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March is when London starts pretending it’s not miserable anymore. Like Nosferatu rising from the coffin, I’ve dragged my previously-ailing body back outside: strolling through a marginally less boggy Victoria Park, packing both sunglasses and a brolly ‘just in case’, and embarking on an aggressively optimistic summer-festival planning spree (I will not be disclosing what I spent on Field Maneuvers and Maiden Voyage tickets).
But you don’t need to wait for June for your live music fix. The city’s already stretching awake, welcoming the likes of CMAT, David Byrne and every performative east London boy’s favourite band, Geese. Around them, a new class of internet-minted, scene-certified artist is levelling up just in time for summer.
Yes, my calendar looks like my Spotify has achieved sentience and taken over my life. But I suggest you lean into the buzz. Louder, sweatier, slightly chaotic, March is where it starts.
The 17 best London gigs and music concerts in March 2026
1. Dave
Dave, aka south London’s poet laureate, is coming back to the capital with a new production of epic proportions. Expect visuals to rival your local IMAX and catharsis en masse as he completes a victory lap through hits like 2023’s ‘Sprinter’ and ‘Raindance’ from The Boy Who Played the Harp. A true reminder of exactly who runs British rap.
Good for: Main-character energy and group sing-alongs
Date: March 6, 7, 10 and 11
Venue: The O2, SE10 0DX
Tickets: Buy now
2. Wu-Tang Clan
Celebrating the depth and breadth of their catalogue, Wu-Tang Clan are promising a thunderous run through gritty classics, kung-fu samples and enough bass to rattle the rafters of the Millennium Dome. Whether you’re a lifelong disciple or just here for bragging rights, this the closest you’ll get to the New York ‘90s rap scene’s heyday without inventing a time machine.
Good for: Golden-era hip-hop heads
Date: March 17, 18
Venue: The O2, SE10 0DX
Tickets: Buy now
3. David Byrne
The Talking Heads head honcho is famed for his theatrical, brainy pop spectacles. Just look at the footage from American Utopia for reference. This time around, David Byrne is going kaleidoscopic with extensive choreography, big ideas and songs that make existential dread feel like an invite to get as weird on the dancefloor as the big man himself.
Good for: Art-school music nerds, past and present
Date: March 3, 4, 15 and 16
Venue: Eventim Apollo
Tickets: Buy now
4. Kesha
Pop legend Kesha is doing her biggest run of UK shows to date. Tying into much-hyped 2025 album PERIOD, these performances will be part rave, part group hug. Expect to hear hits like 2024’s ‘JOYRIDE’ and reclaimed classics ‘We R Who We R’ and ‘Die Young’.
Good for: Sparkling, chaotic pop goblins
Date: March 16 and 17
Venue: O2 Academy Brixton, SW9 9SL
Tickets: Buy now
5. Laufey
It’s been an impressive couple of years for the former Time Out cover girl. Since we last saw Laufey, she’s released her third album, A Matter of Time, for which she won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the Grammys and has been announced for Coachella this spring. Hear her velvety jazz romanticism and be reminded why we all fell in love the first time around.
Good for: Hopeless romantics trapped in the never-ending TikTok scroll
Date: March 8 and 9
Venue: The O2, SE10 0DX
Tickets: Buy now
6. The Vaccines
Call me biased, but The Vaccines were the pinnacle of early ’10s indie. This night will be an homage to their magnum opus, What Did You Expect From the Vaccines? which spawned the likes of ‘Norgaard’ and ‘Post Break-up Sex’. Yes, you will be yelling along and throwing beer into the crowd, so don’t wear anything you don’t mind staining.
Good for: Anyone still rocking a side parting
Date: March 13 and 14
Venue: O2 Academy Brixton, SW9 9SL
Tickets: Buy now
7. CMAT
Another pal of Time Out, CMAT is bringing her debut smash album EURO-COUNTRY to Alexandra Palace’s Great Hall this month. And she’s promising to commit to the bit with big crowds, bigger vocals, and absolutely zero chill. Expect disco twang, heroic oversharing and the finest line dancing procession since her iconic Glasto slot last year.
Good for: Camp country fans who are chronic oversharers
Date: March 13
Venue: Alexandra Palace, N22 7AY
Tickets: Buy now
8. Lily Allen
Pop’s sharpest tongue, Lily Allen is commanding the London Palladium with a residency of raw, sharp-edged confessions with plenty of bite. Touring the overwhelmingly successful album West End Girl, the singer will be trading the bubblegum hues of ‘Not fair’ for the messy and brutally honest verses of ‘Pussy Palace’ and ‘Madeline’.
