Buskers get green light to play all night in Melbourne CBD

CITY buskers will be allowed to perform until 5am under a plan by the city council to activate the CBD.

Bobz and Candy from Colorful Blac... CITY buskers will be made to perform until 5am under a plan by the city council to activate the CBD. Lord Mayor Robert Doyle says the move will help ÒnormaliseÓ major streets when 24 hour public transport rolls in from January 1. Picture : Mike Keating.

• Melbourne gearing up for 24-hour travel

CITY buskers will be allowed to perform until 5am under a plan by the city council to activate the CBD.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle says the move will help “normalise” major streets when 24-hour public transport rolls in from January 1.

“We’re going to become much more like one of those Spanish cities where people go and take a nap at home, get changed and go out at 11 at night and have dinner at midnight and want something to do at 1am then go home at 3,” he said.

Musicians, jugglers and magicians will play locations likely to be Bourke and Queen streets from 1-5am.

Musicians Bobz Ng and Candy Foo from Colorful Blac have been short-listed to entertain the masses.

“Every time I walk through the city and there isn’t a busker the city seems dead. That’s what makes Melbourne so vibrant,” Bobz Ng said.

“For us we don’t sleep until 6 in the morning so the hours suit us.”

Melbourne City Council is currently assessing expressions of interest and will select buskers in the New Year.

The state government’s one year Night Network trial will see 24 hour train and tram services run on Friday and Saturday.

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