What happens when a tram line throws a party?

The Eighty-Six is a new festival celebrating the concentrated cluster of live music venues in Melbourne’s inner north.

Connecting the many live music venues of Westgarth, Northcote, Thornbury and Preston, as well as venues further south in Collingwood and Fitzroy, Melbourne’s 86 tram route has now given its name to a new music festival running from 23-31 October 2023.

Billed as ‘the biggest party a tram line has ever thrown’, The Eighty-Six is designed to celebrate and showcase the prolific and dynamic live music culture of Melbourne’s inner north.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts