News

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.

26 Jul 2023

Richard Watts

Performing Arts

Named for the 86 tram route, The Eighty-Six festival will celebrate the live music venues of Melbourne’s inner north. Photo: Adam Calaitzis/Shutterstock.

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

Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts