John Farnham, Boy & Bear, Icehouse And
A Wattle Seed Espresso Cocktail!

A WEEKEND In The Gardens has it all!

The announcement of the inaugural A WEEKEND In The Gardens received a wonderful reception with tickets selling strongly to all three concerts across the March long weekend.

John Farnham, Boy & Bear and ICEHOUSE will respectively headline each evening’s performances.

However, the event is designed to be far more than just the music – amazing as that is!

A big part of A WEEKEND In The Gardens is about working with, and enhancing, the beautiful environment that is the Royal Botanic Gardens. To that end we’ve created “The Eatery”, a vibrant space adjoining the concert site for relaxing, whilst enjoying high quality food and drink from a wide variety of funky stalls.

And to celebrate the Gardens, what better than to use some of its’ native ingredients in the offerings …. and that will happen with the Native Cocktail Bar. Wattle seeds, lemon myrtle, Eucalyptus citriodora, muntries and riberries will nestle next to the Vodka, Gin and Whisky for our Cocktails with a Botanical punch!

Shaun Byrne (ex-Gin Palace, Maidenii Vermouth & Good Measure Consultants and guide to walking tours through the Gardens) has curated four very special cocktails for the event. “I’ve always loved working with native botanicals and I’m passionate about encouraging people to recognise and sample some of the bounty of our native products. I also love the Royal Botanic Gardens and so I was super excited to do this,” Shaun says. Check these out:

Wattle Seed Espresso Cocktail
Vodka, Wattle Seed Syrup, Cold Brew Coffee
Wattle Seeds come from the Acacia family and are roasted & ground. Their flavour is somewhat similar to coffee and cacao

Citriodora Collins Cocktail
Gin, Citriodra Syrup, Soda, Absinthe
The leaves from both Backhousia citriodora (Lemon Myrtle) & Eucalyptus citriodora (Lemon-Scented Gum) are used to give a huge lemony kick

Negroni Soda Cocktail
Gin, Maidenii Sweet Vermouth, Red Okar, Native Soda
Both the Maidenii & Okar use quite an amount of native plants. The native soda will be a soda using native muntries, riberries, davidson plums & vanilla. Flavour wise the soda tastes similar to a creamy soda with a bitter edge & some plummy floral characters

Native Nuts Cocktail
Whisky, Native Nut Syrup, Coconut Water
The native nut syrup combines things like Macadamias & Bunya Nuts, perhaps some sandalwood nuts too. The flavour of these are nut like, and slightly creamy.

“The Eatery” will also offer a wide selection of beers, ciders, spirits and Mitchelton fine wines & sparkling.

Foodies can delight on Ladro pizzas, Italian fries & calamari, Burn City Smokers, The Royale Brothers killer burgers, Mr Chow (Vietnamese) & Happy Endings by Mr Chow (Vietnamese Ice-cream) and a Pommery Champagne & Oyster Bar to name a few!

For those wanting to spoil themselves even further, acclaimed restaurant Jardin Tan – located at the rear of the site – is offering a VIP Canapes package.

A WEEKEND In The Gardens is also pleased to welcome Melbourne Visual Artist Carla O’Brien who is creating a unique ‘Art Garden’ for patrons to interact with and enjoy. Carla specialises in neon art, her signature piece being the ‘Neon Angel Wings’ which received worldwide publicity when Katy Perry self-ied with them at the Burning Man festival last year. The ‘Art Garden’ will feature some bespoke neon pieces created especially for the event, while trees will be floodlit in green and white light.

Promoter Michael Newton from Roundhouse Entertainment said: “We’re thrilled to be given the opportunity to present concerts in this iconic Melbourne place so we have been keen to enhance the music so patrons really appreciate being a part of this special environment.“

As previously announced the wonderful artists for the very first A WEEKEND In The Gardens are:

FRIDAY MARCH 10
John Farnham, Daryl Braithwaite, Ross Wilson
Reserved Seats and GA admission (byo deck chairs & picnic rugs)
Concert runs from 4.00pm – 11.00pm

*
SATURDAY MARCH 11
Boy & Bear, San Cisco, Amy Shark
GA admission only
Concert runs from 4.00pm – 11.00pm

*
SUNDAY MARCH 12
ICEHOUSE, James Reyne, Clare Bowditch
Reserved Seats and GA admission (byo deck chairs & picnic rugs)
Concert runs from 4.00pm – 11.00pm

For full event details, go to www.aweekend.com.au.