Newtown Was Pumping as King Street Crawl Made Its Long-Awaited Return

King Street Crawl has finally made its return, taking place for the first time since 2022. The day-long festival, making its original debut in 2015, showcases a large and varied selection of Australian bands across many different venues in Newtown, Enmore and Erskineville. 

This year 150+ artists are playing across 25 venues. The venues extend from as far East as the Vanguard on King Street to as far West as Vic on the Park on Enmore Road.

The event has been revived by Sydney music event runners the Music and Booze Co. Some of the bigger names to feature on the lineup this year include Shady Nasty, Caitlin Harnett and the Pony Boys, The Lazy Eyes and R.M.F.C.

Kicking off at midday, smaller bands are scheduled to warm up crowds for the larger bands later on. 

Fast-forward to the evening, and foot traffic and long lines define King Street. Walking from the Newtown Hotel all the way up toward the Duke of Enmore, this feels like no other Sunday night in Newtown. People are everywhere, all of the restaurants are full of people, and lines extend outside pubs up and down King Street.

Ultimately, the aim of the game is to stick it through a long line and make it into a venue, which now becomes your base for the rest of the night.

The line for Mary’s, where headliners Shady Nasty are due to perform, extends far up the block 15 minutes before they’re due to begin. There’s no chance even a quarter of these punters will make it into a venue already at capacity.

Up at small cocktail bar the Midnight Special on Enmore Road, local punk band R.M.F.C are finishing up their set. With the stage positioned right beside the open doorway onto the street, dozens of fans crowd the entrance to watch and listen.

I make it into Kelly’s on King Street, where Newcastle band ‘dust’ are set to play their headline set shortly after 10pm. As their set begins, the long, narrow gig room becomes quickly crammed in with people, shoulder to shoulder all the way through. I don’t think I’ve seen the space so packed out since a previous King Street Crawl. 

You get the impression that at least half the crowd don’t know the band but are here just for the sheer spectacle of the event.

I leave Kelly’s to make moves toward the final venue putting on music for the night – late night hub Pleasure Club. Sydney local Annie Hamilton is playing an 11pm set to a raucous crowd. Her original songs are interspersed with a Charli XCX medley, where she covers Von Dutch and I Love It. She rounds out her set, as King Street Crawl ends with a funky DJ set in the basement-y space of Pleasure Club.

It’s a wonderful thing that King Street Crawl has made its return, as it’s one of the absolute must-attends for a live music fan in Sydney. An opportunity on this scale to see both bands you know, and to discover new favourites is very rare. You just need to be prepared to stand in line to secure your spot.