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Things To Do in May
Photograph: Louise Mason / Shutterstock

London events in May

London will be gearing up for summer in May 2024, so make the most of it at a music festival, rooftop bar or must-see exhibition.

Rosie Hewitson
Alex Sims
Written by
Rosie Hewitson
&
Alex Sims
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May truly is one of London’s finest months if you ask us. Not only is the city pleasantly warm and bursting with colourful spring blooms, but everyone is giddy with the possibilities of the coming summer.

And most excitingly of all, there are not one, but two bank holidays on which to embark on inaugural rooftop bar excursion of the summer, rock out at one of the year’s first music festivals, lounge about in your favourite park, check out all those must-see exhibitions you’ve been meaning to catch or escape the city on a mini-break.

And if that isn’t enough to keep you entertained, here’s our guide to the best events, parties, pop-ups and things to do in May 2024 in London. You’re in for one sweet, sweet month.

Best things to do in London in May 2024

  • Things to do
  • Markets and fairs
  • King’s Cross

This regular music market is back, providing artisan produce and street food alongside its mega vinyl booty. Find records on sale from all sorts of indie labels including AD, Because, Big Dada, Brainfeeder, Chess Club, Chrysalis, Dead Oceans, Dirty Hit, Fire, Jagjaguwar, Late Night Tales, Matador, Marathon, Ninja Tune, Secretly Canadian, Third Man and more. Once you’ve flipped through as many sleeves as you can manage take a look at stalls from artists and makers including Babak Ganjei, Donna Harle, This Is Fun Isn't It, Hand Jazz, Kam Creates, Nicole O'Hara, Sri Mckinnon and East London Printmakers. Or, neck back a pint from the London Brewers’ Market. 

  • Theatre
  • Shakespeare
  • Covent Garden

Super-director Jamie Lloyd is renowned for his powers of celebrity wrangling, but even by his standards this is quite the coup: his production of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’ will star Tom Holland, aka Spider-Man himself, in his first stage role since a lengthy stint in ‘Billy Elliot’ as a child actor. Holland will, of course, be playing Romeo: there’s no word on any other casting, including Juliet, but further celebrities seem unlikely – Lloyd tends to assemble diverse, interesting casts that highlight up-and-coming talent. Stylistically, we can certainly expect a contemporary setting and stripped-back aesthetic, though last year’s peerless ‘Sunset Boulevard’ did see Lloyd get back to his more maximalist roots with its gargantuan video wall and copious use of gore – you’d think a bit of the ol’ claret has to be an option for Lloyd’s take on Shakespeare’s high-ish body-count romantic tragedy.

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  • Music
  • Music festivals
  • Tulse Hill

Wide Awake bills itself as a ‘musical melting pot’, offering up leftfield indie, post-punk, electronica, techno and more. This year you've got psychedelic Aussie rockers King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard headlining, alongside Young Fathers, Slowdive, The Dare, Ben UFO and Alice Glass among other indie stalwarts. There is no doubt it'll leave crowds surprised as it celebrates artists that defy traditional genre boundaries.

  • Museums
  • South Kensington

In partnership with Gucci, the V&A will be showcasing a stunning follow-up from the Tate Modern’s 2016 exhibition, ‘The Radical Eye’. Meandering through the decades from 1950 up until the present day, visitors will be presented with an unmatched collection of more than 300 rare prints by over 140 photographers, including Cindy Sherman, known for her striking self-portraits, and Robert Mapplethorpe, famed for his black and white still-life and nude studies. Each item is on loan from Sir Elton John and David Furnish’s private collection, marking their 30 years of collecting.

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  • Music
  • Music festivals
  • Peckham

Join London’s clubbing elite at this Peckham Rye three-dayer, which showcases the finest in electronic music. This year's iteration drifts from a bass-heavy Friday night courtesy of the legendary DJ EZ, into an energetic Saturday with headliner Job Jobse before wrapping up with Folamour and soulful Sunday celebrations. Don’t miss the likes of Girls Don’t Sync, Interplanetary Criminal, John Talabot, Loraine James and Sherelle while you’re there.

  • Theatre
  • Drama
  • Covent Garden

Stage-loving Studio Ghibli fans are being treated like never before at the moment: hot on the heels of the RSC’s hugely acclaimed ‘My Neighbour Totoro’, here comes this spectacular Japanese production of Hayao Miyazaki 2001 masterpiece ‘Spirited Away’. Adapted for the stage by John Caird – co-director of ‘Les Miserables’ – with puppets by Toby Olié, there’s so much Brit talent at the heart of the production that a transfer always seemed pretty much bolted on, and it’ll play a limited run at the vast London Coliseum as part of a wider international tour. ‘Spirited Away’ is perhaps the quintessential work by Ghibli head honcho Miyazaki, concerning Chihiro, a young girl who inadvertently crosses over into a world filled with strange spirits of varying friendliness. Presented in Japanese with English surtitles, it also features a live orchestra playing Joe Hisaishi’s score.

