Time Out London Music

We've all heard about the revolutionary folk and rocks anthems that soundtracked the 'Summer of Love' in 1967. Well, set that Bob Dylan masterpiece aside: Soul II Soul’s Jazzy B and Classic Album Sundays’ Colleen Murphy have pooled their vast knowledge of alternative badass songs to pick the top 5 revolutionary soul tracks from black musicians who overcame adversity to set their own sonic agenda.   

  After the hustle, bustle and general madness of Christmastime and the inevitable indulgence of New Year's Eve, January can often be a quiet time for staying inside from the bitterly cold weather at home to save money after the expenditure of the festive period.  Admittedly, January is a quiet month for London's music scene. But that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of great gigs and world-class artists passing through our city. From homegrown talent to visiting pop royalty, there's bound to be something to give your January that added sprinkle of winter magic. Here’s our January gig guide – book now or regret it later! RECOMMENDED: Your guide to the best gigs and festivals in London 

Notting Hill Carnival is Europe’s biggest annual street festival. It attracts around 2.5 million people to west London every August bank holiday. It can be overwhelming even for seasoned Carnivalgoers, let alone first-time attendees – so we asked a few Carnival experts to share their knowledge. Scroll down for their advice on how to have a ball at Notting Hill as well as some of their Carnival memories. RECOMMENDED: Read our full Notting Hill Carnival guide

From Christmas concerts to end-of-the-year pop spectaculars, London has plenty of great live music to offer even in midwinter. Here’s our gig guide for December; check out our list of Christmas gigs for shows with some extra festive sparkle.

It’s almost definitely drizzling and chilly right now so what better way to keep warm than by seeking out a sweaty room full of adrenaline-pumped music fans? Here’s our guide to the best London gigs happening this November.

September is one of the best months to see live music in London: the gig calendar ramps up after the summer music festivals, but the days are still long and the evenings light. Here are the best concerts to catch this month.

Move over, Glastonbury: the world’s biggest music festival is about to begin. The BBC Proms 2018 takes place from Friday July 13 - Saturday September 8, mainly at the Royal Albert Hall, which has hosted the series of classical concerts since 1941. There are also several Proms at nearby Cadogan Hall. Every year the Proms see the world’s greatest orchestras and classical performers come to London, and 2018 is no exception. Here’s what you need to know. When is the BBC Proms 2018? This year’s classical-fest runs from Friday July 13 - Saturday September 8 2018. Get it in the diary. How do I get tickets for BBC Proms 2018? Advance booking is recommended for the biggest concerts – including, of course, the Last Night of the Proms – but up to 1,400 standing tickets are also available for each performance if you’re prepared to queue for a summer evening enjoying some of the world’s finest music. What’s on at BBC Proms 2018? Traditional, modern... whatever your tastes, with a wider scope than ever this year there’s a Prom for everyone. Check out all the BBC Proms listings below.

The location for thousands of classic rock concerts, London is one of the world’s great rock music cities. The Rolling Stones, The Clash, The Libertines: many of the greatest rock bands have called our city home, and you can hear their legacy every night of the week at music venues across town. Whether you’re after hard rock shows or indie concerts, here’s where to rock – London style. RECOMMENDED: Rock and indie clubs in London

Yes, 2017 isn't over yet. Yes, you're probably still thinking about the best music of the last year. There's been some great new tracks released in 2017. Here's our pick of the best songs of the year so far. We've made them into a handy YouTube playlist and we'll be adding to it as soon as we hear the next fresh tune popping off.  PRESS PLAY ON OUR 2017 PLAYLIST

Kick off the 2017 festive period with a bang this year at one of our selection of Christmas gigs in London. From carols to cheese to neo-prog-rock, browse our round-up for a little of what you like.  RECOMMENDED: Discover more festive fun with our guide to Christmas in London

