Nightcliff Seabreeze Festival back for nineteenth year running after funding scare

Nightcliff’s iconic Seabreeze Festival is back this weekend after a funding scare, featuring hundreds of local musos including an Australian virtuoso playing a rare instrument. See what’s in store.

Country singer Gleny Rae Virus performing at the Darwin Country Music Muster in 2018. Picture: Keri Megelus

Thousands are expected to usher in the dry season at Nightcliff Seabreeze Festival this weekend, which will see more than 2000 individual performers play across twelve stages.

From Friday to Sunday, the Nightcliff foreshore will come alive with music, aquatics and talks about environmental and social issues.

Among the other festival attractions is everything from art exhibitions and food stalls to a sand sculpture competition and a “Disco in the Pool” party.

Folk country singer Gleny Rae Virus may be one of the few musicians taking the stage with a fiddle, launching her new pop-inspired track “Ribcage” at 6pm on Sunday.

Fiddle player Gleny Rae Virus will play at the 2024 Nightcliff Seabreeze Festival. Picture: Kate Atkinson

In 2023, she won the Australian Folk Music Award for Instrumentalist of the Year and currently lives in Alice Springs where she teaches music and writes.

“There’s such a rich culture and love of music in the Red Centre that I think a lot of people don’t realise,” Gleny Rae said.

“There’s a real love of music – even if some kids can’t play an instrument, singing is something that brings everyone together.

“Music is a great way to exercise your emotional elasticity and go outside yourself. There are a lot of bad things in life, but it gives you solace that someone else is going through the same thing you are.

“For me, it’s a hobby, it’s a profession, and a love.”

Gleny Rae said that concertgoers could expect an eclectic mix of bluegrass, country folk and New Orleans jazz when she plays.

Logistics manager Andrew Arthur was one of the festival’s original co-founders and said it filled the gap for “niche and smaller artists,” adding that “the engagement and the level of artistic prowess in Darwin is remarkable”.

More than 30,000 people attended the 2023 Nightcliff Seabreeze Festival according to co-founder Andrew Arthur. Picture: Sierra Haigh

“You’ve got all sorts of music and that diversity is reflective of Darwin,” Mr Arthur said.

“We have all these different communities, but Seabreeze is about bringing everyone together.”

Mr Arthur said more than 30,000 visitors attended last year’s festival, and his advice was to “get here early” and arrive by public transport or a bike if possible.

Public buses travelling to and from the event are free.

The festival’s future was thrown into doubt last year when organisers said they were unexpectedly handed a $1350 power bill by the City of Darwin which they could not pay.

However, local businessman Tim O’Connor stepped in to cover the costs, telling the NT News it was “a drop in the ocean compared with what that does for people in the community”.