A day-long music festival overlooking the city, Kaleidoscope is the perfect chance to let your hair down and paint the town red.
And orange. And yellow.
Since its inception in 2018, Kaleidoscope has been the saving grace for Londoners who would like to revel in all the glitter, live music and general joie de vivre of a festival… without the four hour coach ride and a GCSE student saying goodbye to their breakfast outside their tent.
Taking place across one glorious day*, Kaleidoscope brings together a raft of musicians, DJs, comedians, cabaret artists, street food trucks and pop-up bars, and dots them around the iconic hilltop setting of Alexandra Palace. Which means that while you’re dancing to the euphoric, re-imagined anthems of the Ministry of Sound’s classical orchestra under a canopy of lasers and pyrotechnics, the view off the stage is almost as good as the view on it.
Lloyd Winters
This year it’s all going down on 13th July, with the confirmed main stage line-up already including Soul II Soul, The Go! Team and Fun Lovin’ Criminals frontman Huey Morgan. Over in the intimate DJ section you’ve got Mr. Scruff, Erol Alkan and Artful Dodger hitting the decks, while the comedy stage will be graced by Simon Amstell, Sophie Duker and Brian Blessed (though you should be able to hear him from the main stage, too).
Aside from this, you’ve got the bunting-strewn bandstand hosting brass bands and steel pan players; hip-hop karaoke in a forest; and a marketplace of food & drink vendors to explore… plus, of course, all the other attractions that make Ally Pally such a destination the rest of the year, including the huge Victorian ice rink, the boating lake with swan-shaped pedalos for hire, and the sheer expanse of 196 acres of sprawling greenery, a great deal of which looks out over the rest of the buzzing metropolis.
But don’t worry, you won’t be feeling any FOMO up here.
NOTE: Kaleidoscope Festival takes place on Saturday 13th July 2024. Standard entry tickets cost £63 – you can find out more, and get yours HERE.
(*sunshine not guaranteed)
Kaleidoscope Festival | Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, London N22 7AY
Love getting out and about? Then take a peek at our guide to the best parks in London