Halloween lands on a Saturday this year. Here are the best ways to spend it in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, from candlelit Halloween classics to a cocktail bar in a prison cell.
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Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, which means the whole week leading into it is fair game. Costume gigs are filling up across the country, but not every good Halloween night out has a band on the bill. Here are the ones we'd book, city by city, plus where to find the spooky gigs.
Candlelight: a haunted evening of Halloween classics
Candlelight concerts put live musicians in a beautiful old building lit by candles. For Halloween the programme turns to haunted and spooky classics, and the venues do half the work: cathedrals, a church and a town hall, after dark.
Weekly live music guide — free.
- Sydney: A Haunted Evening of Halloween Classics at St Stephen's Uniting Church
- Brisbane: A Haunted Evening of Halloween Classics in St John's Cathedral
- Perth: A Haunted Evening of Halloween Classics at Perth Town Hall
- Adelaide: Halloween Classics in St Peter's Cathedral
These are one-off seasonal sessions and they finish by Halloween, so they're the first thing on this list to sell out. Check the dates for your city before you plan the rest of the week around them.
Alcotraz: cocktails behind bars
Alcotraz bills itself as a bar behind bars. You smuggle in your own liquor, the cast turns it into bespoke cocktails, and the night plays out as interactive theatre around you. It's a strong pick for a group that wants a show and a drink in the same booking.
Prison Island: break out with your crew
If you'd rather earn your freedom than drink it, Prison Island is a run of challenge cells (34 of them in Melbourne) mixing physical, mental and skill-based tasks, inspired by escape rooms and game shows. You move cell to cell as a team and earn points as you go. It works for a group of mates, a work outing, or a costume crew warming up before a party.
Escape This: pick your fright
The proper scary option. Escape This runs horror-themed escape rooms, and Halloween is its week:
- Melbourne: Escape This Melbourne, with possessions, zombies and Van Helsing among the rooms
- Sydney: Escape This Sydney, home of Zombie Apocalypse and The Possession, in the CBD and Manly
- Perth: Escape This Perth, with The Haunting, Zombie Apocalypse and Halloweek bundles
BuzzAttack: game show night in Brisbane
Less horror, more chaos. BuzzAttack is an immersive live game show where you and your squad are the contestants. A good pre-party for a group that can't agree on anything else.
Something new while you're out
Two new exhibitions opened in time for the season, if you want something to do before the sun goes down:
- Melbourne: Banksy Limitless, an exhibition of Banksy's work, room by room
- Brisbane: Smithsonian Starstruck, an immersive trip through the cosmos
Halloween gigs on musick
And if you want a band with your fake blood, we track costume parties, horror nights, tribute shows and Halloween club nights across the country. Search every Halloween gig, or go straight to what's on this weekend in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide.
Happy Halloween. Dress up, book early, and get home safe.