The City of Yarra’s premier celebration of local live music, the Leaps and Bounds Music Festival, returns this winter with a massive line up of in-person shows across the city.

Leaps and Bounds will be heating up 35 venues across Fitzroy, Fitzroy North, Collingwood, Abbotsford and Richmond in June and July. With gigs and events spanning all musical spheres, the festival is set to be a live music-lover’s dream.

While COVID restrictions prevented the 2021 festival from going ahead, this year’s festival will be bigger and better than ever with a slew of new shows added to the already packed program of rescheduled shows.

Yarra is the beating heart of Melbourne’s live music scene, but it has been a tough time for many in the music community. The festival will bring performers and audiences together again in such iconic venues as the Corner Hotel, the Tote and the Evelyn. Along with these old favourites, the festival will present gigs in some new and unexpected places.

It all kicks off with a pre-festival event paying tribute to community radio legend and former Yarra Citizen of the Year, the late David Heard. David was a founding volunteer of PBS FM and presented his alt-country program, Acid Country, for 40 years before his tragic passing in 2021.

“Every year during Yarra’s Leaps and Bounds Festival Heardy would host a special edition of his weekly program Acid Country, live-to-air from one of Yarra’s many live venues. This year PBS will again partner with the City of Yarra to present a very special live broadcast and tribute to David,” said PBS Program Manager, Owen McKern.

“Heardy was a true gentlemen, generous with his time and passionate about all the things in life that matter. We deeply miss his warmth, his humour and his loyal friendship here at PBS,” he said.

Join this celebration of David’s incredible legacy, featuring live performances from some of Melbourne’s finest musicians, at the live broadcast from Fitzroy’s Rainbow Hotel, 3pm to 5pm on Thursday 23 June or tune in on PBS 106.7 FM.

Meanwhile, some of the highly anticipated shows that have been rescheduled following last year’s cancellations include:

Punters Club Reunion Show – Take a trip down memory lane – aka 1990s Brunswick Street – as we pay homage to the musos who helped shape the Melbourne music scene at the storied Punters Club Hotel.

Fitzroyalty – Celebrate the soul, funk, blues and hip-hop legends of Brunswick Street, featuring Spoonful, Swingin’ Sidewalks, Acapelicans and more. Revisit all your favourites from iconic Fitzroy venues including The Evelyn, The Night Cat, Rainbow Hotel and Bar Open.

Sound As Ever Presents The Killjoys 'Ruby' and Friends – Melbourne darlings The Killjoys play their 1990 ARIA winning debut album 'Ruby' in full for a special one-off performance, with support from local heroes Glenn Bennie and Vincent Giarrusso from Underground Lovers.

Bad Apples House Party – Briggs’ record label Bad Apples Music presents the Bad Apples House Party featuring performances from First Nations artists including BARKAA, Kobie Dee, Chasing Ghosts and more.

Stay tuned for the festival line up to be announced on 16 May.

Leaps and Bounds Music Festival is proudly presented by Yarra City Council, with presenting partner PBS FM.

For event details and updates visit Leaps and Bounds Music Festival.