Two very different booking crowds share this postcode. There are the university campuses with their o-week parties, club functions and end of semester nights, and there are the families out along Plenty Road doing sixtieths, engagements and christenings in club rooms and back gardens. Same suburb, opposite briefs. A DJ who kills it at a campus bar is not automatically the right call for a room where half the guests are over seventy.
Every name in the first ten comes from central Melbourne, about a quarter of an hour down through Preston on a clear night. That's a real drive rather than a hop, and it can show up as a travel line or a firmer finish time. DJs are the biggest group in the wider pool by some distance, then cover bands.
Top picks are the nearby performers with the most visible reviews, then rating, then the closest; further afield the closest come first, and premium listings break remaining ties. Distances are straight-line from Bundoora. Ask each act whether they travel to your venue and what that costs.
Routinely, and a quarter of an hour up Plenty Road is an ordinary part of their weekend rather than an expedition. What varies is whether that trip sits inside the price or gets added afterwards, especially on a two in the morning finish. Ask both in your first message and you'll know quickly who actually wants the job.
Hours on the night, the size of the system the room needs, and how close the date is all push it around, with December the tightest month of the year. A DJ playing four hours into a small club room is a different quote from one supplying lights and a bigger rig for two hundred people. The from-prices on this page are live starting figures from the acts themselves.
A DJ nearly always, because a student crowd wants continuous music and no gaps between sets. If there's a formal dinner first, a soloist or duo underneath the meal then the DJ afterwards covers both halves of the night. Check whether the campus supplies sound, since several of the bigger rooms up here already have it installed.
Telling an act it's a twenty first says less than telling them it's ninety students in a sports club room. Describe who's coming and how old they are, and let the act tell you whether they're the right fit.
University function spaces set finish times, security requirements and load-in windows that the act cannot negotiate. Get those in writing from the venue first, then pass them straight on when you enquire.
Both have their own pages a few minutes away and draw on the same Melbourne pool. Compare the distances on the cards rather than the suburb printed in the address.