope it gets sorted for next time around because a few of the wines I tasted were down right amazing.