Lil’ Kim hasn’t performed in Australia for 15 years. That stretch ends on 30 May when the rapper walks onto the Festival Hall stage for RISING 2026, the city’s flagship winter festival.
RISING returns from 27 May to 8 June across Melbourne/Naarm, packing more than 100 events and 376 artists into a program that leans heavily into music and, for the first time, a dedicated Australian Dance Biennale.
Hannah Fox, artistic director and chief executive of RISING, said Lil’ Kim’s influence on a generation of women rappers cannot be overstated. “Hard Core and Notorious KIM really did carve a path. There are so many women rappers and femcees now who absolutely followed in her tiny footsteps, her funked-up, sex-positive vibe. No one was calling her a feminist icon in the 90s. I don’t know if we’d have got tracks like WAP without her. She really is a trailblazer.”
The booking, shared with Vivid Sydney, gives Melbourne audiences a rare chance to celebrate two landmark albums three decades after Hard Core‘s release. Festival Hall’s 30 May show will be one of the festival’s tightest tickets.
Outside the headline act, RISING 2026 has drawn criticism for a program that, beyond dance and contemporary music, “looks somewhat sparse this year”, according to ArtsHub. But early chatter on Reddit’s r/triplej suggests punters are more than happy with the mix of hip-hop, experimental music and dance that’s landed.
The inaugural Australian Dance Biennale is the festival’s boldest new addition. Lucy Guerin Inc will premiere The Forest at the Union Theatre from 4–7 June, a new work exploring human connection to trees and ecosystems. Chunky Move revives the interactive Glow, and Sissy Ball returns as a queer celebration of Dancehall culture.
For music fans, the program stretches well beyond Lil’ Kim. Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 bring Afrobeat royalty, Cate Le Bon delivers her art-pop, and Saint Levant, Dry Cleaning and Kae Tempest round out a line-up that feels curated rather than crammed. Day Tripper, the festival-within-a-festival, takes over Max Watt’s and Melbourne Town Hall with multi-room sets that reward careful planning.
If you’re weighing up what to book, treat Lil’ Kim and The Forest as the two non-negotiables. Both have short runs and real scarcity: the rapper’s first Australian show in a decade and a half will move fast, and the Lucy Guerin premiere only spans four nights. Book early, and if you’re doing Day Tripper, study the room splits before you arrive, or you’ll be sprinting between stages while the best sets play out.
For those watching their budget, RISING hasn’t forgotten the city beyond the ticket booth. Free public installations and open-air performances will activate Fed Square and surrounding precincts across the 12 days. Check the full program for low-cost and family-friendly options.
Getting around is straightforward if you leave the car at home. Tram routes 1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, 70, 72, 75 and 96 connect the festival’s scattered venues, with Flinders Street Station as the main interchange. Many shows finish late, so plan your trip home before you head out.
Combine a Festival Hall gig with a pre-show drink in a laneway bar, or wander Federation Square afterwards to catch whatever pop-up activation is lighting the night. RISING’s strength has always been turning the whole city into a venue, and this year’s lineup does just that.
Lil’ Kim’s Festival Hall date is a piece of hip-hop history landing in Melbourne. For 12 days, the city’s theatres, ballrooms and squares become the stage. The only question is where you’ll be standing when the music starts.
Quick Facts
RISING
Melbourne’s flagship winter festival of new art, music and performance. It transforms theatres, galleries, public squares and unexpected spaces across the city with large-scale events each year.