The MAAD block party will take over Adelaide’s West End with live music and events galore for Illuminate Adelaide’s closing night.

Illuminate Adelaide 2021 will save the biggest event for last with the MAAD (Music & Art After Dark) block party taking over Adelaide’s West End for one night only.

Live music, exhibitions, cinema and light installations will bring our favourite venues, galleries and laneways to life on Illuminate’s final Saturday, 31 July.

“We are super excited to bring this eclectic program of music and art to the West End to celebrate the final weekend of Illuminate Adelaide,” say Illuminate Adelaide co-Creative Directors Lee Cumberlidge and Rachael Azzopardi.

The Avalanches will bring the inaugural event to a crescendo with an electrifying DJ set at the MAAD Outdoor Stage – a towering beacon of light in the centre of George Street that will work as the epicentre of the night.

The Avalanches

Before taking on the MAAD Outdoor Stage, The Avalanches will be in conversation with radio presenter Zan Rowe and artist Jonathan Zawada from 4pm ‘til 5pm in the UniSA Hawke Building on North Terrace.

The panel, which is free to view, will unpack the band’s past, present and future, allowing you to get to know Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi before seeing them on stage.

There’s also plenty to do in between these events, and with so little time to do it, CityMag has taken the liberty of plotting out the night to help you navigate how you’ll make the most of your MAAD experience.

Start the night right with the MAAD Welcome by the Iwiri Choir in the Lion Arts Courtyard at 5pm.

Across from the Lion Arts Courtyard, the Breezeway Bar will be serving up Yalumba Wines and Sparkke brews, in addition to a DJ program and VR installation by local artist Jess Taylor.

DyspOra

West End galleries will throw open their doors from 5pm ‘til 9pm, inviting audiences to explore existing exhibitions at night, as well as specially programmed events.

From the Breezeway Bar, you’re in a prime position to visit the Nexus Gallery and lose yourself in NEST: A Place Called Home by Tailor Winston, or pop into ACE Open to see Bridget Currie’s Message from the meadow and explore how art can trigger sensory effects.

Head across the road to MOD. for IT’S COMPLICATED and pull back the curtain on the seemingly simple to reveal just how complex the world can be.

The Samstag Museum of Arts will feature the serialised film BIOPIC or Charles Geneviève Louis Auguste André Timothée by Samstag Scholar Madison Bycroft.

Dancing shoes go on at 6pm as venues open their doors and invite you in for drinks and DJs.

Peter Rabbit will host an urban garden party amid the concrete jungle of Hindley Street, with overgrown plants, punchy cocktails and zingy shared eats. Adelaide DJs Fantastic Black Plastic and Danvers will provide beats until 10pm.

Foodies rejoice, as Sunny’s Pizza pops up at the West Oak, providing fire-oven pizzas from 6pm ‘til 10pm while you move to the musical stylings of DJs LL Cool Dre and Late Nite Lew.

The MAAD Outdoor Stage will host South Sudanese-born, Adelaide hip-hop artist DyspOra from 7:30pm ’til 8pm, and Melbourne DJ and fashion designer Soju Gang from 8:30pm ‘til 9:30pm.

Soju Gang

International electronic and experimental music and sound platform, Unsound will make an appearance at Jive and Lion Arts Factory for their much-anticipated return to Adelaide.

Co-directors of Unsound Mat Schulz and Gosia Płysa say they’re thrilled to collaborate with Illuminate Adelaide on MAAD for their return to Adelaide.

Corin

The Jive lineup includes Melbourne’s internationally renowned underground duo HTRK; experimental icons MY DISCO; Sydney’s maestro of ambient music, Del Lumanta; and Aviva Endean’s Vibrato Virtual, where attendees become part of an audience-operated, multi-speaker sound system, using their mobile phones.

Lion Arts Factory will host Berlin-based DJ Plead with his unique Lebanese-influenced palette; New Zealand electronic artist Air Max ’97; Void, a new Unsound-commissioned music video collaboration between Kenya’s Slikback and encryption’s Weirdcore; video artist and cinematographer CAPITAL WASTE; and Filipina-Australian producer, composer and performer Corin.

“The program puts the focus firmly on the vibrancy of the Australian electronic, experimental and club music scenes, with established and emerging artists embodying the innovative spirit that lies at the heart,” says Mat and Gosia.

Be sure to make it back to the MAAD Outdoor Stage by 10pm when The Avalanches finish the night with a bang, providing the most anticipated DJ set of the night until 11:30pm.

If you’re not ready to head home yet, Lion Arts Centre will reopen its doors from 11pm ‘til late for the Night Shift.

For the full MAAD program, head over to the Illuminate Adelaide website and plan yourself a night to remember.