Gigs in London this weekend

It’s been a while since Vicky Park played host to any new live events, but the ever popular summertime venue is welcoming a brand new festival in the early days of summer 2025. Scheduled for two consecutive weekends in June, Lido festival will take place in the Tower Hamlets park’s Lido Field. Legendary trip-hop outfit Massive Attack headline the first day with support from Air, FORENSICS and Tirzah. Having released his acclaimed second album in September, Jamie xx brings his club residency The Floor to the first Saturday of the festival, with his bandmate Romy, collaborators Sampha and John Glacier, Arca and Panda Bear on the line-up. Northern hardcore festival Outbreak then hosts a residency to open the second weekend, with Turnstile, Alex G and Danny Brown on the bill. On Saturday June 14, Vicky Park will be throwing it back to Brat summer, with a headline set from Charli xcx as part of the pop icon’s Partygirl night, featuring appearances from 070 Shake, A.G. Cook, Kelly Lee Owens, The Dare and The Japanese House. And on Sunday June 15, London Grammar will bring their ethereal sounds to east London, alongside Celeste, Róisín Murphy and The Blessed Madonna. More details will be announced in due course, so watch this space! RECOMMENDED: More great London festivals this summer

With its 30th edition taking place this summer, the Southbank Centre’s Meltdown Festival has long since established itself as a key date in London’s cultural calendar. Each year, the Southbank invites one celebrated artist to curate the festival, with such luminaries as David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Grace Jones, David Byrne, Nick Cave, Anohni and Chaka Khan have previously taken on the exciting tast. This year it’s the turn of Mercury Prize-winning rapper, Top Boy actor and previous Time Out cover star Little Simz.  She’s promising a boundary-pushing line-up for the eleven-day festival, featuring plenty of local and grassroots organisations, sets from the likes of The Streets and Ghetts, and the one-of-a-kind performances that have characterised Meltdown over the years culminating in a headline gig with the curator herself. The Southbank Centre has also announced a series of Meltdown Lates – club nights that will take place in the the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer. It will see DJ sets from the likes od Little Simz, Sippin’ T, Talylah Elaine, DONCH, Jordss, NARX and PÉJÚ. Plus, there are a series of free talks and workshops taking place, with fashion designer Tolu Coker, actors Letitia Wright and Tosin Cole and artist Yinka Ilori all on the line-up to speak.  Line-up includes: Little Simz and Chineke! Orchestra, James Blake, BADBADNOTGOOD, Mahalia, The Streets, Ghetts, Sasha Keable, Lola Young, Nubya Garcia.  Find more great London festivals here.

Where would London’s music scene be without pirate radio? There would be no jungle, UK garage, or grime music, for one thing, and legendary stations like Kool or Rinse FM would never have existed. To celebrate the radical influence of pirate radio that still impacts London’s music scene today, the Barbican is putting on a month-long programme of broadcasts, talks, workshops, club nights and screenings that will explore the history and impact of community radio, and Black British music.  Highlights from the programme include plenty of musical sessions and parties, such as: a month-long residency by Reprezent Radio, broadcasting live from a custom-built studio in the Barbican’s foyer, with special guests including DJ Spoony, Norman Jay and Daddy Ernie; and a one-off club night hosted by Rinse FM at the Barbican’s ClubStage. On the more intellectual side of things, the Barbican Cinema will screen a series of archive films exploring the world of pirate and community stations, including youth radio documentary Airwaves of Rebellion: Youth, Identity, and the Fight for Community Radio and 1970s LGBTQ+ thriller Young Soul Rebels.  On top of this there will be panel talks curated by Tobi Kyeremateng from Them Ones Presents, with speakers including Richie Brave, Laura ‘Hyperfrank’ Brosnan and Aniefiok Ekpoudom. And a music and memory sharing session will be hosted by DJ Bid, formerly of Rock-to-Rock Radio, that will allow members of the public to request songs and share their...