There’s honestly nothing quite like a gig at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. You get the skyline, the sunset, and enough room to actually sprawl out with your mates on the grass before the show starts. It turns a regular concert into a proper night out.
After launching in November 2024 and returning for a spectacular second series in March 2025, Live At The Gardens is back for its third unmissable series.
A collaboration between Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne and Roundhouse Entertainment (Mushroom Group), Live At The Gardens transforms the Observatory Precinct into Melbourne’s ultimate inner-city live music experience complete with great drinks, delicious food and some of the best local and international live acts.
And last night, the lineup was stacked. Delivery got things moving early with some solid tunes. If you haven’t seen them yet, they’re a local garage-punk outfit that brings serious energy; sharp, fast, and exactly what you need to wake the crowd up.
Then Teenage Dads came out and proved why they’re everyone’s current favourites; they sounded massive. When they dropped tracks like “Sunburnt”, “Teddy” and “Speedracer,” you could see the whole crowd getting into it.
If you haven’t heard it already, their cover of “Video killed the radio star” for JJJ’s Like a Version is a great introduction to their sound.
By the time Teenage Dads left the stage, the skies had well and truly opened up and the rain was pouring down. Did it stop Melbourne though? Not in the slightest.
Franz Ferdinand brought a totally different level of intensity. You forget just how many hits they actually have until they’re playing them back-to-back.
Alex Kapranos is still a magnetic frontman he hasn’t lost his edge at all. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand from the first song and with a cheeky nod let us know that it felt like being back home in Glasgow with all the rain.
When that iconic stomping beat of “Take Me Out” kicked in, the place absolutely erupted.
But it wasn’t just the nostalgia stuff; they tore through “No You Girls” and “Do You Want To” with this razor-sharp precision that makes you realise why they’ve been on top for two decades. They even made “This Fire” feel like it was going to burn the stage down.
Their whole set was loud, frantic, and incredibly tight for the hour and a half non-stop show.
This Live at the Gardens show gave the best kind of contrast: jagged, high-energy art-rock played against a backdrop of ancient trees and manicured garden beds.
No sweat-boxes, no claustrophobia, just a world-class band tearing it up under the open sky as the rain bucketed down. If you get the chance to see a show here over the summer (with hopefully more dry conditions), do it.
– Tom
Franz Ferdinand played on Friday 28 November, 2026 as part of Live at the Gardens. Check out all the upcoming shows in the Royal Botanic Gardens and book tickets here.
This venue is accessible.
