SXSW Sydney 2025: The Wild Week Where the City Eats Itself Alive
words by Ella Hailey.
Five days. Twenty-plus stages. Over one hundred and fifty artists.
Charge your phone, get caffeinated, and cancel literally everything else. SXSW Sydney is back, louder, weirder, and shinier than ever.
With alumni like Nick Ward, Miss Kaninna, and Otoboke Beaver, this is the place to “discover” your next favourite act before everyone else pretends they already did. From Chippendale basements to Darling Harbour rooftops, the whole city’s about to hum with live sets, secret collabs, and so much more. It’s where I’ve been able to find some of my favourite artists.
We’re just touching on music here, but check out the official website to see what they’re offering in terms of film, tech, innovation & more sick events.
Here’s who I’m sprinting between venues to see:
Beryl
Sydney’s Beryl are heartbreak in HD. Intricate indie-rock meets art-folk catharsis - gorgeous use of instrumentals. Fifteen releases deep, an FBi SMAC nomination under their belt, and a new album, Body Break. Can guarantee you will love it.
Babe Rainbow
Do I really need to introduce? You know at least one of their songs - that surfy, stoner, sunburnt psych-pop that sounds like it’s been marinating in incense since 1968. This will be really fun.
Chuck Sics
One-man production wizard crafting ambient, introspective confessionals in his own sonic greenhouse. Writes, records, and produces everything himself - like Bon Iver if he lived in Marrickville.
Charlie Ivan band
Think desert existentialism with a piano. His songs sit somewhere between ballads and breakdowns, pulling from the moodier corners of Nick Cave, Mark Lanegan, and Thom Yorke.
Blue Diner
A shoegaze quartet - part North Queensland grit, part Gold Coast daydream, have been making noise (literally) since their debut single Bearings. Since then, they’ve landed on editorial playlists and shared stages with Ball Park Music, First Beige, Floodlights, The Belair Lip Bombs, Noah Dillon, Garage Sale, and Moaning Lisa. Expect hazy call-and-response vocals, lush walls of sound, and enough reverb to drown your thoughts. Slowdive meets Slow Pulp in a Brisbane garage.
Folk Bitch Trio
Melbourne’s sharp-tongued angels of harmony and heartbreak. Gorgeous, witty, fearless. They’ve toured with Julia Jacklin and King Gizz, and I swear every song feels like therapy you didn’t book but desperately needed. They might just be my band of the year.
Freak Slug
Manchester’s Freak Slug is honest, offbeat, and weirdly comforting, like crying in a bubble bath. ‘90s influences and experimental eccentricity; her sound bridges dreamy lo-fi with grungy, imperfect edges. Think lo-fi lullabies tangled with grungy, imperfect edges - messy in the best possible way. This will be her Aussie debut - don’t miss it.
Velvet Trip
Wiradjuri artist Zeppelin Hamilton leads this psychedelic dreamboat. They’ve opened for Parcels, dropped an ARIA-charting debut, and been plastered on Bourke St billboards. New EP Glimmers drops soon — get in before they blow up and your mate pretends they’ve “been into them since the early stuff.”
Sesame Girl
South Sydney fuzz, pure and simple. Emotional whiplash, crunchy guitars, cathartic as hell. From Get Up to touring with MAY-A and Teen Jesus, they’re proof that crying and jumping up and down are not mutually exclusive.
Sollyy
Western Sydney’s multi-hyphenate chaos machine - producer, rapper, DJ, community-builder. Worked with OneFour, 1300, Pania, and somehow found time to get Pitchfork’s attention. High energy and such an important figure in the emerging music industry.
Sonic Reducer
Canberra punk band Sonic Reducer have recently exploded on the scene, they casually cleaned up at the MAMAs, and they just finished a sold-out Europe tour with Royel Otis. raw, energetic, and fast-paced sound. One of my favourites.
Ullah
Perth’s Ullah makes indie folk that’ll crush you gently. Her music drips with honesty, change, solitude, and growing pains. Delicate, poetic, and totally gutting in the best way. I caught her opening for Billie Marten a few months back, and I’ve been desperate to see her since.
Yasmina Sadiki
Sydney’s underground jazz queen and a mate I’ve watched completely level up. Neo-soul meets improvisation and emotional freefall. She’s meticulous, magnetic, and massively overdue for a big breakout. I can’t wait to see her finally take that leap.
Whitney
Massive nostalgia moment for me. These guys basically soundtracked my high school bus rides. Light Upon the Lake still hits. Warm, wistful, and way too relatable. And finally catching them live feels like coming full circle.
Jacob Turl
Blue Mountains-bred, Eora-based Jacob Turl makes layered, lush, slow-blooming folk-pop. Laced with so many influences like electronic & jazz. I’ve caught Jacob live a few times, and he’s the real deal: his shows feel less like sets and more like moods you accidentally fall into. He balances that tender, folk-heart intimacy with experimental textures, ambient swells, jazzy turns, and unexpected edges. Never just guitar-and-voice. Catch him before everyone else pretends they’ve been onto him for years.
Stella Bridie
Music for staring out the train window and pretending your life’s a film. Melbourne’s Stella Bridie writes like she’s got a direct line to your worst heartbreak. He Didn’t Mean It is a slow-burn gut punch.
Soli
Ethiopian-Australian R&B queen in the making. Her debut EP Daily Thoughts gave us “Blessed,” “Pray,” and “Temporary Low.” She’s opened for Tems, Masego, Ravyn Lenae, Yussef Dayes - basically every cool person alive.
Akala Newman
South-West Princess of Sydney, a Wiradjuri/Gadigal powerhouse with a voice like silk and a spark that refuses to fade. Her sound fuses dark pop, hypnotic beats, and fierce storytelling, reclaiming space, power, and identity. She owns the room. Unapologetic. Unstoppable. Unforgettable.
Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers
Canberra’s Riot Grrrl revivalists - loud, unapologetic and very cool.
They’ve sold out national tours, played every Aussie festival worth sweating at. Teen Jesus crashed onto the scene in 2019, instantly turning heads with their scrappy teenage swagger and razor-sharp garage-punk bite. They cut their teeth tearing through festivals like BIGSOUND, Groovin’ the Moo, Laneway, Falls, Lost Paradise, and Spilt Milk - sharing stages with Aussie heavyweights, and dropping singles that made everyone else suddenly want to start a band.
SPECIAL (FREE) EVENT
Ten years after Hoops, The Rubens are throwing a free anniversary fest, Hoops & Everything - co-curated with SXSW Sydney. Expect nostalgia, hits, and bonus sets from Folk Bitch Trio, Velvet Trip, and Whitney. A must see!!
SXSW Sydney 2025 is a week-long fever dream — a citywide collision of sound, sweat, and serendipity.
You’ll lose your voice, your sense of time, and sleep.
But hey, that’s the point.
Don’t forget about the Fest By Inner West, taking over Enmore Road, and it’s totally free. From 12pm–11pm, six iconic venues and 30+ bands will turn the strip into a mini SXSW - loud, local, and attainable to all. So if you don’t have a pass, don’t even think twice!
Venues to watch for:
The Abercrombie, The Barrie, The Chippo Hotel, The Commons, Everleigh Hotel, and the Lansdowne Hotel. The Lord Gladstone Hotel, Sneaky Possum, The underground, Tumbalong Park, Seymour Centre, The Loft, Kyiv Social, Knox Street Bar, Kensington St, Embassy Conference Centre.