In a nutshell…Think of it like a big bar of Galaxy – smooth, silky and luxurious but accessible enough to easily avoid Hotel Chocolat levels of wankiness. Where is it? Hop off the tube at Camden Town and you’ll be through its ornate doors quicker than you can do a touch of scatting. It’s literally a few hundred feet away – no need to plan a journey, just improvise! What’s the vibe? There’s a certain maturity to it that’s appealing. It’s quite usual to see people swanning through its doors after work to have a pint and a boogie, and with a capacity of less than 500, it feels like a small social space rather than the kind of big-room club that you can lose yourself (and all your mates) in. It’s a suave venue but never feels stuffy, especially as the Columbo Group also managed to fix the air con when taking it over last year. What makes it a great venue? It’s got an amazing history, having hosted Adele, Bobby Womack and Amy Winehouse in over a quarter of a century of business. But the new owners have worked their magic and retained a sense of the antique with a more modern feel. There’s a stunning restaurant space on the mezzanine floor that’s flecked with flakes of gold and a downstairs area for dancing. Don’t be fooled by the name, either – there are world, soul and hip hop nights on offer on top of the winding solos and cheeky use of chromatic scales. What’s the booze situation? We’d be lying if we said it was cheap, but you’re helping to maintain its stunning interior so it

Festival season continues in Victoria Park this weekend with two days of cutting-edge music, as Lovebox brings the best new bands and some veterans of alternative music to east London. Read our Lovebox guide to discover our tips across both days, and check out the full stage times for Lovebox 2017 below. GET THE APP: Download the free Lovebox app ahead of the weekend. QUICK: Snap up the last remaining Lovebox tickets here.

Future Bounce returns with another dose of ultra fresh R&B, bass and garage.

All Points East festival pitches up in Victoria Park this weekend. After a successful launch last year, this series of standalone gigs is back for another summer. The fest kicks off with The Chemical Brothers, The Strokes and Christine And The Queens headlining this week. If you’ve got tickets, or are thinking about getting some, then let Lisa Wright and Rhian Daly sketch out a plan for how to get the most out of the heaving line-ups...  FRIDAY MAY 24 – THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS 4pmWelcome to Victoria Park! Why not start with a tipple of your fancy and then dive right in by catching the very awesome Little Simz. The 25-year-old has a knack for smart storytelling that will leave you transfixed. Catch her on the East (aka main) and be put under her spell. 5.35pmSouth London spoken-word artist Kate Tempest heads to the North Stage right now to showcase her new album, ‘The Book of Traps and Lessons’, and the fiery social commentary of her back catalogue. 6.40pmWhen the early evening lull hits and you just want to lie in the grass watching the waning of the day, Spiritualized have your back with some languid space rock on the West Stage. 7.30pmAfter recharging your batteries, get the night kickstarted with superstar DJ Peggy Gou dropping house and techno bombs on the spectacular X Stage. 8.05pm Take a trip to the North Stage as the evening really gets going. Here you’ll find Bobby Gillespie and his Primal Scream pals ready to take you on a voyage. Journey into acid-washed hedonism a

We can't start talking about festivals early enough here at Time Out. So we’re cock-a-hoop to bring you the line-up for this year’s Wilderness Festival, which takes place at its traditional home of Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire from August 2-5. At the top of the bill are this year’s main stage headliners: Dan Smith’s anthemic Bastille crew, electronic dreamweaver Jon Hopkins and the unstoppable Chic ft Nile Rodgers. Supporting is a muscular core of acts from across the musical spectrum: there’s powerful composer and saxophonist Kamasi Washington, hilarious and heartbreaking singer Baxter Dury (on incredible form lately after his ‘Prince of Tears’ album last year) plus Chk Chk Chk and hugely soulful star-in-the-making, Mahalia. Special shout-out to IAMDDB, the Mancunian hip hop star who’s set to own 2018. © Danny North       As ever with Wilderness, though, music is just one part of the programme. There’ll be activity from arts institutions like the BFI, the Royal Academy of Arts and the V&A, plus a return of Letters Live – which sees actors of the calibre of Cumberbatch reading from great works of literary correspondence. Wilderness is also a foodie haven, and this year there’ll be long-table banquets from Yotam Ottolenghi, feasting tents courtesy of Angela Hartnett’s Cafe Murano and Homeslice, plus chef’s table dining courtesy of Sam Buckley from Stockport’s well-regarded Where the Light Gets In. At the back of the site is The Valley, where things get ravey late into the ev

