Nikos Vertis wows the crowd at Melbourne’s Antipodes Festival

·

Thousands of enthusiastic Melburnians packed the historic Greek heart of Melbourne for the first Antipodes Festival in nearly two years.

Headlining the Festival, Greek singer Nikos Vertis brought his full 15 piece band and stage show to the Bendigo Bank Main stage playing his hits to an adoring crowd. His 90 minute performance wowed the adoring crowd who came out in their thousands to see the Greek musical star.

On the #LoveLonsdale Stage, the program featured music, dance, a yoghurt face bonbbing competition and culminated in a special performance by Cretan musicians Giannis Tsourdalakis and Giorgos Psarakis who inspired the enthusiastic crowd to break out in Cretan dancing well into the night.

“It has been a huge effort to get the Festival up and running this year” said Festival chair Leonidas Vlahakis. “We don’t normally play at this time of the year but we have been keen to get our events up and running again so here we are in October closing down Lonsdale Street for a good old fashioned Glendi”.

Alongside the rides and 80 pop up market stalls, the Festival’s kids program featured traditional shadow puppetry called “Karagiozi”. The popular performances were staged by the Greek Community of Melbourne’s education team and featured puppeteers Dean Kalymniou and Jeremy Artis.

“Melbourne had a Greek heartbeat last night” said Spiridoula Demetriou, GCM Cultural Programs committee member who highlighted the newly unveiled Parthenon Frieze replica that now adorns the Greek Centre balcony and was unveiled by Premier Dan Andrews as a personal highlight. “Its been a great event and in amongst the fun and entertainment the unveiling of the stunning Parthenon Frieze replica on the Greek Centre balcony was particularly poignant for me.”

In his address to the large crowd at the official event opening, Premier Daniel Andrews who was joined on stage by the leader of the opposition Matthew Guy, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Giles, the Junior Minister for Home Defence of Greece, members of council, parliament and the Greek Orthodox church and the visiting Lord Mayor of Kalamata, the Premier both unveiled the $500,000 frieze and committed his Government to continuing to fund Antipodes to the tune of $200,000 per year for the next four years.

“The Festival has been great, and the announcement of the ongoing Government support by the Victorian Government allows us to continue to plan to make the next Festival even better” said Greek Community of Melbourne Vice President Dr Jim Bossinakis. 

The Festival will return on 25 and 26 February in 2023.

Advertisement

Share:

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH TGH

By subscribing you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Advertisement

Latest News

Earlwood’s Greek spirit centre stage as ‘Plateia’ Festival secures state funding

The City of Canterbury Bankstown will host the “Love Earlwood” festival thanks to the NSW Government’s Open Streets 2025-28 Program.

Greek Consul General honoured at Hellenic Club farewell event in Sydney

Sydney’s Greek community came together on Thursday for a dignified farewell dinner in honour of Greece’s Consul General, Ioannis Mallikourtis

Field of candidates announced for 2025 Greek Community of Melbourne Board election

Greek Community of Melbourne has officially called elections for a new Board of Directors, with members set to head to the polls on June 29.

Australia Cup 2025: Strong Greek heritage club presence as Final 32 locked in

The cast for the Hahn Australia Cup 2025 Round of 32 has been decided following the completion of the Preliminary Rounds.

Apostolakis and Trimis named on Young Matildas squad for upcoming training camp

CommBank Young Matildas Head Coach Alex Epakis has settled on a 32-player squad for a domestic training camp to be held in Sydney.

You May Also Like

Assistant Commissioner Paul Pisanos among candidates for senior role at NSW Police

Assistant Commissioner Paul Pisanos is among a number of strong candidates to fill a senior role at NSW Police.

Greek farmers confirm livestock plague won’t impact feta production

Greek farmers have reassured feta cheese production will continue as normal after concerns following the spread of a virus among livestock.

Yiannis Ploutarhos concert to hit Canberra for one night only

With a singing career spanning over 20 years, Ploutarhos’ voice is well known not only in Greece but around the world.