German oompah music, funky French fusion, “primitive” Aussie rock and saucy cabaret are just some of the sounds reverberating around Adelaide this weekend.

Schützenfest

Get your oompah on and head to Bonython Park this Friday and Saturday for the annual Schützenfest German festival. Hosted by the SA German Association, the festival will feature slap dancing, oompah music, strong-arm stein-lifting and bratwurst-eating competitions, a shooting range, cultural displays, and stalls selling German food and drinks. Schützenfest runs from 4pm-midnight today (Friday) and from 12pm-midnight on Saturday, with free trams between North Terrace and Bonython Park.

Sessions @ Space

French “musical menagerie” Babylon Circus are bringing their unique fusion of reggae/funk/gypsy/swing to the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Space Theatre tonight as part of the Sessions live music series. The band promises a high-energy, raucous performance, with the 10 members playing instruments including bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, sax, trumpet, trombone, accordion and clarinet. (Read more about them in this InDaily interview.)

Dino Nite

Adelaide Zoo will be open until 8pm today (Friday) for the first of two special Dino Nites timed to coincide with its Dinosaur’s Alive exhibition.  Dinosaurs Alive features nine animatronic life-like dinosaurs, plus fossil pits and other “prehistoric” activities. There will also be roving animals and zoo characters, and special keeper talks. The exhibition continues until February 2, with a second Dino Nite on January 17.

Tex Perkins is the Ape

After releasing their self-titled debut album at the end of last year, Aussie rock singer Tex Perkins’ band The Ape are playing an 18+ gig at The Gov in Hindmarsh on Saturday. The group, whose other members are Gus Agars (The Dark Horses), Pat Bourke and Raul Sanchez (Magic Dirt), describe their sound as “primitive, filthy fun rock’n’roll”. The Gov is also hosting its sixth Roots Night tonight (Friday), with acts including the Streamliners and the Steve Brown Band, and Dance! Dance! Dance, with roots, blues and rock’n’roll on Sunday arvo.

Saturday Night Soiree

This live cabaret series at La Bohème promises “a heady cabaret cocktail of music, burlesque, comedy, passion and pathos”. Saturday Night Soiree is the creation of cabaret singer Sidonie Henbest and pianist Matthew Carey, who are joined by burlesque artist Miss Sapphire Snow and circus performer/puppeteer/dancer Ninian Donald. This Saturday’s show begins at 7.30pm.

Outdoor cinema

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 – sounds like a weird weather forecast, but as those who’ve seen the first instalment will know, it’s actually an animated flick about strange food-animal hybrids. And it’s showing tonight (Friday) at the Moonlight Cinema in Botanic Park. Saturday’s screening is the Hugh Jackman thriller Prisoners, followed by Thor: The Dark World on Sunday. Wallis Cinema’s cinema on the lawns at Auchendarroch House in Mt Barker is showing the family film Walking with Dinosaurs tonight.

Get in the Blue Hive

This is the final weekend of free workshops for young people aged 10-20 at the new Blue Hive space along the Riverbank Promenade. First up is a film-making workshop (11am-12pm) with Chloe Gardner from Kids Camera Action! followed by a circus workshop (1.30-2.30pm) teaching the basics of acrobatics, balance tricks and juggling, then a conversation about the environment and sustainability (2-5pm, ages 15+).

South Pacific

With a 26-piece orchestra and a stellar cast led by Lisa McCune and Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s sweeping World War II musical South Pacific is at Adelaide’s Festival Theatre until January 26. The show also stars Christine Anu and Mitchell Butel, with a score including musical faves such as “Some Enchanted Evening”, “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” and “Bali Ha’I”. Read InDaily’s review here.

Pirates on the Popeye

Running out of ideas to entertain the small ones during the holidays? Performers from On the Fly improvisational theatre group are channelling their inner pirate for a series of interactive Torrens Sea adventures aimed at kids aged four to nine. Pirates on the Popeye includes singing, dancing, games and even a treasure hunt, with shows at 2pm every Sunday and Wednesday until January 29.

Nikon-Walkley Press Photography Exhibition

Showcasing some of the top sport, news and features photos of 2013, this exhibition is at the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Artspace Gallery until February 9, 2014. Among the work by winners and finalists in the recently announced Nikon-Walkley Awards for Excellence is the overall “Photo of the Year” by Barat Ali Batoor. Part of a photographic essay, the image shows Hazara asylum seekers on a boat bound for Australia.

Life Before Dinosaurs

Before dinosaurs, there were Permian Monsters – strange sharks, giant insects and reptiles that inhabited the earth some 290 million years ago. These bizarre creatures are the stars of the SA Museum exhibition Life Before Dinosaurs – the Permian Monsters, which features fossilised skeletons and full life-size models; visitors can also dig for fossils.

On screen

See InDaily’s reviews of the latest films screening in Adelaide:

The Book Thief
Saving Mr Banks
August: Orange County
Philomena
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
American Hustle
The Railway Man
The Gilded Cage
Night Train to Lisbon
The Spectacular Now
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Gravity