The Australia Day long weekend brings with it a host of celebrations in the city and beyond, from citizenship ceremonies, concerts and fireworks, to barbecues, a thong challenge and ute muster. Other events include the inaugural Cider Festival, outdoor cinema, Shakespeare in the vines and more.

Australia Day in the City

City celebrations begin with the Australia Day parade, which starts at 6pm on Sunday at Victoria Square and will wend its way to Elder Park, where singer and dancer Timomatic will headline a free family concert from 7pm-10pm. The finale will be a fireworks display, with fireworks being launched from the roof of the Convention Centre for the first time. Full details online.

… and at the beach

A giant thong challenge, ute muster and screens streaming the one-day cricket action from Adelaide Oval – it doesn’t get much more Aussie than that. Events at Glenelg will begin with a bacon and egg breakfast in front of the Surf Life Saving Club, followed by the citizenship and Australia Day Awards ceremony, then the Havaianas Australia Day Thong Challenge (10am-4pm). Th ute muster is at Wigley Reserve, with the “One Dayer Live Site” at Colley Reserve.

At Henley at 10am, there’s a satellite Tour Down Under event, with the Jetty to Jetty long swim. You can dry off while watching the final stages on big screens from Henley Square.

Most suburbs, towns and regional areas throughout SA hold their own Australia Day events, which are listed on the official website.

Sunday Sessions

Get down to the Riverbank on Australia Day for a barbecue overseen by SA meat master Richard Gunner.  The “Sunday Session”, an event run by the Adelaide Food and Wine Festival, will also feature local beer, cider and wine. The event runs from 11am to 10pm at the Blue Hive, near the Dunstan Playhouse. More details here.

Sarah Blasko

Sarah Blasko brings her Heavenly Sounds tour to Adelaide tonight (Friday) with, appropriately, a performance at the Flinders Street Baptist Church. The tour is celebrating her ARIA-nominated album I Awake, but Blasko says she will be playing songs from all four of her albums and “it’s likely to be the most intimate show of mine you’ll see for some time”. When we last looked, there were still tickets available for the 7.30pm all-ages show.

Pilotfest 2014

Independent Adelaide-based record label Pilot Records and podcast producers play / pause / play are presenting this live music event at the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Space Theatre tonight. Part of the summer Sessions series, Pilotfest will feature electronic and experimental acts including Oddessa, Glass Skies, Brokers, No Birds and Slamagotchi.

Orchard Cider Festival

Adelaide’s first Orchard Cider Festival will be held in Hindmarsh Square on Saturday, promising – as you would expect – a range of ciders, plus wine, cocktails, street food and entertainment including a DJ and live performances from the likes of Mr Goodnight, Gilding and Iron Empire. The festival will run from midday until 8pm.

Macbeth

Adelaide emerging professional theatre company Foul Play is taking an usual approach to the story of Macbeth, presenting the play with two casts – one male, one female – at Plant 1 in Bowden.  Director Yasmin Gurreeboo promises it will be “very different from any Macbeth that you might have seen, or one that you might expect to see.” Performances will continue until February 9 at Plant 1, which is on the corner Park Terrace and Fifth Street.

Shakespeare in the vines

Still talking Bard business, Deviation Road cellar door in the Adelaide Hills is the magic outdoor setting for a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream tonight (Friday). Gates open at 6pm and the show starts at 7pm. The same Vines Essential Theatre production will be on at McLaren Vale’s Coriole Vineyards on Australia Day. Details here.

Moonlight Cinema

It’s not a house, it’s a home! The Moonlight Cinema in Botanic Park is marking Australia Day with a Sunday night screening of 1997 comedy The Castle, in which Darryl Kerrigan (aka Michael Caton) battles airline authorities’ attempts to destroy his family’s serenity by forcing them from their home. Friday’s film is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, with 12 Years a Slave showing on Saturday night.

Outdoor Cinema at Mt Barker

Wallis Cinema’s cinema on the lawns of Auchendarroch House in Mt Barker is also going all Aussie Aussie Aussie on Sunday, showing the quintessential outback film Red Dog. Other al fresco flicks this weekend are animated family feature Frozen on Friday night, and horror/thriller Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (M) on Saturday night. Fridays are alcohol-free, but there is a licensed bar operating during other screenings.

David Garnham & the Reasons

Australian band David Garnham & the Reasons – which describes its sound as “craft country tinged ballads about booze and women, fuelled by isolation and self-loathing” – is bringing its Getting Good at Leaving Town tour to the Wheatsheaf Hotel on Sunday. The gig begins at 4pm, with support by SA singers Sam Brittain and Kelly Menhennett.

Adelaide Night Market

The  Adelaide Night Market returns to North Terrace (between Kintore Avenue and King William Road) on Sunday from 4-8pm. Coinciding with the Australian Day Parade, it will feature street food, and stall selling clothing, jewellery, cultural goods and gourmet produce.

South Pacific

This is your last chance to see this production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s sweeping World War II musical South Pacific at Adelaide’s Festival Theatre, with the final performance on January 26. The show features a 26-piece orchestra and a cast including Lisa McCune, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Christine Anu and Mitchell Butel. Read InDaily’s review here.

Restless Dance Theatre

Salt, the latest work by this award-winning Adelaide company for disabled and non-disabled dancers, also has its final performance at Norwood’s Odeon Theatre this weekend. The production, featuring four dancers and music by DJ TR!P, is described as “an exploration of worth, value and commodity, not just in terms of material goods, but also in self-esteem and societal values”.

On screen

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

The Wolf of Wall Street
Inside Llewyn Davis
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
The Book Thief
Saving Mr Banks
August: Orange County
Philomena
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
American Hustle
The Railway Man
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire