The first Winterland Festival (5-31 July 2010) is opening to the public today at Carriageworks in Eveleigh, part of Sydney’s cutting edge arts centre. With a series of 18 free live music events featuring over 100 local and emerging artists as well as arts, food and skating, even dancing, the venue will host themed winter nights (6-10pm) throughout the month.

The concept of an indoor designers market and ice rink curated by The Finders Keepers team is a lovely idea. Considering the generous space of the venue, we however hope to see the festival progressively grow into bigger scale from current handful of stalls and tiny rink. Entry to Winterland is free of charge whilst ice skating require tickets.

Thursday nights see emerging and established bands will have themed nights including alt country (8 July) with the likes of Sydney newcomers tipped the ‘next big thing’ – The Preachers, old timey hillbilly band The Lurkers, fiddle fuelled gypsy pop group Wil Massey and The Ghost Trio, and singer/songwriter Charlie Trindall. Winterland goes unplugged with an acoustic/folk night (15 July) staring Triple J Unearthed’s winner Leroy Lee and Rosie Catalano, alongside mellow sounds of indie folk artists Kate Duffy, Frontiers in Photography, and Quiet Titans. A jazz and blues night (22 July) explores a smooth mix of jazz-funk and soulful grooves with The John Hardaker Direction and Charlotte Jane. And 2SER presents the final Thursday night (29 July) at Winterland with new and unsigned bands.

Friday nights are fending off the cold with a little disco fever – a Disco on Ice, complete with giant disco ball, and music from Future Classic DJs kicks off 9 July with Arithmatix!, the disco alias of Sydney DJ Michael Di Francesco – one of the first artists Future Classic ever released on their record label. Spruce Lee hits the decks 16 July with blistering dance floor bombs and heartfelt soul jams. Spruce Lee has remixed local heroes Architecture in Helsinki and legendary Bagraiders, occasionally breaking out his alter ego Toni Toni on the mic while he’s DJing – here’s hoping. Loin Brothers – Long John Saliva and Paradise Lost’s DJ Silvio join Winterland (23 July); and Sydney DJ Simon Caldwell (30 July) plays the final night – he’s worked with the highest order of international talent including artists like Grace Jones, Normay Jay and James Brown.

Saturday nights headline with live music from Feral Media (10 July) featuring warm beats created by a number of leading electronic and ambient musicians – Vorad Fils, Gentleforce, Broken Chip, Textile Audio and Underlapper. Music for Trees (17 July) – a non-for-profit group who plant trees from money raised at their gigs – showcases live sets from Ray Mann, The Slowdowns, Stiff Gins, The Delroys and The Anon Anons. Karaoke night, with host Tim Jackman, (24 July) is a night to pick your favourite tunes and sing away – with duets, harmonised backing singers, support dancers and personal groupies welcome. The festival finishes up on 31 July with Oxfam Australia’s Exchange for Change event where local bands play during a mass clothing exchange, bring clothes to swap and join a hands-on workshop plus a series of talks and panel discussions about labour rights with ethical fashion alongside a fashion parade.

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