Eight unmissable gigs and events to see at Leaps and Bounds Music Festival 2021 Leaps and Bounds 2019 - image by Naomi Lee Beveridge
Words By August Billy
Leaps and Bounds Music Festival kicks off on Friday July 16.
No interstate travel? No worries. The 2021 Leaps and Bounds Music Festival program proves that Melbourne has more than enough talent and diversity to pack a ten-day festival full of live music, talks, markets and special events. After running the 2020 instalment virtually, this year’s LBMF will be a celebration of what makes the City of Yarra such a special live music ecosystem.
There are mini-festivals such as the soul, funk and hip hop extravaganza Fitzroyalty and label showcases from Bad Apples, The Push and Rockhopper Records. There are also intimate shows at The Tramway and The B.East, Sunday sessions at The Tote, late night parties at The Night Cat and even a First Nations trivia night.
The inaugural RISING festival – a multi-disciplinary art and cultural extravaganza - is set to descend on Naarm (Melbourne) Wednesday, and is being billed as the biggest artistic event hosted in Naarm since the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Internationally acclaimed and award-winning Naarm-based Gamilaroi artist Reko Rennie will premiere commissioned work Initiation OA , a large-scale three channel video work that speaks to the practice of initiation from an urban Aboriginal context.’
This deeply reflective and visually stunning multi-disciplinary work sees Rennie present modern-day men s initiation, returning to his place of birth in the west of Naarm, ‘making his mark, then leaving again.’