November in Geelong: top events in your city this month
Geelong has its own page on Keen now, and November is a good month to start on: Guy Sebastian opens it at Costa Hall, Boyz II Men close it on a winery lawn at Mount Duneed, and the Queenscliff Music Festival takes over the last weekend. These are the thirty we'd actually message the group chat about, from Lara down to the Bellarine.
Every pick below links to its live page on Keen, with dates, prices and the ticket link. The links retire once an event is done, so if one tells you it's been and gone, that's the truth doing its job. For the always-current version, what's on in Geelong is rebuilt from the catalogue nightly.
The big ones
Guy Sebastian: 100 X Around Australia Tour
Costa Hall, Geelong · Monday 2 November, 7:30pm
Straight off a sold-out arena run, Guy and his full band are taking the big ones around the regions, 54 dates of them, and Geelong is near the front of the queue. Expect Choir, expect everyone's mum singing along, expect a Monday that feels like a Saturday.
Kim Wilde: The Closer Tour
Costa Hall, Geelong · Sunday 22 November, 7:30pm
Kids in America, You Keep Me Hangin' On, and a new album called Closer to prove she never left. One of eight Australian dates, on a Sunday night, so the sing-along comes with a curfew.
a day on the green: Boyz II Men
Mount Duneed Estate, Waurn Ponds · Saturday 28 November, gates 4pm
A 90s R&B masterclass on a winery lawn: Boyz II Men with Salt-N-Pepa and Bell Biv DeVoe on the bill, a picnic rug, and every slow jam you pretended not to know the words to. No BYO, so budget for the bar.
Queenscliff Music Festival
Princess Park, Queenscliff · Friday 27 to Sunday 29 November
Three days in a seaside town with Baker Boy, Kate Miller-Heidke, Lime Cordiale and Peter Garrett among seventy-odd acts, plus a comedy program led by Denise Scott. Book the house in Queenscliff now, not in November.
Lassù: Cosmic Cabaret
Geelong Showgrounds, Breakwater · from Friday 20 November · 18+
A cosmic saloon rolls into the Showgrounds: space cowboys, alien drifters and the Rodeo Sisters doing risqué circus in a tent for grown-ups. It runs through to the 29th, so there's a night that suits the crew.
Cup Day, long lunches and a free Friday
Portarlington Greek Festival
WG Little Reserve, Portarlington · Sunday 1 November, 10am to 5pm
Greek food, music and dancing by the harbour on the Bellarine, back for a second year and bigger than the first. Start the month with a souvlaki in one hand and a plate of loukoumades in the other.
1915 Melbourne Cup Beer Garden Launch Party
1915 Restaurant and Bar, North Geelong · Tuesday 3 November, from 10:30am
Cup Day is a Tuesday, and while Melbourne downs tools, Geelong already took its own Cup holiday back on 21 October, so this one is a long lunch with a side of sickie. 1915's new beer garden opens for it: the race on the big screens, live music, pop-up stalls and the drinks flowing from half past ten.
Set Sails with White Oat Distillery at Sailors' Rest
Sailors' Rest, Geelong · Friday 6 November, from 5pm Free
White Oat Distillery takes over the Lounge Bar on the waterfront for a Friday of free tastings, acoustic sets and a DJ once the sun's gone. The cheapest good night of the month.
Deakin University Diwali Festival
Deakin University, Waurn Ponds · Friday 6 November, 6pm to 9pm Free
Lights, henna, food stalls and fireworks on the Waurn Ponds lawn, free and open to everyone. Bring the mate who says they'll come to things and never does; this one asks nothing of them.
Cheese, Wine & Crime: Pairings to Die For
Fantome Wine Bar & Cocktails, Geelong · Wednesday 18 November, 7pm
Four true crime stories, four wines, four cheeses, one dark Wednesday at Fantome. $75 a head and a very specific kind of date night.
Beaujolais Long Lunch
The Heights Heritage House and Garden, Newtown · Sunday 22 November, midday to 4:30pm
The Alliance Française sets up at The Heights with wine from Beaujolais and Burgundy, charcuterie and cheese, an accordion and a round of pétanque on the lawn. A Sunday, done properly.
Gigs and good nights
Katie Noonan: Alone But All One
Geelong Arts Centre, Geelong · Friday 6 November, 7:30pm
Thirty albums in, Katie Noonan brings the new one to the Open House with piano and strings: songs about love in all its stages, some of them written with Trent Dalton. Quiet, close and a bit devastating.
Nyilamum Song Cycles with the Australian String Quartet
Geelong Arts Centre, Geelong · Thursday 12 November, 7:30pm
String quartet and voice carrying Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung language and story, ancient and brand new in the same breath. One night only, and the kind you talk about afterwards.
Neil Murray: Still Here By My Side
The Door Gallery Cafe, Fyansford · Friday 13 November, 7:30pm
The Warumpi Band's songman, the writer of My Island Home, in a gallery cafe in Fyansford. Calling it intimate is underselling it.
