Hold onto your meatballs: This mega summer concert series has a tasty new line-up

Dizzee Rascal and a meatball sub. Cat Power and a chic cocktail. DMA’s and a diavola pizza. In a major boon for hungry music lovers, Live at the Gardens, Melbourne’s favourite annual outdoor concert series, returns to the Royal Botanic Gardens later this month with a red-hot line-up supercharged by food you’ll actually want to eat.

Wolf Alice, Dizzee Rascal and DMA’s headline a bumper program, with local heavyweights Bodyjar and Frenzal Rhomb rounding out a massive few weeks in the Gardens.

But the bangers will extend well beyond the music, with this year’s food and drink line-up looking every bit as compelling as what’s happening on stage.

Mauritian tearaway Boire graces the Gardens for the first time, bringing its cult sandwiches and rice bowls to the party. The sister venue to hatted maverick Manze, Boire nailed down a place in the Good Food Guide’s Top 20 Bars list last month for a second year running, and has recently found a rabid audience for its charcoal-chicken sandwich with green-chilli mayo, leaves and pickles – yours for the ordering alongside fried fish and fried eggplant options all series long.

Gertrude Street favourite Rocco’s Bologna Discoteca will roll into the Gardens in a food truck, a brand-new home away from home for Melbourne’s premier meatball sub. If you’ve never had the pleasure, expect a no-holds-barred assemblage of pork and beef meatballs, sugo, salsa verde and aged parmigiano reggiano. It’s one of Melbourne’s most recognisable sandwiches, and it’ll be joined by a roll call of Rocco’s excellence, including the caponata panino: a crusty roll packed with cold cuts, cheese and antipasti.

And if it’s pizza you seek, Melbourne institution 400 Gradi will be stretching dough for some of their greatest hits, such as the diavola, funghi and margherita.

They join a survey of well-loved mobile food vendors, such as Vietnamese Nem N’ Nem food truck, Trompo taco truck, Paella Truck and Bowl Bar.

But it’s not just the food copping an upgrade. Inner-north drinks darling Hands Down, which also cracked Good Food Guide’s Top 20 Bars this year, leads the charge with a keen edit of their favourite cocktails, while Tan Line Wines and Mount Duneed Estate will supply the wines.

“We’re thrilled to be collaborating with some of our favourite restaurants and bars from around Melbourne at the upcoming season of Live at the Gardens,” says the event’s co-director, Johann Ponniah. “Food, drink and music have long played an integral role in making the city of Melbourne a must-visit destination, and we’re excited to be combining some of the finest talents from all three fields at the Royal Botanic Gardens this November and December.”

Live at the Gardens runs from November 20, 2026, to March 7, 2027, at Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens.