Rooftop Roots & Reggae - Winter Edition

As the Canberra cold settles in, Rooftop Roots + Reggae returns with an evening of deep basslines, heavyweight grooves, rooftop energy and winter warmth high above the city

❄️🔥 Bringing together live bands, DJs and sound systems, this open-air session is all about roots culture, community vibes, and proper soundsystem pressure under the winter sky and it's aim is to spread grass roots positive vibes and energy of the reggae, dub, ska and bass-centric variety!🌆🔊

📍 Blank Rooftop (above King O Maleys)
🗓 Saturday July 25
🕓 4PM – 10PM

Featuring:

🎺 THIS WAY ORKESTRA 🎺
Canberra collective blending reggae, dub, afrobeat, jazz and cinematic grooves into powerful horn-driven original music built for both the dancefloor and deep listening.

🌴 KOPASETIC 🌴
Long-running Canberra favourites delivering uplifting roots reggae, soulful grooves and earthy live jams inspired by classic Jamaican soundsystem culture.

🔊 AGENCY DUB COLLECTIVE 🔊
Australian live dub pioneers combining deep bass pressure, live instrumentation and immersive electronic textures into heavyweight soundsystem journeys.

🎧 Plus DJs + sound systems spinning roots reggae, dub, dancehall, steppers and global bass throughout the evening 🌇💛

We'll have warm drinks ☕ heaters 🌬dancing bodies 💃 rooftop vibes 🌃 and a proper winter session powered by Canberra’s local music community 🤝

🧣 Rug up, bring your crew, and come catch the heat 🔥

Ok, this part is quite an adventure. Just pretend you're in Melbourne and finding the spot is half the fun.

Step 1: Find the 131 City Walk building. The event is hosted across the rooftop and level 2 lounge of the independent city arts centre, Blank Cultural Platform (Blank). Blank is located across the first three floors of 131 City Walk, Civic. You might know it as the corner building with the longstanding King O'Malleys Irish Pub.

Step 2: Enter via Blank's mini-lobby at Mort St. Once you're in the rough vicinity of 131 City Walk, head to the Mort St side of the building - it's the one with the bus interchange (look for Platform 8), not the King O'Malleys side. Once you find Platform 8, the door with Blank's venue sign is only two meters away. Enter this door and you'll be in our mini-lobby.

Step 3: Scale the building. Don't worry, the hard part is mostly over. Once you're in the mini-lobby, you'll be let into a stairwell or assisted with the elevator. If you're taking the stairs, climb two storeys until you see a door labelled "KNOCK". Proceed to knock, and you will be let into the venue.

We're a 5 minute (400m) walk from the Alinga St light rail, a 5 minute walk from the Canberra Centre carpark (300m), a 30 second walk from the City Bus Exchange, and there are plenty of bike racks outside our building too.

The elevator to the venue has a width of 80cm. There is an accessible bathroom on the first floor of the building that any event staff can gladly take you to upon request. 131 City Walk, where Blank Cultural Platform is located, is not publicly accessible via a car - this unfortunately means there are no immediate accessible car spaces.