Hindley Street Country Club: Live in 26
Costa Hall, Geelong · Saturday 14 November, 7:30pm
The YouTube sensations do the 70s and 80s songbook better than a lot of the originals, back at Costa Hall by popular demand. Wear something with shoulders.
Checkerboard Lounge with Bob Sedergreen
The Courthouse Theatre, Geelong · Sunday 22 November, 2pm
Roots, soul and blues improv with jazz pioneer Bob Sedergreen on the keys, on a Sunday afternoon at the Courthouse. Follow it with an early dinner on Little Malop Street and call it a weekend.
Jack Jones: Dinner & Show
Founders & Co, Lara · Saturday 28 November, from 6pm
Up in Lara, Founders & Co serve dinner first, then Jack Jones plays the hits and tells the stories behind them, solo and acoustic. $75 for the lot, and the one night this month the designated driver has the easiest trip home.
Comedy, theatre and film
Anh Do: The Happiest Refugee Live
Geelong Arts Centre, Geelong · Tuesday 3 November, 7:30pm
The bestselling book, live: stand-up, family photos and film in ninety minutes with no interval. It's Cup Day evening, which is a very good way to land a day that started at a long lunch.
Now That's Improv!
Here & Now Lounge, Geelong · Sunday 8 November, 6:30pm Free
Games, scenes and stories made up on the spot, and every show different by design. Free in, pay what you reckon it was worth on the way out.
North Bellarine Film Festival
Parks Hall, Portarlington · Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November
Two nights of features and shorts in a Portarlington hall, opening Friday with a feature. The program lands late, so check the page, then book the Friday and stay for the weekend.
I Love Your Faces: The Don Lane Story
Geelong Arts Centre, Geelong · Saturday 28 November, 2pm
PJ Lane plays his dad in a musical telling of the Don Lane story: the golden era of Australian telly, with the personal story underneath it. A Saturday matinee at the Story House.
Dan Rath
The National Hotel, Geelong · Saturday 28 November, 7pm
Sydney Comedy Festival's Best of the Fest winner does an hour at the National, with a pub feed on the side. A strong last Saturday of the month, and you're already at the pub when it finishes.
Festivals and days out
Geelong Medieval Festival
Geelong Showgrounds, Breakwater · Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November
Jousting, full-contact buhurt battles, a medieval village and markets at the Showgrounds for the whole weekend. Turn up in costume and nobody will look twice.
Summer of Rock
Bellarine Estate, Bellarine · Saturday 7 November, from midday
Dragon, Models and a Creedence show on the lawn at a Bellarine winery, from midday. A lineup your uncle will sing every word of, and a short drive home for whoever draws the sober straw.
Wallington Strawberry Fair
Wallington Primary School, Wallington · Sunday 15 November, 10am to 3pm
Wallington has grown strawberries for 130 years and the primary school throws a fair to prove it: strawberries every which way, stalls, and a proper country day out on the Bellarine.
Pasko Sa Geelong
Geelong Racing Club, Breakwater · Sunday 29 November Free
Christmas from around the world, Filipino at heart, free at the racing club for a fourth year: food, performances and a lot of colour. The month's gentlest landing.
Free and a bit different
Christmas Opening Night: Denis Walter's Carols by the Bay
Steampacket Gardens, Geelong · Saturday 21 November, from 6:30pm Free
The city's Christmas opening night and Denis Walter's carols join forces on the waterfront: big screens, singalongs, Santa, and the floating tree lit up on the bay. Bring a picnic and a mate who can hold a tune.
Barwon Heads Traders Night
Hitchcock Avenue, Barwon Heads · Thursday 26 November, 4pm to 8pm Free
Hitchcock Avenue closes to cars for a night of shopping, food and street entertainment. Barwon Heads at its most Barwon Heads, and a fine excuse for a Thursday down the coast.
Geelong Dog Lovers Market
Little Creatures Brewery, Geelong · Sunday 29 November, 11am to 3pm Free
Dogs, stalls and a beer at Little Creatures, which is a sentence that sells itself. Leads on, pints in hand.
Garden Session at WYM
Geelong Botanic Gardens, East Geelong · Fridays 6 and 20 November, from 5pm Free
Live acoustic sets from local artists, drinks and bar nibbles in the Botanic Gardens on the first and third Fridays after work. Free, and the easiest yes of the month.
The part where you actually go
That's the list. The gap between reading it and standing in one of those rooms is the same as ever: someone has to pick a date and make the call.
That's the job Keen does. The quickest way in is Find a time: pick two or three dates that could work, add an idea or two from this page, and drop one link in the group chat. Everyone answers from their browser, no app and no account needed. You see which date wins, tap once, and it's a real plan with RSVPs and a chat of its own.
And once your mates are on Keen too, it starts doing the noticing for you: everyone marks the nights they're free, and when yours line up, Keen tells you, along with what's on that actually suits the crew. The Queenscliff weekend (27 to 29 November) is the obvious place to start.
November's thirty best excuses are above. Pick one, name a night, and send the message.
Start closer in. See what's on in the next few days, pick a night, send the link.
What's on in Geelong this weekendGet Keen free on the App Store or Google Play.
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