The Harbour City will once again come alive in January 2010 with the sights and sounds of the Sydney Festival. The city-wide takeover stretches from 9 to 30 January, with many musical highlights for the balmy summer nights. The Beck’s Festival Bar, Festival First Night and a rich selection of theatre shows will ensure Sydney is the envy of the rest of the country.

FESTIVAL FIRST NIGHT
Sydney Festival opens on Saturday 9 January with a ‘re-imagined’ Festival First Night. The singular Reverend Al Green is set to headline on the Domain Stage in his first-ever Australian appearance, which should provide a spectacle to match 2009’s drawcard Grace Jones. Elsewhere, the Fuzzy stages have been dispensed with in favour of less frenetic fare from the likes of New York swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Uber Lingua. The city’s laneways will also be animated by art, video, installations and music.

BECK’S FESTIVAL BAR
Beck’s Festival Bar is where the Sydney Festival magic happens for most revellers. In 2010, Hyde Park Barracks will be fitted out with a new marquee and the usual high-class mix of acts across 14 nights. Full line-ups will be revealed in late-November, but already confirmed is hip hop mastermind DJ Yoda, disco and house don Trevor Jackson and an FBi Night featuring Radio Clit and their live project The Very Best. Here’s what is confirmed so far, with plenty more to come…

January 10 – Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (USA), Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears
January 13 – Grizzly Bear (USA), The Middle East
January 14 – Severed Heads, The Reels, Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire), DJ Set
January 15 – Vieux Farka Touré (Mali), The Mess Hall, Dan Sultan
January 21 – Camera Obscura (UK), The Slow Club (UK), Popfrenzy DJs
January 22 – Trevor Jackson (UK), Yen (live), Future Classic DJs
January 27 – DJ Yoda’s National Video Vacation (UK), DJ Sampology
January 28 – FBI Night: The Very Best (UK), Radio Clit (UK), Ro Sham Bo DJs
January 29 – Breakestra (USA), J-Rocc (Beat Junkies), Space Invadas, Soulshaker DJs

THERE’S PLENTY MORE GOING ON – STAY TUNED TO INTHEMIX.