While summer is on its way out (sad react), festival season and ‘mad March’ happenings are well and truly underway. There’s plenty of exciting things to do in Adelaide this March so get out there and make the most of the sunshine and festivities while they last. From music festivals to Fringe shows, there’s something for everyone to enjoy this March in Adelaide.
1. WOMADelaide
From Friday 10 until Monday 13 March, yet another massive festival of international talent is flooding the Botanic Parklands/Tainmuntilla in the city centre – World of Music, Arts and Dance, better known as WOMADelaide.
The four-day, award-winning festival is welcoming overseas, interstate, and local artists to take to the seven stages of the earthy grounds, and this year the line-up is simply divine. Think: Florence + The Machine, Aurora, Bon Iver, Dem Mob, Madeleine Peyroux, The Proclaimers, and Sampa The Great – to name a very few.
As well as the performers, WOMADelaide serves as a great platform for discussions of thinkers, scientists, activists, writers, environmentalists, journalists, economists, and communicators with The Planet Talks. And for lovers of food, at Taste the World you can share a feast with festival performers as they share their stories over dishes from home. And check out a mammoth art installation that uses NASA imagery that’s currently touring the globe.
2. Adelaide Fringe
From Thursday 17 February through to Sunday 19 March the Adelaide Fringe festival is making its grand and annual return to Adelaide – aka the most wonderful time of the year in South Australia. The Adelaide Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the southern hemisphere and hosts over 6000 independent artists in over 300 venues for shows that include cabaret, theatre, comedy, circus, music, visual arts, workshops, and heaps more.
The streets of Adelaide also turn into magical socialising spaces with plenty of dancing in the streets, free entertainment and circus-y displays which exudes a truly mesmerising energy to all those head out. With beginnings in 1960, the Adelaide Fringe has grown exponentially with 632,667 tickets having sold during the 2021 Fringe season, even in a state of Covid.
3. New Shoots Music Festival
Saturday 25 March is a better time than ever to be a tourist in your own state and head ‘overseas’ for the second annual New Shoots Music Festival at Penneshaw Oval – Kangaroo Island’s largest music event! New Shoots is set to welcome the multi-ARIA-winning alt-rockers, The Rubens (hoops and everything), and the incomparable Ross Wilson of Daddy Cool, Mondo Rock, Skyhooks, and Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, to co-headline the dreamy line-up. Find out more and secure tickets here.
4. Experience Jacob’s Creek
If you’re looking for something special to occupy your Saturday, we’ve got a couple of tricks up our sleeve. Sign up to the Jacob’s Creek newsletter and get Fever exclusive deals on events at their idyllic Barossa Valley residence. Fancy a picnic pack and bottle of Jacob’s Creek wine at the upcoming Hans Zimmer Candlelight concert? Your newsletter subscription will bag you a discount. And if you can’t make the concert, use your offer on an amazing 2 for 1 immersive wine tasting experience. This is valid until the end of 2023, as long as you book your visit by March 14!
5. Maho Magic Bar – Adelaide Fringe
Making a return to The Garden of Unearthy Delights, tucked in a vibrant, neon-lit nook is Maho Magic Bar – Australia’s first Japanese magic bar, for that matter, bursting with mischief, mayhem, and divine cocktails to boot. Bringing together four of Japan’s superstar sleight-of-hand specialists, our jaws certainly dropped a number of times throughout the performances – each and every trick was a head-scratcher and a knee-slapper. Read all about Maho Magic Bar and nab tickets here.
6. Adelaide Motorsport Festival
On both Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 March a fast and furious display of wheels, Adelaide Motorsport Festival, is rolling into town. Dubbed a ‘museum in motion’ as well as an action-packed weekend, the Adelaide Motorsport Festival will display historic, rare, and significant vehicles and epic races across the weekend.
Sportscars, touring cars, motorbikes and more will take to the track, with a different category every zooming around the joint every 10 minutes – from historic Formula 1 cars to fire-breathing Time Attacks. Sit back and witness the speed or mosey around with the local food and drinks on offer.
7. The Party – Adelaide Fringe
Quite fittingly dubbed The Party, this brand spanking new and headline Adelaide Fringe show is nothing short of wild inside The Garden of Unearthly Delights’ Spiegeltent. The Party aims to give audiences an uncensored insight into the debaucherous goings-on of a high-society soiree where nothing is off limits. A singing loo even has its time to shine accompanied by multiple pairs of underwear coming out the wazoo.
Once the doors shut behind you, be prepared to mentally step back in time to the wildest party you’ve ever been to, with the addition of acrobatics, clever skits and stunts, and even a little bit of swinging from the chandeliers. Find out more about The Party and nab tickets here.
8. TreeClimb Kuitpo Forest
Taking those who are up for an adventure to new heights, TreeClimb Kuitpo Forest offers six new elevated tree-top courses and over 85 obstacles, including fan favourites such as the zip lines, Tarzan swing, and a rock climbing wall. As well as the old faithfuls, TreeClib Kuitpo will be home to new additions including South Australia’s first Nets Course, the Family Experience, and the Zip-Loop over the Heysen Trail. Read all about TreeClib Kuitpo Forest here.
