There are several events at Vivid Sydney this year that will be mighty difficult to score tickets for if you aren’t diligent.
The Southern Hemisphere’s largest celebration of art, creativity and fun will once again transform Sydney into a surrealistic dreamscape of light, music, ideas and food as Vivid Sydney celebrates its 15th anniversary. Kicking off on Friday, May 23 and wrapping up on Saturday, June 14, the staggering Vivid Sydney 2025 program will fill the first few weeks of winter with unabashed excitement and innovation.
And that’s all well and good, but what if you miss out on the best bits because you spent too long trying to pick apart the program and plan ahead?
That’s where Sydney Travel Guide steps in. We don’t want you to miss out on Vivid Sydney’s big-ticket headlines so we’ve listed five of the events we think will sell-out the fastest, from dinner with Nigella Lawson to the beautiful, ethereal magic of Icelandic rockers Sigur Ros.
And be warned, some of these tickets ain’t cheap—we’re looking at you, Nigella.
1. Vivid Sydney Dinners
Global food icon Nigella Lawson is heading to the Harbour City to curate three exclusive dinners of light, sound and provenance… in a tunnel.
Set in the cutting-edge Muru Giligu Tunnel in the Martin Place Metro Station, these dinners will each be hosted by Nigella herself and include a three-course feast highlighting the best of NSW produce paired up with local premium wines.
But you’ll have to pay a pretty penny for the experience, with tickets being sold for $353, which is around about how much a Taylor Swift ticket cost when she most recently toured Sydney. To give you a bit of scope, a seven-course menu at Oncore by Clare Smyth, one of the world’s best restaurants, will set you back at least $330.
So what do you get for such a staggering price? The dinners promise a fusion of art, light, live music and flavour unlike anything Vivid Sydney has attempted before. And who better to lead the charge than one of the most recognisable faces in the wide, wonderful world of food? Details beyond that, however, are scarce.
Seats are limited and the dinner series will last for three nights only. We think these are the Vivid Sydney tickets that’ll sell the fastest so if you want to experience this exclusive event you’ll need to get to clicking.
Where: Muru Giligu Tunnel, Martin Place
When: Friday, June 6; Saturday, June 7; Sunday, June 8
Price: $353
2. Sigur Ros with Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Chiseled post-rock Icelandic trio Sigur Ros are well known for having one of the best live shows in the world, their spellbinding, contemplative powered by lead vocalist Jonsi as he sings in his native tongue. And while they are no strangers to touring Sydney, these will be special shows for the band as they celebrate over 30 years on the scene.
If you’re ready for some thrilling, deeply evocative music then you’ll need to act fact. For these Vivid Sydney performances, Jonsi has convinced the great Sydney Symphony Orchestra to help them push their irrepressible sound around the guts of the Sydney Opera House across three epic nights.
Where: Sydney Opera House
When: Friday, May 23; Saturday, May 24; Sunday, May 25
Price: Approx. $120 (tickets are not on sale yet)
3. Why We Sleep
Vivid Sydney and Sydney Writers Festival present prominent neuroscientist and author Professor Matthew Walker as the headline act for the Vivid Ideas program. Considering his New York Times bestseller, Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, has helped millions unlock one of the life’s biggest mysteries, we imagine that this will be one potentially life-changing panel no one wants to miss.
As such, you’ll need a bit of urgency. Walker will only be hosting one talk, on Tuesday, May 27, so space is very limited.
Where: Sydney Town Hall
When: Tuesday, May 27
Price: $55
4. Where Do Ideas Come From? Creativity Inside TIME’s Cover
It’s not everyday that you get to hear about the genesis of ideas from the creative director of TIME Magazine. Given the theme for Vivid Sydney is “Dream” in 2025, it makes perfect sense that organisers would pull in D.W. Pine to lead a discussion on how the publication’s famously thought-provoking covers are put together.
Few publications have shaped public discourse like TIME so if you really want to know what goes behind the scenes (and inside the mind) that’d lead to such game-changing media, this is one talk you shouldn’t miss. And yes, he’ll also touch on one of the magazine’s most frequent subjects, Donald Trump.
Where: Sydney Town Hall
When: Saturday, May 29
Price: $65
5. Tyrrell’s: A Journey Through History
Vivid Sydney didn’t always have “food” as a central element of the event. It’s only a recent development, added because Destination NSW obviously saw the appetite for exclusive dining experiences growing.
Want proof? The first ticketed Vivid Sydney event for 2025 has already sold out, and it’s a dinner with Neil Perry partnering with OzHarvest.
And so it seems the dinners will be the first to reach capacity once Vivid Sydney rolls around in late May.
One of the more exciting experiences will be Tyrell’s: A Journey Through History, hosted by fourth-generation winemaker Bruce Tyrrell with a five-course menu helmed by award-winning chef Vanessa Harcourt who is in charge of the food and catering at NSW Parliament House.
The real sticking point, however, is those wines. Tyrrell’s will be cracking open the vault for this one so expect to taste the label’s iconic Vat 1 Semillon and Vat 9 Shiraz amongst other award-winning drops from the 167-year old winery. Bruce will lead a tasting as well as a swift education on the history of one of Australia’s most symbolic wine families.
Where: NSW Parliament House
When: Thursday, May 29
Price: $250
Is Vivid Sydney 2025 free to attend?
Destination NSW are really zoning in on the cost-of-living crisis for Vivid Sydney. Particularly after the organisers courted bad press in previous years for charging for a few of the light installations.
As you’ve no doubt heard, more than 75% of the Vivid program is completely free for visitors and locals, including the iconic Vivid Light Walk. They’ve gotten rid of the ticketed events like Dark Spectrum, an immersive maze of rave-like light installations in the bowels of Wynyard’s tunnels, and Lightscape at Sydney Royal Botanic Garden. Vivid has even binned its popular drone show, which caused a dangerous crowd crush last year (thankfully, there were no injuries reported).
And all that’s left, at least from a light perspective, is a festival that is open for all to enjoy.
There’ll even be free events from Vivid’s other pillars of music and ideas. There’s no such thing as free food, however, and the Vivid Food program has some of the most expensive tickets of the program, like Nigella Lawson’s eye-popping $353 price tag. Will it be worth that much? We’ll have to wait and see.
When is Vivid Sydney 2025?
Vivid Sydney runs from Friday, May 23 to Saturday, June 14 with all four pillars—light, ideas, food and music—tied together by this year’s theme: “Dream”.
Vivid Sydney
Where: Sydney and surrounds
When: Friday, May 23 to Saturday, June 14
Price: Varies based on event although 75% of the program is completely free
Check out some of our other Vivid Sydney content
- We’ve put together everything you need to know about the Vivid Sydney 2025 program
- Vivid’s music program is stacked with variety this year from hip hop and jazz to Vietnamese pop and vintage electronica
- For the first time in the event’s 15 year history, more than 75% of Vivid Sydney’s program will be free
- What happens when dreams turn into nightmares? Find out as the immersive Stranger Things experience comes to Vivid Sydney
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