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  • Museums
  • Film and TV
  • Lambeth

The human impact of conflict is a dimension of war that is often overlooked, but not in this springtime exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, which looks to shed light on people and their experiences of war through the work of celebrated humanitarian and photojournalist Tim Hetherington. Marking the 13th anniversary of his passing, it will explore Hetherington’s unconventional approach of creating ‘visual novels’, becoming ‘part of the platoon’ and his commitment to ‘closing the distance’ between his subjects and his audience, and includes work from his 2011 project on the Libyan Civil War, during which he was mortally wounded.

  • Music
  • Music festivals
  • Tulse Hill

If you love nothing better than the idea of grooving to reggae, Afrobeats and dancehall in the sun, this is the festival for you. City Splash is once again taking over Brockwell Park to celebrate the impact of Caribbean and African culture in the UK and beyond – giving you a chance to dance, connect over music and have a bloody good time. This year's line-up includes Capleton, Beenie Man, Shenseea, Busy Signal and Queen Omega.

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  • Theatre
  • Comedy
  • Shaftesbury Avenue

John Cleese and Connie Booth’s sublime ’70s sitcom about a tightly wound hotelier and his hopeless staff was ubiquitous for decades, back when repeats were a meaningful thing. Times change, and perhaps the fact that it’s no longer on our screens much is what’s allowed Cleese’s own stage adaptation to take root. ‘Fawlty Towers’ (the play) is absolutely not an attempt to boldly reinvent the adventures of Basil, Sybil, Manuel and co for the twenty-first century. Rather it’s stitched together from three classic episodes: ‘The Hotel Inspector’, ‘The Germans’ and ‘Communication Problems’. It sounds like they’ll be woven into a single narrative with a new ending, but whether you’re a long-term fan or too young to have ever seen it, it sounds like you’ll be pretty much getting ‘Fawlty Towers’ in its classic form. Director Caroline Jay Ranger is known for putting classic telly on the stage, being responsible for the ‘Only Fools and Horses’ musical and having worked with Cleese on Monty Python’s final live shows in 2014.

Whether the cast can compete with the memories of Cleese, Booth, Andrew Sachs and Prunella Scales is TBC but should be interesting to witness: heading up the production will be Adam Jackson-Smith (Basil), Anna-Jane Casey (Sybil), Hemi Yeroham (Manuel) and Victoria Fox (Polly).

  • Music
  • Music festivals
  • Tulse Hill

Now in its fifth edition, Cross the Tracks is still a bit of a newcomer to the London festival scene. But with tasteful, groove-heavy curation across soul, funk and jazz, as well as loads of decent street food and craft beer, it’s already cemented itself as an anticipated name. The festival has a laid-back, open-arms appeal, meaning you’ll find people of all sorts of ages having a boogie. Do not miss headliner Erykah Badu, who is sure to blow audiences away with a decades-spanning set. Other amazing acts include Eve, BADBADNOTGOOD, En Vogue and Madlib.

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  • Theatre
  • Experimental
  • Sloane Square

The first main house play in David Byrne’s reign at the Royal Court is one that was made earlier: great Brit auteur director Katie Mitchell remounts her 2019 German adaptation of Maggie Nelson’s ‘Bluets’, an essay on grief, sadness and the colour blue, with a new English language adaptation by rising star playwright Margaret Perry. It’s a great piece of leftfield programming from Byrne: the Court has gone without a really successful Downstairs theatre show for what feels like years – Mitchell’s rep alone is enough to sell ‘Bluets’, but it’s also enough to get a very exciting cast headed by Paddington Bear himself Ben Whishaw, who’ll star alongside Emma D’Arcy and Kayla Meikle.

  • Music
  • Music festivals
  • Tulse Hill

A mecca for bass-heavy partying, Project 6 is a festival for those craving seriously loud sounds. This year is tying into the 30th anniversary of Rinse FM, meaning there's even more reason for a party, and the line-up is leaning into the kinds of artists you'd expect to hear on the cutting-edge station. Catch the elusive MC Casisdead, DnB and jungle pioneer Shy FX, and 'Katy on a Mission' hitmaker Katy B, alongside Freddie Gibbs and Madlib performing Pinata, Mala, Benga and plenty more. 

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