Good for: Millennial pop devotees
Date: March 20-22
Venue: London Palladium, W1F 7TF
Tickets: Buy now
9. Thundercat
Thundercat is a jazz virtuoso, modern funk master and internet cult hero. This April, the musician will be releasing his first album in six years, which he teased with the tender funk banger ‘She Knows Too Much’ with late pal Mac Miller. His live shows are a free-flowing spiritual release, with shredding something ridiculous one minute and jokes about anime five seconds later.
Good for: Internet musos
Date: March 25
Venue: O2 Academy Brixton, SW9 9SL
Tickets: Buy now
10. Mogwai
Mogwai live sound less like a band and more like weather systems rolling through a concert hall. Their 2025 album The Bad Fire is a cinematic crescendo of swelling synths, crashing guitars and raucous outbursts that can be both devastatingly beautiful and jaw-droppingly loud.
Good for: 40-something audiophiles
Date: March 25
Venue: Royal Albert Hall, SW7 2AP
Tickets: Buy now
11. Maisie Peters
Maisie Peters’ forthcoming album Florescence has personal entries set to irresistible hooks. Songs like ‘Say My Name in Your Sleep’ with Marcus Mumford (of & Sons) dwell on lingering love and late-night loneliness with diary-like honesty. She’s also been circulating on TikTok for her Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging music video, so feel free to dress as a giant olive if you want to really get into it.
Good for: Swifty-adjacent confessional pop girlies
Date: March 25
Venue: KOKO, NW1 7JE
Tickets: Buy now
12. Geese
Geese have cultivated a cult following of stereotypical music-boy nerds, think: mid-30s blog-era tastes, messy hair, a Uniqlo uniform and claims that frontman Cameron Winter is the next Leonard Cohen. Dispel the hype, and you’ll find a band that is genuinely great at crafting NYC art-rock with chaotic energy, sharp musicianship and genuine unpredictability.
Good for: Try-hard east London boys
Date: Wednesday March 25, 7pm
Venue: Eventim Apollo, W6 9QH
Tickets: Buy now
13. Audrey Hobert
Last year, Audrey Hobert released one of the summer’s hottest pop albums, bursting with charmingly addictive bangers that draw on embarrassment, overthinking and awkward crush moments with outlandish finesse. Live, she’s earned buzz for a hilariously earnest late-night TV performance of ‘Sue Me’, dancing like she’s in her bedroom and singing like she actually wrote your inner monologue. It’s unlikely you’ll stop grinning at this show.
Good for: Insecure indie girls craving a night of flailing around
Date: March 11
Venue: O2 Forum Kentish Town, NW5 1JY
Tickets: Buy now
14. Ninajirachi
Ninajirachi is an Australian electronic producer, DJ, and songwriter building sets that go into hyperdrive. Pulsing with maximalist beats, sugar-high synths and enough momentum to fill every corner of a packed dancefloor, her music has led to collabs with fellow party-starters Frost Children, blending their warped pop sensibilities into her digital ecstasy.
Good for: Internet pop explorers
Date: March 27, 6.30pm and 11pm
Venue: Colour Factory, E9 5EN
Tickets: Buy now
15. The Hellp
NME described The Hellp’s music as, ‘a feral, head-rattling racket that’s simultaneously abrasive and addictive.’ Blending industrial-tinged electro chaos with the skinny-jeaned and smudged eyeliner of Demna’s Gucci, the music hits like a rave collided with a couture show. Expect a crowd that looks like it walked off a runway, unbothered by noise and entirely here for the aesthetic.
Good for: Part-time clubbers with a wardrobe worth more than most houses
Date: March 17 and 18
Venue: HERE at Outernet, WC2H 8LH
Tickets: Buy now
16. RIP Magic
RIP Magic are the kind of band you feel smug about having seen in a small room. All jagged grooves, wiry attitude and art-school chaos, they make noise that sounds excavated rather than engineered. And honestly, if The Face says it’s cool, it’s at least worth pretending you already knew. NTS worshippers, this is your moment to show face.
Good for: Chin-stroking James Murphy-esque music nerds
Date: March 19
Venue: Ormside Projects, SE15 1TR
Tickets: Buy now
17. Feng
You know that feeling when you clock someone just before the algorithm does? We’re getting that with Feng. His album Weekend Rockstar is all twitchy guitars, bratty hooks and downtown chaos that somehow locks into place. He’s also orbiting the EsDeeKid/Fakemink hype sphere, making him adjacent to the internet’s favourite new noise-makers without sounding like a copy.
Good for: Studiously nonchalant new music hypeboys
Date: Friday March 6, 7pm
Venue: Islington Assembly Hall, N1 2UD
Tickets: Buy now
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