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Vivid Sydney 2024: The Full Program Of Lights, Food, Music And Ideas

By Georgia Condon
18th Mar 2024

Vivid Sydney 2024

Vivid Sydney has revealed its full program of light, music, food and ideas for 2024. This year, Vivid Sydney will run for 23 nights from Friday 24 May to Saturday 15 June, with the theme of "humanity" running through the artworks, parties, feasts, pop-ups and more.

Following the festival's highest recorded attendance last year—with more than 3.48 million visitors—this year's program keeps the magic coming across key locations including Circular Quay, the Sydney Opera House, The Rocks, Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, Barangaroo, The Goods Line, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and Carriageworks.

In 2024 you can expect more breathtaking projections (plus 40-kilometre-long laser beams), concerts from headliners like Budjerah, Mos Def and Air, thought-provoking panels, and the return of the Vivid Food program including last year's much-loved Vivid Fire Kitchen in a fresh location.

Here are the highlights of Vivid Sydney's 2024 program.

Vivid Light

vivid sydney 2024 light sydney opera house julia gutman
Image credit: Vivid Sydney | Supplied

The dazzling light projections are the most recognisable element of Vivid Sydney, and 2024's Vivid Light program packs plenty of wonder, with seven locations around the heart of Sydney illuminated with lasers, art projections, candles and more.

As always, First Light will launch the festival with a celebration of First Nations culture against the iconic backdrop of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, sharing vibrant song, dance, and Language.

This year the Sydney Opera House sails will be splashed with an animated work by 2023 Archibald Prize winner Julia Gutman reinterpreting the myth of Narcissus, while the impressive Global Rainbow will see 40-kilometre-long rainbow laser beams fanning out from Sydney Tower as a beacon of hope and inclusivity. In Barangaroo, Stateless is a symbol of hope, remembrance and the human spirit with over 4000 solar-powered candles scattered around the sandstone blocks of Nawi Cove.

The popular touring light trail Lightscape has also been reimagined for Vivid Sydney 2024, covering the Royal Botanic Gardens in a multisensory experience of light, colour and sound including towering tree canopies illuminated in colour, massive flowers and dynamic, glowing tunnels. Lightscape tickets start at $30.

See the full Vivid Light program and get tickets.

Vivid Music

vivid sydney 2024 music electric fieldsImage credit: Vivid Sydney | Electric Fields

It wouldn't be Vivid Sydney without a banging soundtrack, and in 2024 we're welcoming some big names and local favourites to Sydney stages for live performances, concerts and DJ sets in diverse venues.

In 2024, the CBD's Machine Hall Precinct is the home of Vivid Music, hosting international headliners and parties in the reimagined 100-year-old substation. The program features US indie rockers Deerhoof and hyperpop artist Underscores plus legendary First Nations band No Fixed Address (12 June) and parties from Trackwork, The Huxleys and CLUB 4A.

Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) will take over Carriageworks for a two-night exploration of his back catalogue and influences in his music, work and activism work on 12 and 13 June, paying tribute to MF DOOM on night one and celebrating the anniversary of his critically acclaimed album The Ecstatic on night two. Australia's Eurovision Song Contest entrants for 2024, Electric Fields, will also be performing at Carriageworks on 1 June.

At the Sydney Opera House, Devonté Hynes (Blood Orange artist, songwriter and producer) will take the stage in the Concert Hall with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on 29 May to delve into themes like memory, trauma, and the triumphs of vulnerable communities. There'll be a celebration of 25 years of independent Aussie label Elefant Traks with Aussie hip-hop group The Herd and production duo Hermitude, plus studio parties by House of Mince, Astral People and DJ collective Mad Racket.

As well as ticketed events, Tumbalong Nights will host 12 nights of free performances featuring international sounds, diverse languages, interactive sing-a-longs and First Nations perspectives. Names on the lineup include Brisbane’s Mallrat (24 May), Western Sydney’s grentperez (8 June) and Australia’s chart-topping Budjerah (15 June).

Check out the full Vivid Music program and get tickets. 

Vivid Food

vivid sydney 2024 fire kitchen
Image credit: Vivid Sydney | Facebook

First launched as part of the festival last year, Vivid Food is back for 2024—and we're stoked.

The Vivid Fire Kitchen will return for its second year, but this time the flame-cooked fare will be on offer at The Goods Line, with a focus on global street foods including tandoor, teppanyaki, First Nations tucker, tender brisket, satay skewers and more. The world's top pitmasters and Sydney's leading chefs will host live demos and share their secrets to cooking with flames, and speaking the universal language of gathering around a fire.

The VividPlace Food Trail will take over CBD laneways with bustling night food markets with exclusive specials from Australia's top chefs, restaurateurs and bartenders, while Taste, See, Connect at House Canteen will offer a share-style feast in a social setting with some of the best Vivid views in Sydney.

Elsewhere, Vivid Residence will see some of the world's top chefs pop up at acclaimed Sydney venues (stay tuned for names), a series of dinners will host chefs including Christine Manfield, Mitch Orr and Guillaume Brahimi plating up three-course menus of rescued produce at Refettorio OzHarvest, and Aster Bar at InterContinental Sydney will once again offer a creative set menu and cocktail experience with unbeatable Vivid Light views.

Check the full Vivid Food program

Vivid Ideas

vivid sydney 2024 vivid ideas a thousand ways
Image credit: Vivid Sydney | Maria Baranova


Vivid Sydney's Ideas segment rounds out the cultural festival's 2024 lineup, with a series of thought-provoking panels, artist talks, and in-depth discussions. This year, Vivid Ideas also includes less traditional discussion-based formats like performances, walking tours and meditations.

Highlights look like a tour of Kings Cross and Darlinghurst for a perspective-shifting dive into the legal and social history of the sex industry and its current challenges, a cinema series at the Golden Age Cinema where nine influential Australians will introduce films that resonate with their interpretation of humanity, and After The Fact: a free, nightly discussion of current affairs and the daily news cycle with high-profile change-makers, analysts and experts offering fresh perspectives on the world’s pressing issues.

New York company 600 Highwaymen will bring its critically acclaimed A Thousand Ways: An Encounter experience to Sydney for Vivid 2024, placing you and a stranger within a private "performance", separated by glass and guided by instruction cards to facilitate a new perspective on yourself and your audience partner.

Panel discussions include Say My Name: The Humanity of Names with Hibaq Farah, Niamh Ní Hoireabhaird, Ranjana Srivastava taking to the importance of how we perceive and acknowledge names unfairly categorised as ‘tricky’, ‘unfamiliar’ or ‘foreign’, and a light-hearted look into the future of tech with AI Will Destroy Humanity: A Future Science Debate.

Check out the full Vivid Ideas program

For more of the best of what's on in Sydney, head over here

Main image credit: Vivid Sydney | Facebook

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