London’s Best Festivals To Book Now For 2024
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1 year ago
From day fests to food fests, the city is alive with festivals in 2024
It happens every year: you’re bored at the weekend, mindlessly scrolling through Instagram when suddenly you are hit by an influx of posts and stories: seemingly everyone you know is out enjoying themselves at a festival you’ve never even heard of! When did they all plan this? How did they find out about it? It’s a tale as old as time. If you’d like to be a step ahead of the curve in for 2024, read on. These are the best of London festivals 2024 – from music to food, art to literature – for the festival hopefuls looking for fun in the city.
Best London Festivals 2024
GALA Festival
Each summer all of south London’s cool kids flock to GALA, an independent music festival in Peckham Rye Park. The three-day shindig has just announced its line-up, with the programme including Bianca Oblivion, Sam Binga, Charisse C and Shy One on Friday. On Saturday, festival goers will enjoy music from the likes of Grace Sands, Manami and Eris Drew, ahead of final sets on Sunday from DJ Paulette, Aqwea, and Midland.
BOOK IT: 24–26 May 2024 in Peckham Rye Park. Tickets from £39.50. thisisgala.co.uk
Wide Awake Festival
With emerging talent front and centre, Wide Awake Festival debuted in 2021 ‘for music fans looking to discover something different’. Taking place in Brockwell Park in Brixton, this year’s line-up features names like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Slowdive, Young Fathers and Alice Glass.
BOOK IT: 25 May 2024 in Brockwell Park, Brixton. Tickets from £10. wideawakelondon.co.uk
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Mighty Hoopla
Staying in Brixton, this LGBTQ+ friendly music festival always promises a good time. 2023’s line-up was one for the books with Kelly Rowland, Years & Years and Aqua all performing – but 2024 might just knock it out of the park. Kim Petras, En Vogue, Jessie Ware, Banarama, Cher Lloyd, Rita Ora and Rebecca Black are all confirmed, along with many, many more.
BOOK IT: 1–2 June 2024 in Brockwell Park, Brixton. Tickets from £39.75. mightyhoopla.com
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Hampton Court Palace Festival
More low-key than many entries on this list, at Hampton Court Palace Festival, artists perform to a beautiful backdrop in Henry VIII’s open-air Base Court for an intimate audience of 3,000. This year is headlined by Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Sam Ryder and Paloma Faith, with plenty more to be announced in due course. It’s also the perfect festival if a picnic on the lawn pre-show is on your check-list. We’re very much in.
Details: 11–22 June 2024 at Hampton Court Palace, Richmond-upon-Thames. hamptoncourtpalacefestival.com
Pub In The Park
Tom Kerridge’s Pub in the Park is one of our highlights every summer, bringing a top line-up of chefs and music artists to towns across the UK – including London’s Chiswick. There’s one mission: to celebrate everything there is to love about the glorious British pub. The chef line-up for 2024 includes names like Mary Berry, Angela Hartnett, Michel Roux, Candice Brown, Jose Pizarro and Andi Oliver. Music is a big part of this one too, with performances from Van Morrison, Busted, McFly, Paloma Faith and Sam Ryder on the cards.
Details: 28–30 June 2024 at Chiswick House & Gardens (Chiswick House, Chiswick, London W4 2QN). pubintheparkuk.com
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Kew The Music
This lovely London festival brings a series of intimate picnic concerts to the unique UNESCO World Heritage site of Kew Gardens. Running for a week, it’s one of the city’s most spectacular summer concerts, with open-air bars and street food stalls, plus guests are welcome to bring their own food and drink too. On the roster for 2024 so far are Mika, Passenger, JLS, Ronan Keating, Monty Don and Beverley Knight, plus British music icon Richard Ashcroft (The Verve).
Details: 9–14 July 2024 at Kew Gardens. kewthemusic.org
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Wireless Festival
One of the most well-known London festivals, Wireless is a celebration of the newest and best in hip hop, grime and R&B, welcoming the likes of Stormzy, Travis Scott, SZA, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B to the stage in recent years. This year’s line-up is still TBD, so watch this space.
BOOK IT: 12–14 July 2024 in Finsbury Park. wirelessfestival.co.uk
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Kaleidoscope
The iconic Ally Pally is back with its very own festival, Kaleidoscope, for summer 2024. As if the spectacular backdrop wasn’t enough, the music is usually stellar too, with big names such as Hot Chip, Happy Mondays and Nile Rodgers & Chic headlining in recent years. No word on 2024’s headliner just yet, so stay tuned for details.
BOOK IT: 13 July 2024 at Alexandra Palace (Alexandra Palace Way, London N22 7AY). kaleidoscope-festival.com
BST Hyde Park
One of London’s most star-studded festivals every year is BST Hyde Park, attracting huge, world-class headliners to the city across two to three weekends of festival. In 2023, 10 days over three weeks were headlined by Alfie Boe, Pink, Guns N’ Roses, Take That, Blackpink, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Lana Del Rey – and we’re sure the 2024 edition will somehow beat even that. The full line-up is to-be-revealed, but two headliners have been officially unveiled: Andrea Bocelli on Friday 5 July and Robbie Williams on Saturday 6 July 2024. If those two heavyweights are anything to go by, we think it’s going to be a mega year.
Details: Full dates are TBC, but we expect BST Hyde Park 2024 to begin in the second half of June and end the day after Robbie Williams’ performance, on Sunday 7 July 2024. bst-hydepark.com
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All Points East
All Points East takes place annually in Victoria Park across two weekends in August. Music traditionally leans towards the alternative genre, though there’s a bit of everything: the 2023 line-up was headlined by Stormzy, Haim and The Strokes, with plenty more going on across a number of stages (the park is huge, as we know). Among the first acts announced for 2024 are Death Cab For Cutie, Loyle Carner and LCD Soundsystem.
Details: 16–18 & 23–25 August 2024 at Victoria Park. allpointseastfestival.com
Battersea Park In Concert
Having debuted in 2023, three magical musical evenings took over Battersea Park, with a mixture of classical music, soul, jazz and musical picnic concerts. The 2024 details are being kept under wraps for now, but 2023 included glittering performances from the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra performing hit songs from the West End stage and iconic classical masterpieces, alongside Gabrielle, YolanDa Brown and The Ronnie Scott’s All Stars.
Details: 24–26 August 2024 in Battersea Park. batterseaparkinconcert.com
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Meatopia
Now over 10 years old, Meatopia is a London festival dedicated to meat, with a focus on quality and sustainability. Taking place in Tobacco Dock each year, the event sees over 60 of the world’s best live-fire chefs gather to cook up exclusive dishes over sustainably-sourced wood and charcoal, with previous names including Ottolenghi, Niklas Ekstedt and Francis Mallmann. All this is to be enjoyed alongside live music from roaming brass brands and DJs, plus craft beers and cocktails.
Details: 29 August–1 September 2024 at Tobacco Dock. meatopia.co.uk
London Literature Festival
There’s always a heavy-weight line-up of the biggest authors and speakers at this London festival, one of the most talked-about literary festivals of the year. Previous speakers have included the likes of Hilary Clinton, Philip Pullman and Tom Hanks take to the stage for individually-ticketed events. Details for 2024 are yet to be revealed, but the 2023 edition featured George the Poet, Yu Miri, Teju Cole, Sir Patrick Stewart, Jada Pinkett Smith, Kerry Washington, Jacqueline Wilson and more.
Details: 23 October–3 November 2024 at the Southbank Centre. southbankcentre.co.uk