Festivals are the most fun places on earth... unless you're stuck with a real Debbie Downer. Here, bands and DJs playing this year's festivals pick their ideal drinking, dancing and tent-pitching buddies.  ‘If there wasn’t so much walking, I’d take my nan.’ Josh from The Horrors, who play Citadel. ‘Idris Elba. He has the most fun and attracts all the ladies. I just ride in his slipstream.’ Fatboy Slim, who plays Elrow Town. ‘Stifler from “American Pie”.’ Jordan Rakei, who plays Lost Village.  ‘Trevor McDonald.’ HONNE, who play Citadel. ‘Mark Ronson.’ Joel from Wolf Alice, pictured below, who play NOS Alive.  Press  ‘Hunter S Thompson would show me a really good time.’ Henry from Boston Manor, who play Truck Festival.  ‘Tupac.’ GoldLink, who plays Wireless. ‘My mate Adam is the funniest man alive and looked after me when I found out Michael Jackson died whilst on acid.’ Joe from IDLES, who play Live at Leeds. ‘I’d have to pick that Jane McDonald, the cruise singer off the television.’ Terry Farley, who plays Farr. ‘Bridget Jones.’ Ella Eyre, pictured below, who plays Balaton Sound. © Paolo Zerbini ‘An early riser who can also stay up late. I don’t mind if you boke [vomit], but you have to be able to keep going after.’ Harry from Peace, who play Sound City. ‘Drake.’ Michael Dapaah aka Big Shaq, who plays Longitude. ‘Jeff Bridges.’ Steve from Riot Jazz, who play Soundwave. ‘Nardwuar the Human Serviette.’ Superorganism, who play Latitude. 'It’s got to be just my friends and

Festivals are breeding grounds for great stories - and by great, we really mean weird af. So we asked the cream of 2018's DJs, bands and performers to delve deep into their memories and share their favourite ever festival anecdotes. Be prepared for things to get pretty surreal... ‘Grace Jones having trays of oysters brought into Lovebox. What a woman!’ Paloma Faith, who plays Standon Calling. ‘I love it when big American artists have no idea where they actually are. I once saw Black Eyed Peas call the crowd “London” all night. We were on the Scottish border.’ Justin from The Vaccines, who play Community Festival and Latitude.  ‘A security guard not allowing us on stage at T in the Park in 1999 at the height of our big bang. “Aye, right, pal... Sure you’re in the band.” “No we’re really in the band.” “Aye.” And he looks around us, doing that weird pretending-you’re-not-there-any-more thing.’ Fran from Travis, who play Isle of Wight. ‘Walking lost through a forest dressed as Austin Powers, trying to find my friends.’ Rudimental, pictured below, who play Arcadia. ‘A forklift came and picked up a port-a-potty while our guitar tech was using it. He was driven across the festival and taken to the dump site whilst trying to have a dump himself!’ Ben from Asking Alexandria play Download. ‘Looking at a beautiful full moon for several minutes before I realised it was just a big white balloon.’ Roman Flügel, who plays Love International. ‘I once sat next to Sir Tom Jones in catering

'Festival chic' may be a thing at Coachella, but at most UK music events, the dress code is a little more...  eccentric. Here, the cream of 2018's DJ, bands and performers recall the most memorable festival outfits they've ever seen.  ‘A girl dressed as a human volcano at Bestival. Her hair was the lava. Top marks.’ Vinny from Django Django, who play Beat-Herder. ‘A group of lads dressed as a multipack of cereal.’ Sam Fender, who plays Citadel. ‘A dude in DIY platform boots that had teddy bears sewn into them. Had to give him a respectful nod.’ Superorganism, pictured below, who play Latitude. ‘I think everyone looks crap at festivals no matter how much effort they put in! It’s very difficult to make anything look good with a pair of wellies. You either look too rank or too try-hard: there’s no happy medium.’ Paloma Faith, who plays Standon Calling. ‘Full-on nudity when last in Oz! Now that’s an outfit right there.’ Mr G, who plays Farr. ‘Cameron our guitarist once wore a bottle of piss on stage! Obviously not by choice!’ Ben Bruce from Asking Alexandria. ‘It’s a toss-up between Kanye West’s women’s Celine shirt and Andre 3000’s onesie with different quotes on.’ GoldLink, pictured below, who plays Wireless. © Tyra Mitchell   ‘A flashmob dressed up as Smurfs.’ MIST, who play Wireless. ‘The “Glastonbury Bread-Raver” will go down as one of the most iconic moments in festival history. I felt blessed to witness it first hand. I was playing my set and this absolute legend of a

