White Night

Melbourne Saturday night was the place to be.  Packed full of hundreds of thousands of people, light shows on multiple iconic buildings, events all over town, street performers all over and just a good buzz going on.  It was probably the first time I was in a church at 3:30am and there was a wide assortment of people also exploring the naves.  The "duck duck goose" game taking over a city street with over 30 people was also pretty cool.  I was blown away by the light cone, which had numerous spotlights pointed upright, forming a cone of light, a sort of roof if you will.  Crazy to be underneath it looking up.  Check it out:

Looking up!

People enjoying the feeling of being in an UFO

Leaving and looking back at a trippy extraterrestrial light to it

We missed out on the synchronized swimming event, the purple rain event (apparently the rain was really purple, and there wasn't as much Prince as you would think) and some other cool things, but the overall atmosphere was amazing and I found it better to be out on the streets soaking it all in, as opposed to waiting in line for a long time to get into an event.

And after such an amazing night, I just remember that it all started with a free outdoor concert put on by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.  They performed Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto 3, the epic piece focused around the piano.  As the program stated, it became even more famous (famouser!) in 1996 with the movie, Shine.  Pretty sweet to see it live sitting in a grass amphitheater under blue skies.

Here are miscellaneous pictures from the night.  Good times for sure.

City lights and the Princes Bridge with the White Night sign

Light projections on building

Inside St. Pauls at 3:30am

Inside the State Library, all lit up inside with the DNA of polio (or some other disease they showed us)

Outside the State Library

Free outdoor classical music!

How the day all started, with 2000 people listening to Rachmaninoff

Madness in the streest

Thousands of people in any direction

Iconic Flinders St Station all lit up like a circus