Twenty things to hear, see and do this weekend
From seeing original Sex Pistols bass player Glen Matlock and Stray Cats' drummer Slim Jim Phantom together at Ding Dong Lounge in the city, to Sunday's annual Sydney Road Street Party, we've got your weekend covered.
Midnight Oil reform and announce a world tour
BERNARD ZUEL 8:28am One of the most revered and successful Australian bands of all time will be back on stages at home and around the world.
Mia Madre review: Nanni Moretti's meta new film muses on movies, mothers and mortality
PHILIPPA HAWKER Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti explored his own experience of loss in Mia Madre, but he decided that he wanted the movie-making character based on himself to be played by a woman
Dusty ballads mark Country and Western: Landscape Reimagined at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
Dylan Rainforth Country and Western: Landscape Re-Imagined may be short on twangy guitars but has plenty of dusty ballads nonetheless.
Focus on frauds, imposters and authenticity in Next Wave visual arts program
Dylan Rainforth The Next Wave festival explodes into being this week, with 37 art projects happening across the city.
Our pick of what's on this weekend
Sean Wilson The Eagles deliver their best, Shakespeare's Coriolanus, and more.
In deserts, dancefloors and concert halls, Rufus are in full Bloom
BERNARD ZUEL With beats drenched in sun and tunes, it's little wonder everybody loves Rufus.
Melbourne Art Book Fair promises celebration of print and design
Dylan Rainforth Artists' books are back at the National Gallery of Victoria.
River of dreams: Ngaire Dawn Fair on the enigma of Jez Butterworth's The River at Red Stitch
Peter Craven No contemporary playwright creates a greater buzz than Englishman Jez Butterworth. Mark Rylance took London and New York by storm in his Jerusalem and in 2014 New York went crazy when Hugh Jackman did The River.
Taking Black Cab from Shepparton to Europe
BERNARD ZUEL Dreaming of lands distant from rural Victoria inspired the German pulse of this Melbourne trio.
Soul man Leon Bridges is dressed for success ahead of Australian tour
BERNARD ZUEL He looks like he stepped off a 1960s record cover and sounds even smoother, yet it's the high-energy live shows that are making this Texan stand tall.
National Gallery of Victoria pegs summer hopes on major David Hockney and Viktor & Rolf shows
Annabel Ross and Dewi Cooke This October the NGV will host a 25-year-retrospective of The Netherlands' biggest fashion imports.
Ryan Bingham makes country music you can still feel
BERNARD ZUEL A country songwriter who won't bother with songs about beer, girls and pick-up trucks. He's got more important stuff to talk about.
The Good Life: The best of the weekend's music, food and stage events, April 16-17
Sean Wilson Your guide to getting out and about this weekend.
BBC Young Folk Award winners Talisk headline National Celtic Festival
MICHAEL DWYER Una McAlinden has Celtic music in her blood, both as a native of Dublin and daughter of one of the founders of the Port Fairy Folk Festival.
Leaps and Bounds festival to declare Deborah Conway and Phil Kakulas living legends of Melbourne music
MICHAEL DWYER Deborah Conway and the Blackeyed Susans' Phil Kakulas will be declared Living Legends of Melbourne's music scene as part of this July's Leaps and Bounds festival.
Behind the curtain: North Korean artist's work gives glimpse of another future
Dewi Cooke Thousands of artists and craftsmen turn out technically perfect, intricately detailed fine art every day from the Mansudae Art Studio in North Korea.
Australasian Quilt Convention showcases soldiers' threads from the front line
ANNABEL ROSS When we think of soldiers whiling away the hours not spent in the trenches, we probably don't imagine them sewing quilts.
Score: Solo violinist Michael Barenboim goes back to Bach
MICHAEL DWYER Michael Barenboim is going straight to the source for his Melbourne debut with four of JS Bach's most intimate pieces for solo violin at the Recital Centre on Tuesday night.
Verdi rarity Luisa Miller headlines Opera Australia's Melbourne autumn season
Michael Shmith Opera Australia's Melbourne autumn season features three operas.
M83's Anthony Gonzalez creates a load of Junk on new album with help from Beck
Louise Schwartzkoff M83's Anthony Gonzalez says his new album "is going to be lost in the mass" but with help from some special guests he has made something that matters to him, and reminds him "of an old radio floating in space".
Highlights
Eight days: your guide to what's on this week
Hit up a cider and pork festival or take your pick of great gigs around town.
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Post Melbourne Festival: Where to slake your thirst
Devotion to detail, and to serving a diversity of drinks in spaces both small and curated or large and loud, is what makes Melbourne's bar scene so enticing.