Festivals are breeding grounds for great stories - great gross stories. So we asked the cream of 2018's DJs, bands and performers to share their most heinous tales of festival grimness. Warning: some of these anecdotes are not for the faint of heart.  ‘Someone collapsed on to a tent peg and it took their eye out.’ Barely Legal, who plays Forbidden Forest. ‘I’ve seen a chemical toilet tipped over with a girl inside it. It’s up there with medieval torture in my book.’ Vinny from Django Django, who play Beat-Herder. ‘Dougie saw a sanitation truck explode on two girls at Glastonbury. One screamed in terror, “It’s mud, it’s mud!” And the other stood silent for a second and then said “It’s. Not. Muuuuuud!”’ Fran from Travis, who play Isle of Wight. ‘Two friends who needed a number one really bad, but were too cold to leave the tent. So they decided to drink each other’s to avoid a wet tent.’ Clayton Wright from Little Gay Brother, pictured below. ‘Someone dragging their Segway through a dancefloor while I was playing at Burning Man and ask to plug it into the DJ booth.’ Felix Dickinson, who plays Love International. ‘Some lad got a tow rope from his car, tied it to his mate’s feet whilst he was sleeping in his tent and just drove really fast through the site with his mate attached.’ Saoirse, who plays Lovebox. ‘A lady squatting in front of my car. If you got to go, you got to go.’ Chris from Squeeze, who play British Summer Time. 'A man fell into the toilet pit at Sidmouth festi

R&She is an excellent queer party dedicated to celebrating the queens of hip hop and R&B. Having started six years ago in London, it now runs in Berlin and NYC too. Ahead of their sixth birthday party at Heaven this Sunday, DJs David Oh, QBoy and Neil Prince pick six R&She anthems... ‘Who’s That Girl’ by EveNeil Prince: ‘A total go-to at R&She. We’re all about celebrating the queens of hip hop and R&B and this is a great call to arms. ‘Say Yes’by Michelle Williams ft Beyoncé and Kelly RowlandNeil: ‘“Say Yes” has become something of a cult [gospel] classic at R&She. We always get asked for it! It doesn’t matter if you’re religious or not, it puts a smile on people’s faces.’ ‘Caught Out There’ by KelisDavid Oh: ‘One of the reasons we started this night was to show love for those women who handle the music industry with strength and originality and rebellion. Kelis is one of the ultimate examples and this track is such an inspiring “fuck you”. People scream when it drops!’   ‘Whatta Man’by Salt-N-Pepa with En VogueQBoy: ‘Being the UK’s number one Salt-N-Pepa fan (confirmed by the group themselves – slightly worrying), we were lucky when their legendary DJ Spinderella played R&She, on my birthday! What a present!’ ‘Sausage’ by Lil MamaQBoy: ‘I’ve never been a sausage decliner and this is no exception. Hard vocal delivery over a classic Slick Rick beat, powerfully rapping about safe sex in a way I hadn’t heard since Salt-N-Pepa’s “Lets Talk About Sex”.’ ‘Queen's Speech 4’ by

It's just been announced that rap god Eminem will be playing a huge London gig this year. He's bringing his Revival tour to town for two nights – Saturday July 14th and Sunday July 15th – at Twickenham Stadium. 20 years on from 'The Slim Shady EP', Em has been on big, bombastic, president-baiting form lately, as witnessed on recent album 'Revival'. Love him or hate him, there's not many people who can draw 82,000 rap fans a night to shutdown the home of rugby. He previously sold out two nights at Wembley Stadium in 2014, so get ready to score tickets when they go on sale on Friday Feb 2 at 9am. And here's Em (plus Ed) on recent single, 'River'.

