The City Of Festivals: The 2018 London Line Up
So we all know London to be the home of some of the most amazing TV covered events like the National Television Awards, The Brits, Wireless & the O2 has its own agenda entirely! But what about those amazing outdoor events that you think only students get access to up in Sheffield, Manchester and those other amazing northern cities? Start scrolling to see London’s top pick of “mainstream” festivals across the summer!
1. Arcadia Festival | 5-6th May | Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Celebrating its 10th anniversary of running being held in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (and right by the Orbital – the tallest slide in Europe and a platform to view the city skyline from Stratford if you hold a ticket), Arcadia is going all out this year with gigantic robotic spiders (perhaps not the best festival if you suffer with arachnophobia…) and a line-up including Rudimental, Groove Armada, Delta Heavy, Noisia with a London Debut of world famous Metamorphosis. The event is running from midday – 10:30pm with last entry at 6pm – so make a good whole 2 days of it and still be able to catch the last tubes home in time! Tickets are available to buy here.
2. All Points East | 24-26th May, 1-3rd June | Victoria Park
A brand new 3 day festival is kicking off this year in Victoria Park with headliner acts from The XX, Popcaan, Lorde, LCD Soundsystem and a tonne of other acts. The following weekend highlights 3 main-stage concerts from Catfish and the Bottlemen as well as Nick Cave & others. The full line up and tickets are available to view here.
3. We Are FSTVL | 25-27th May | Upminster
Seen it plastered over the London tube stations and wondered where on earth is Upminster? If you’ve ever wandered far enough down the district line or C2C – you’ll have come across it! Hosting 2 and a half days of electronic dance music & a huge line up including Andy C, Gorgon City, Sigma, Sub Focus, Bugzy Malone, Lethal Bizzle, Shy FX & so many others (including the opportunity to camp overnight on the Friday), this is one NOT to be missed! More of the lineup and tickets are available to purchase on their website.
4. Southport Weekender | 9th June | Finsbury Park
Branded as ‘the world’s friendliest party’, Southport is offering a huge 9 stages of house, soul, R&B, garage and disco this year! With a huge line-up and major headline act from Sister Sledge ft Kathy Sledge, David Morales, Hector Romero as well as Soul II Soul, Louie Vega, Booker T and loads more, it’s sure to be a big one! Full line-up with supporting acts and tickets are available on their website.
5. Tranzmission Festival | 10th June | Finsbury Park
Drum & Bass, Grime, Garage, Jungle, House, Old Skool & UK Funky – what more could you possibly need in one spot? With over 35 artists in the line up ready including Emma Knight, Limitless, Crazy Cousinz, Devlin & Big Zuu and 1st release tickets still available for £34.20 including booking fees, grab your place on the tranzmission website while tickets last!
6. Meltdown Festival | 15-24th June | Southbank Centre
Ok so slightly away from the typical park located festivals, Meltdown festival is actually a series of live gigs performed within the Southbank Centre in central London taking place over 9 days in June, and it’s already in its 25th year of running! With confirmed acts such as Placebo, Manic Street Preachers, The Libertines, My Bloody Valentine and more, tickets are available to buy from March 15th via the Southbank website.
7. Wireless Festival | 6-8th July | Finsbury Park
The biggest and the best and impressively already sold out! Wireless brings 3 days of dance, hip-hop & a whole mainstream line of artists including J. Cole, Stormzy, DJ Khaled as the 2018 headliners alongside French Montana, Wiley, J. Hus, Cardi B and you can only imagine the rest of the line-up… Seatwave is holding a mix of tickets still available to purchase, so it may be best to hit those payday cheques slightly early if you want to be there! Find ticket availability online here.
8. Lovebox Festival | 13-14th July | Victoria Park
Previously in Victoria park and now relocating to the ‘west end’ in Gunnersbury Park, we’re counting down the days until we catch Skepta, Diplo, Big Boi, N*E*R*D & more live to perform. 25 acts confirmed and counting with notes of the brewery location at the ready, tickets are available still to pick up online here.
9. Citadel Festival | 15th July | Gunnersbury Park
As if a full week of Wireless and Lovebox wasn’t enough, use Citadel as the excuse to wind down a little with the festival hype whilst you’re in Gunnersbury Park. Still surrounded by amazing music with Tame Impala headlining this year, you’ll find loads to keep you occupied from the bass beats in your head following on from the previous days with spoken words and talks, workshops and classes running throughout the day. Full day line-up and programme as well as tickets are available to view here.
10. Kaleidescope Festival | 21st July | Alexandra Place
Out of all of the London festivals so far – Kaleidescope brings more than just artists to a stage! There’ll be food (of course), comedy, poetry. Theatre and other entertainment, it makes it the most family friendly one-day festival to attend this summer in all things colourful and cultural at Alexandra Palace starting from midday! More information and tickets are available to view here.
11. South West Four | 25-26th August | Clapham Common
2 days of a huge electronic euphoria, all based in Clapham Common just in time for August bank holiday weekend. With headliners of Marshmello, Dizzee Rascal, Armin Van Buuren, Chase & Status, Craig David – if reading that hasn’t made you excited enough already, you can check out the full line-up of artists and grab your tickets online from their website. To top it off however if you aren’t quite feeling bass boosted mega speakers again after a whole summer of it already – head down to Notting Hill carnival running on the same weekend!
With National Rail already offering 1/3 off rail fares with their 16-25 railcard, be sure to begin booking tickets and all of those accommodation suites in advance! Rooms and rates are available to book online with Morland House now, but hurry, they’re filling up quick!