9. Move Like This – Adelaide Fringe
In a new Adelaide Fringe happening, South Australian painter and muralist, Hari Koutlakis will be revealing Move Like This, an immersive exhibition at Good Bank Gallery in McLaren Vale from 24 February until 25 March. Specialising in monochrome paintings, illustrations, and installations, Hari’s work weaves together a collage of shape, line and movement creating his signature flowing pattern, distinctly recognisable, while still evolving and changing in response to the space and time they inhabit. Read all about the exhibition here.
10. Gilles At The Grounds
On Sunday 5 March from a crisp 9am until 3pm, Gilles At The Grounds is returning to the historic Brick Dairy at the Wayville Showgrounds. There’s going to be over 100 market stalls for all your browsing needs from vintage clothes to retro homewares and eco products, delicious foods like plant-based lamb yiros and delicate cupcakes, and live music by local musicians. It’s free entry for both you and your dog too.
11. Emma Memma’s Twirly Tour
On Friday 24 March, Emma Memma will be twirling into the Norwood Concert Hall to bring visual communication to the forefront of the children’s media space. Emma Memma is honing in on a new generation of communication, where she and her friends navigate challenges and adventure using sign language, choreographed dance narratives, gesture, mime, singing, speaking, listening, making craft, and drawing. Find our more and nab tickets here.
12. Southstart/Odyssey
From Tuesday 7 to Friday 10 March, Southstart/Odyssey will see founders, industry leaders and funders come together to converse, reflect and locate the varied building blocks for growth during South Australia’s ‘Mad March’.
The multi-day experience aims to create paths to new, global connections through an immersive syllabus of in-person masterclasses, conversations, investment, activations, wellbeing activities, and regional escapades over five main events.
Event experiences have been carefully curated with founders, funders, startups and scale-ups, students, leaders, and innovators in mind and will take place at some of South Australia’s best locations and experiences including The Garden of Unearthly Delights, Lake Breeze Winery, McLaren Vale, WOMADelaide and more.
13. Celestial Gardens – Adelaide Fringe
This February at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens you can start to discover the hidden language of plants, as you wander through the Celestial Gardens. As part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival, the Bicentennial Conservatory has been taken over by this interactive installation that allows us to hear the tiny plant vibrations constantly happening all around us. Find out more details and nab tickets here.
14. The most Instagrammable cafes in Adelaide
No doubt there’s heaps of coffee spots in Adelaide. While some excel for coffee connoisseurs with a focus on the speed beans, they lack in aesthetics – which is more than A-okay for some guzzlers. But others may be looking for the whole shabang – the visuals, if you will. And blessed be, Adelaide has a number of Instagrammable cafes where you can snap and sip amongst the likes of old-world charm or green gardens. Check out the full list of cafes here.
15. Grit – Adelaide Fringe
From Tuesday 28 February through to Sunday 5 March, Grit will be brining a striking theatrical frenzy to Gluttony through the medium of daring acrobatics, neo-burlesque, and commanding dance, paired with hard-hitting sounds. Grit has enjoyed two successful pre-seasons at Nineteen Ten, Adelaide’s top Burlesque Club, with multiple sold-out shows, and the septet of performers are ready to mix pleasure and pain with grit and grace at the 2023 Adelaide Fringe. Find out more about Grit here.
16. Astro at the Australian Space Discovery Centre
On the lawns adjacent to the Australian Space Discovery Centre stands a 10-metre tall, inflatable astronaut called Astro. Astro’s purpose is to entice people to head on into the Centre and explore the hands-on immersive experience which showcases the role Australia can play in space related matters.
You can float around the Centre from Wednesdays through to Sundays, with Saturday 18 and Friday 24 February, Saturday 4, Friday 10 and Saturday 18 March open specially until 8:30pm. But if you’d just like to capture a stellar moment on your satellite device thingamabob, you can simply gaze upon Astro from Wednesday 22 February until Sunday 19 March 2023. Find out more about Astro here.
17. Lorde, Muna, and Stellie at Adelaide Festival
Making her first visit to Adelaide since 2014, New Zealand superstar Lorde will take to the stage of Adelaide Oval Village Green for one night of big pop sounds, alongside LA-based trio MUNA, and Adelaide singer-songwriter Stellie on Thursday March 16. Lorde’s massive gig in Radelaide celebrates the 2021 release of her long-awaited third studio album, Solar Power and her first new music in four years. Find out more and secure tickets here.
18. Moseley Beach Club
From now until Sunday 2 April, Glenelg Beach will see a myriad of beach umbrellas poppin’ open, bangin’ live tunes will start flowin’, and summery food and drinks will be within arm’s reach. The Moseley Beach Club taking inspiration from the Greek islands this season. The food and drink offerings will exude a Mediterranean flare. Read all about it here.
19. Strawberry picking at Beerenberg Farm
The Beerenberg Family Farm, located in the Adelaide Hills town of Hahndorf is six generations old, so rest assured they know how to produce the sweetest and best-tasting strawberries on the market. And if you’re a fan of such things, their infamous Strawberry Patch is open to the public where you can pick your own strawbs to your heart’s content. Find out all the information needed here.
20. Seeing The Invisible
Open every day from now until Saturday 30 September 2023, Seeing The Invisible brings a free augmented reality (AR) contemporary art exhibition to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Once you’ve downloaded the Seeing The Invisible app, roam around the gardens, scan the QR codes and immerse yourself in the interactive exhibition with works addressing themes around nature, the environment and sustainability. Find out more information here.