Robbie Williams at Accor Stadium Leads a Packed East Coast Weekend

Robbie Williams plays Accor Stadium on Saturday 14 November at 5 PM, the biggest single ticket on an East Coast weekend calendar that runs from free wine tastings in The Rocks to a sold-out Rugby League World Cup finals doubleheader at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.

The BRITPOP World Tour stop is Williams's latest move in a fortnight that has included a Melbourne Cup performance and a Prahran pop-up. Tickets start at $79 through Ticketmaster. The promoter's warning is practical: Sydney Olympic Park on a major concert night punishes anyone improvising transport, and there is a second arena show running in the same precinct.

Joji brings his SOLARIS Tour to Afterpay Arena the same evening at 7 PM, with tickets from $132. The Japanese-American singer and producer, who built his audience after leaving internet comedy behind, offers what the listings call "a different proposition to the stadium-sized singalong happening across the precinct" — alternative R&B and electronic production for a crowd that skews contemporary.

What can you do for free this weekend?

Plenty, which is worth noting in a weekend marketed around superstition — it is, after all, Friday the 13th.

• Sydney Cellar Door, Friday 13 to Sunday 15 November, transforms The Rocks into an open-air wine festival with more than 35 NSW wineries, live music and gourmet street food. Entry is free; tasting packs cost $40 standard or $65 premium.
• Made in the Inner West runs through Sunday 15 November, joining 13 local breweries — Wayward, Batch and Young Henrys among them — for tap takeovers, collaborative brews and live music. Wandering between venues costs nothing; drinks are at venue prices.
• Cars & Coffee at Sydney Motorsport Park, Saturday 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM, gathers classic, European and custom vehicles, with coffee and a club car cruise on track. Entry is free via enthusiast.com.au.

The free entry claims deserve one caveat: at the wine festival the tasting pack is effectively mandatory if you intend to drink, and at the brewery festival the "tasting tab could become another matter entirely," as the listing itself concedes.

What happens at Sydney Olympic Park on Sunday?

The Sydney Kings host the New Zealand Breakers at Afterpay Arena on Sunday 15 November at 3 PM, an Indigenous Round fixture with pre-game entertainment including a performance from Yung Milla. Tickets start at $25. For anyone who has been meaning to attend an NBL game this season, the fixture doubles as the precinct's fourth major draw in three days.

Is summer here yet, according to the Margarita Index?

Boss Hunting and Cointreau say yes — or at least they have built an instrument to argue the case. The National Margarita Index, launched ahead of the official 1 December start of summer, takes weather data from all eight capital cities and distils it into a single verdict on whether the silly season has begun. It runs Australia-wide, all summer long. What it changes is modest: a marketing-aligned weather feed, not a forecasting service. But it names a real shift anyone who has felt a salty-rimmed Friday this month will recognise.

What is new in Melbourne?

Bennetts Lane is back. Melbourne's jazz crowd has gone more than a decade without the name since the CBD original closed in 2015. Musician Michael Tortoni has now revived it in a converted Brunswick warehouse next door to The Jazz Lab, at 27 Leslie Street. The room holds more than 300 people across tiered bleachers, a wraparound balcony and padded nooks, with acoustic panelling throughout and Yamaha speakers flanking the stage. There is no kitchen; a three-cheese toastie and a cheese platter are the extent of the food. Hours are Friday to Sunday, 7:30–11 PM, with Latin Big Band night "MUCHO MAMBO" in the BL Room on Saturday.

Across the river, Bellevue Bar & Terrace opened on 30 October along the Crown Riverwalk in Southbank. It offers a 160-seat riverfront terrace, seasonal pub fare, spritzes and martinis, live music, DJs, enough screens to follow the sport without leaving your table — and, reportedly, a 3 AM licence.

What about Brisbane?

Two openings, one of them sold out.

Sofia, Brisbane's newest neighbourhood dining room, opened Thursday at the old Olivetto's site at 1 Enoggera Terrace, Red Hill. MasterChef's Alana Lowes and Jack Stuart, of Blume and Venner, are behind it. Head chef Ryan Carlson, formerly of The French Exit and Agnes, is cooking snacks, house-made pasta and larger plates; sommelier Nin Lynch has built the wine list around smaller Australian producers and female winemakers. Opening week is reportedly booked out — try a walk-in, or wait until later in the month.

Suncorp Stadium hosts the Rugby League World Cup finals doubleheader on Sunday 15 November, gates open 2:15 PM. Australia plays New Zealand in the women's final at 3:10 PM before the men's sides close the tournament at 6:35 PM. It is one of the biggest sporting occasions Brisbane will host this year. Tickets, the listing states flatly, are "sold out, sorry" — anyone still hoping to attend will need the resale market or a friend with a spare seat.