Those globe-conquering Irish rockers are coming back to London this year and they’re going big – O2-big, in fact. The show, on October 23, is part of a big ol’ global tour, kicking off in May when they head to North America, followed by a string of European shows between August and October. The ‘Experience + Innocence’ tour comes in support of their latest album ‘Songs of Experience’, released in December as a kind of Part Two to the band’s 2014 album ‘Songs of Innocence’.  There aren’t yet any details of what the shows might contain, but remember that this lot aren’t exactly new to playing big venues – just last year they embarked on a mass global tour to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of their iconic album ‘The Joshua Tree’, which included two dates at the gargantuan Twickenham Stadium. Clearly, these settings are kind of their bag, so expect some fairly epic scenes and high production values when they hit London later this year. U2 play The O2 on October 23. Tickets go on sale this Friday January 26 at 9am and can be purchased here.

A massive chunk of music news has landed from the brand new and increasingly exciting All Points East project, which is putting on an epic programme of music and entertainment. We can now reveal that the line-up of the first All Points East Presents one-day concert series (June 1-3) will include Catfish And The Bottlemen. The Welsh indie-rockers will headline the fun, belting out their fuzzed-up melodic numbers to the Vicky Park masses. They might be fresh-faced, but they can sling a riff like nobody’s business, which should go down a treat with revellers. Before The Bottlemen hit the stage in the evening, you can get stuck in to a melting pot of rock, punk, indie and synth-pop from a cast of established and hotly tipped names, including Blossoms, The Hunna, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes and The Neighbourhood. And don’t forget the rest of All Points East – it’s ten days in total. Previously announced APE Presents acts The National (June 2) and Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds (June 3) will handle that side of things, while Björk, LCD Soundsystem and The xx are heading up the event’s three-day music festival (May 25-27). In between, there’ll be four days of eclectic but community-driven goings-on at the site in the shape of comedy shows, outdoor cinema, street food stalls galore, wellbeing sessions and family-friendly activities. As a big bonus, it’s free to enter the site during those days, with some ticketed events inside. That’s a sizeable portion of your summer sorted, then

It’s never too early to start thinking about festivals. Especially during the grimmest month of the year, when the thought of future fun in warmer, brighter days is what keeps us all going till spring. Thankfully, one of the most exciting festival prospects has released some very cool news to get us well and truly in the mood. London festival scene favourite Wireless has just dropped a whole load of big names to open up its roster announcements. Kicking things off on day one (Friday July 6), US hip hop heavyweight J Cole will headline – prepare to be schooled in rap versatility by this dude. On Saturday, London’s own Stormzy continues his globe-conquering run with a hench headlining spot. Closing the festival on Sunday in their first ever European show will be DJ Khaled and Friends, led by the man who’s basically won Snapchat and collaborated with more A-listers (Rihanna, Drake, Bieber…) than we can count. So grandiose is his social media personality, we’re not 100 percent sure he actually exists IRL, but we can’t wait to be proved wrong on the day. © James Bridle     As well as those showstoppers, there’ll be plenty more artists stirring up the N4 crowds over the weekend. US hip hop and R&B is well repped by plenty of VIPs, including Rae Sremmurd, Migos, Rick Ross, French Montana, Post Malone and Lil Uzi Vert. There’s also an impressive list of buzzy London talent on offer: Giggs, Donae’o, Wretch 32, J Hus, MoStack, Not3s, Lisa Mercedez, Hardy Caprio and loads more. To sum

Ice skating, extravagant fireworks, grandiose gigs, the World Ping Pong Championships... The mighty Alexandra Palace has a lot of strings to its cultural bow, and this year it’s adding another in the form of a new one-day music and arts festival, Kaleidoscope. Details of the newly announced event are still thin on the ground, but a few nuggets of info about the general vibe have been released.   We’re promised a ‘world where music, performance, theatre and comedy embrace in a collision of beautiful noise, brilliant ideas and brazen colour,’ as Ally Pally opens its gates to a ‘vibrant and eccentric cast of performers.’ So there you go. It also sounds like a pretty experiential affair, as revellers will be able to ‘wander through curious happenings in hidden corners, become the story in never seen places, dance to sounds in re-imagined spaces.’ You can even do some of your wandering alfresco, as the massive outdoor park areas will also be yours to explore, as well as the cavernous indoor spaces – maybe leave a trail of breadcrumbs before you start exploring. In terms of music, the line-up hasn’t been announced yet, but we’ll bring you further updates as they’re released.  Kaleidoscope takes place on July 21 at Alexandra Park & Palace. Visit: www.kaleidoscope-festival.com for more details. Keep up to date with the latest London festival announcements.