Events

Early February

Adelaide’s Big Day Out

Australasia's huge touring music festival, Big Day Out, hits Adelaide at the Royal Adelaide Showground.

While the northern hemisphere endures the big freeze in January & February, the countries in its southern counterpart enjoy summer. Australia celebrates with its annual Big Day Out music festival, which begins in Auckland, New Zealand then transfers to Australia over the following three weekends.

+61 (0) 8 8210 5211

Early February

Flickerfest International Short Film Festival

Australia's premier short film festival, is an Oscar Academy accredited festival which tours the country after being seen at Sydney's Bondi Beach Pavilion. Here it makes its annual visit to Adelaide's Mercury Cinema.

+61 (0) 2 9365 6877

Late February-Early March

Adelaide Fringe

The biennial Adelaide Fringe is one of the world's biggest and most vibrant arts festivals, attracting many of the finest independent artists from Australia and all over the globe. The city is overrun by performers of every kind, and the programming policy is non-exclusive, so all are welcome to register.

+61 (0) 8 8100 2000

March

Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts

The Adelaide Festival of Arts brings hundreds of thousands of spectators to Elder Park and is one of the world's great arts Festivals. It has created a strong tradition of innovation since 1960 inspiring celebration and presenting diverse art from across Australia and around the world. Held in the warm South Australian autumn in every 'even' year, this is a large-scale multi-arts event of extraordinary richness and diversity.

Each Festival program includes opera, theatre, dance, classical and contemporary music, cabaret, new media events, Adelaide Writers' Week (the largest literary festival in the world), outdoor entertainment, visual arts exhibitions, master classes, forums, a late night club and much more.

Early March

WOMADelaide

First held in 1992 at the biennial Adelaide Arts Festival and, since 2000 an annual fixture presented by Amnesty International, WOMADelaide welcomes the world of music, art and dance to Adelaide's Botanic Park. It's a three-day, child-friendly celebration of multicultural artistic endeavor.

Respected artists from around the globe perform on six stages and also discuss, teach and share their music and art, giving the audience a unique insight into their work.

+61 (0) 8 8222 9311

Early-mid-March

Adelaide Cup Carnival

The popular Adelaide Cup horse racing carnival is now held in March each year.

There are two weeks of horse-racing festivities both on and off the track.

The biggest names of the turf vie for a place in Australian equine history when they tackle events that include the Adelaide Cup and the Malaysia Airlines Magic Millions Two-Year-Old Classic. The nation’s premier jockeys and trainers arrive in Adelaide, all with a common goal “to prove themselves the best of the best”.  The Adelaide Cup is the pinnacle of racing in South Australia, attracting racing enthusiasts and party goers from around Australia.

Late March

Clipsal 500 Adelaide - A 4 Day Major Adelaide Event

The Clipsal 500 Adelaide is recognized as a top event on the Australian motor sport calendar.  The 4 days of racing end with celebrations and great race concerts.

(08)8212 8500

Early September

Royal Adelaide Show

The Royal Adelaide Show is South Australia's biggest annual event and features everything from carnival rides and attractions to handicrafts, cookery and a wide variety of champion livestock and animals. Almost half of the State's population makes the annual trip to Adelaide Showground, making this an important social event as well as a chance to appreciate all that South Australia has to offer.

Taking center stage is the grand parade, where the champion livestock is proudly shown off. Entertainment includes dance and gymnastics displays, daredevil motorbike riding, precision driving teams, pig racing, sheepdog trials and plenty of fireworks.

Visitors can also take part in avocado tasting, cake decorating, chocolate competitions and indulge in hot chips, donuts and fairy floss, or just have a nice cup of tea in the Country Women's Association café. Enjoy evening entertainment every night with performing sheepdogs, funny clowns, precision driving and a fireworks display.

 (08) 8210 5211

November

Feast

Since 1997 Adelaide's Annual Feast has served up a smorgasbord of over 100 cultural and social activities for its gay community. Feast claims to be "very Adelaidian with a focus on arts and culture, easy living, good food, fine wine and quality of life in a city which has long been proven as ideal for festivals".

Living up to its title, the organizers provide a feast for ears and eyes as well as taste buds, kicking off with an opening night party at the Adelaide Festival Center. Music always plays an important part, whether it is the massed choirs of Australia's Gay Choruses or Overdrive, where 15 acts appear on three stages over eight hours. (08) 8231 2155.

Arts and Entertainment

Adelaide Entertainment Center

Adelaide Festival Center

King William Road

Adelaide

Ph: 08 8216 8600

The Adelaide Festival Centre was built in 1974 and is Adelaide's major performing arts complex. It includes a multi-purpose concert hall and lyric theatre, two drama theatres, and an open-air amphitheatre. The centre sits on the banks of the River Torrens adjacent to the city centre and Casino.

Her Majesty’s Theatre

58 Grote Street

Adelaide

Ph: 08 8216 8600

Lions Art Centre

Corner North Terrace and Morphett Street

Adelaide

Ph: 08 8231 7760

Adelaide Repertory Theatre

53 Angas Street

Adelaide

Ph: 08 8212 5777

State Theatre South Australia

The Playhouse Adelaide Festival Centre

King William Road

Adelaide

Ph: 08 8231 5151

Adelaide Town Hall

128 King William Street

(08) 8203 7203

Designed in Italianate style by Edmund Wright in 1866, it became the most significant structure on King William Street.  It soon became the city’s premier venue for concerts and civic receptions.  It is still used for such today. 

Sports

Australian football, which is also known as Australian rules football, or less formally as "Aussie rules" or simply as "footy" is a code of football which originated in Melbourne, Australia.The game is played between two teams of 18 players (plus interchange players), on cricket ovals or similar-sized grassed arenas which vary in size and may be up to 185 metres (200 yards) long; these are much larger than those used by other codes of football.

The game is also distinguished from other games by the fast, relatively free movement of the ball (partly due to the absence of an offside rule) and the awarding of a free kick for any clean catch – known as a mark – of a ball which has been kicked more than 15 metres.

Spectacular high marks, or "speccies", tackles and fast, fluid play are the game's main attributes as a spectator sport.

Despite the game's sometimes rough physical nature players do not usually wear protective clothing. Although it is a winter sport, pre-season competitions usually begin in late February (that is, in the Australian summer); the football season proper is from March to August, with finals being held in September.

Cricket

Adelaide Oval

(08)8300 3800

Dominating the parklands between Torrens lake and St Peter's Cathedral lies the Adelaide Oval, often described as the most picturesque test cricket ground in the world. The first test match played there was against England in 1884. Since that time the ground has been used for other sports such as rugby league and Australian rules football. The distinctive Victor Richardson and Clarrie Grimmett gates add special character to the ground, while the splendid old scoreboard dates back to Edwardian times. Public tours of the Oval and Museum are conducted every Tuesday and Thursday, and on Sundays during the cricket season.