perks!London events in September
September in London isn't just the damp end of summer. The sun is still out so there's still time to enjoy London's great outdoors, have a peep in the city's secret green spaces, feast in London's best restaurants and enjoy the last days of London's rooftop bars. September in London is also the month of the Totally Thames festival, the annual London Design Festival, Open House London weekend when over 800 London buildings are opened to the public, the Pearly Kings and Queen's Harvest Festival, London Fashion Week Festival and plenty of live music from OnBlackheath.
RECOMMENDED: The definitive London events calendar
Our September 2018 highlights
Time Out 50: 50 Years, 50 Covers
What is it? Time Out is 50 this year. To celebrate our big birthday, we’ve teamed up with the Museum of Brands in Ladbroke Grove to put together an exhibition of our best ever magazine covers.
Why go? To check out cover stars like David Bowie, Elton John (who guest edited Time Out in 2004) and designs by Tracey Emin, Banksy and Gorillaz mastermind Jamie Hewlett.
‘King Lear’
What is it? Ian McKellen takes on the title role of Shakespeare’s cracked tragedy of madness and old age for the second time.
Why go? To see a hypnotic McKellen as the bullying monarch.
‘The Lehman Trilogy’
What is it? Sam Mendes’s epic three-actor play that charts the story of the Lehman brothers and the institutions that would go on to bear their names.
Why go? Did we mention the three actors are Simon Russell Beale, Ben Miles and Adam Godley?
Erdinger Oktoberfest
What is it? Feel the Bavarian vibes at the party where the weissbier will be flowing in a beer tent big enough to accommodate 3,000 people.
Why go? If you can’t afford flights to Germany for their famous shindig.
‘I Object: Ian Hislop’s Search for Dissent’
What is it? Discover the ways objects have been used to mock, cajole and undermine systems of power throughout history.
Why go? From ancient Mesopotamia to modern Brexitotamia, get ready for a bucket load of dissent and satire.
London Design Festival
What is it? The London Design Festival spans dozens of locations, features tons of events, includes hundreds of exhibits.
Why go? It has one clear mission: to prove that our city is the capital of design.
Totally Thames
What is it? The Totally Thames festival is an annual celebration of the River Thames, which graces the banks of our much-loved waterway in September.
Why go? Dive into a month-long party full of arts festivals, community events, regattas, river races, foreshore archaeology and environmental activities.
Martine Syms: ‘Grand Calme ’
What is it? A journey into a young American artist's cybernetic neuroses.
Why go? If nothing else, it's nice to know you're not alone in your freakouts.
Dance Umbrella 2018
What is it? A vibrant, varied and brilliantly exciting dance festival with a line up of shows staged all over London.
Why go? It turns 40 this year and it's sexier and flexier than ever.
‘Michael Jackson: On the Wall’
What is it? Art inspired by the King of Pop.
Why go? it's about so much more than just MJ, and it's brilliantly put together.
‘Windrush: Songs in a Strange Land’
What is it? Marking 70 years since the Empire Windrush carried hundreds of migrants from the Caribbean to London, this exhibition explores why people came to the UK, what they left behind and how they have shaped Britain.
Why go? Listen to jazz and calypso, hear personal reflections from some of the first Caribbean nurses to join the NHS and see manuscripts of Benjamin Zephaniah's poem ‘What Stephen Lawrence Has Taught Us’.
HarvestFest at Skylight
What is it? Skylight – the rooftop playground at Tobacco Dock – is putting on its first autumnal-themed shindig.
Why go? Across three floors there’ll be Haybale Skittles and Pumpkin Draughts, warming street food and a cocktail menu filled with harvest ingredients.
Picturing Forgotten London
What is it? An exhibition telling the story of London’s forgotten buildings.
Why go? To check out long-gone landmarks, vanished streets and neighbourhoods that are no more.
‘Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up’
What is it? The V&A’s new exhibition of over 200 Frida-related items goes some way to explaining the allure underpinning Frida fandom.
Why go? The displays feel intensely personal and explain the power of Kahlo as an artist and woman.
Mika Rottenberg
What is it? Films and installations about the economy and stuff.
Why go? Rottenberg is funny, confrontational and totally brilliant.
Doris Salcedo
What is it? The Columbian artist's monument to all those who have drowned in the Mediterranean and Atlantic seas while attempting to migrate to a new country for a better life.
Why go? This is one powerful and moving piece of art.
‘London Nights’
What is it? This show covers more than 100 years of photographers exploring the nighttime capital.
Why go? To see London's nocturnal alter ego in all its glory.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan: ‘Earwitness Theatre’
What is it? This politically focused work uses sound and witness testimony to advocate for human rights and fight injustice.
Why go? This is overwhelming, angry, passionate art in a time when probably need it more than ever.
Heidi Bucher
What is it? Latex impressions of intimate spaces by the late Swiss artist.
Why go? Bucher's art is ghostly, haunting and pretty damn gorgeous.
‘Hooked’
What is it? London's brand new Science Gallery opens its doors with a show looking at addiction and getting better.
Why go? It's casting the net far and wide, looking at everything we're 'hooked' on from hard drugs to iPhones.
Life in the Dark
What is it? Find out what deep sea fish, moles, moths and crocodiles and plenty of other critters get up to in the shadows. Why go? For an expose on nocturnal animal lives.
‘Space Shifters’
What is it? The Hayward Gallery close their 50th anniversary year with a major exhibition of sculptures large and small that will make you go: wooooaaaaaaahhhh..... and then probably stumble around a bit.
Why go? To see works that distort the hell out if space.
Elmgreen & Dragset: This Is How We Bite Our Tongue
What is it? Now-iconic duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset have been creating discombobulating sculptures and installations since 1995.
Why go? Expect to have some seriously surreal explorations of social and sexual power dynamics rammed into yor eyes.
‘Courtauld Impressionists’
What is it? Impressionist paintings from the currently-being-refurbed Courtauld.
Why go? These are genuinely some of the greatest paintings in history. Don't be silly.
‘Renzo Piano: The Art of Making Buildings’
What is it? An intimate peek into the mind of one of our era's great architects.
Why go? It's a calm, academic, passionate show about the power of design.
Christian Marclay: ‘The Clock’
What is it? The long awaited return of Christian Marclay's landmark film - an epic 24-hour collage of clocks and timepieces from movie history.
Why go? This is art that's worth making time for.
Ribera: ‘Art of Violence’
What is it? Shocking art from Spanish Baroque painter Jusepe de Ribera.
Why go? To look beyound the violence and cruelty and ’challenge’ yourself to consider his artistic and religious engagement in the depiction suffering.
‘Videogames: Design/ Play/ Disrupt’
What is it? This whole exhibition is about the exceptional artwork and animation, player communities and political conversations that define this era of gaming.
Why go? If you think video games are just for lonely, sweaty nerds in dark bedrooms this will blow your mind.
