The open-air courtyard series returns from 16 to 26 July 2026 with eleven nights of shows spanning four decades of music and numerous genres.
There are very few venues in London where the setting actively enhances the music rather than just providing a backdrop for it. Somerset House’s open-air courtyard is one of them, and every July it reminds you why the Summer Series has been running since 2003. This year’s lineup is the most varied in recent memory, covering the gap between The Flaming Lips and Benjamin Clementine, between the Lightning Seeds and Black Country, New Road, without ever feeling like it’s trying too hard to be all things to all people.
Here’s what’s on, night by night.
Thursday 16 July: Naïka The French-Haitian artist born in Miami and raised across Guadeloupe, Vanuatu, Nairobi, Paris and South Africa opens the series with her biggest UK headline show to date. Her debut album ECLESIA, released earlier this year, sings in English, French and Haitian Creole across 13 tracks that blend pop, R&B, soul and traditional Haitian Konpa into something genuinely hard to place. She describes her sound as “world pop,” which undersells it. Her breakout single Sauce hit 165 million streams before most people had heard of her. This is the show to watch this summer for anyone who wants to be early on someone.
Friday 17 July: Palace One of the more beloved British guitar bands of their generation, Palace have gone from Glastonbury side stages to selling out the Hammersmith Apollo. The Somerset House courtyard, at its most intimate, is the right size for what they do.
Saturday 18 July: Thee Sacred Souls The San Diego soul trio on Daptone Records, whose 2024 album Got A Story To Tell is one of the finest soul records of recent years. Their NPR Tiny Desk session and COLORS session have both been widely shared for good reason. Expect a warm, unhurried night.
Sunday 19 July: Lightning Seeds Ian Broudie has written some of the most quietly devastating pop songs in British music. The Life Of Riley, Pure, Lucky You, Three Lions. Catching the Lightning Seeds in a courtyard setting rather than a festival main stage is a genuinely different experience, and probably the one these songs deserve.
Monday 20 July: The Cribs The Wakefield brothers have been one of the most consistently excellent live bands in British indie for twenty years. Their latest album Selling A Vibe became their highest-charting record. This is a London headline show, not a festival appearance, and it will be loud.
Tuesday 21 July: Agnes Obel The Danish singer-songwriter and composer who followed up a headline show at the Royal Albert Hall with this. Her music rewards the kind of close attention that outdoor settings don’t always allow, but Somerset House at night, with the Strand’s noise dropping away, comes close.
Wednesday 22 July: Black Country, New Road One of the most significant bands to come out of London in the last decade. Forever Howlong, their 2025 album, marked a new chapter and sold out Brixton Academy. Their own note about this show, mentioning watching friends play the same stage as the sun went down over the Thames, is the best piece of advance press any act has written about themselves in recent memory.
Thursday 23 July: Venna Grammy-winning saxophonist who has worked with Beyoncé, Burna Boy and Wizkid, and whose debut album MALIK featured collaborations with Jorja Smith and Leon Thomas. A defining figure in modern British jazz getting a headline stage in a courtyard. This will be something.
Friday 24 July: Raf-Saperra The Punjabi artist combining traditional folk with modern hip-hop who has been building a live reputation across the UK and Europe. This is his biggest London show yet, and the kind of booking Somerset House makes that no other venue in the city quite replicates.
Saturday 25 July: The Flaming Lips Forty-plus years of refusal to make the same record twice. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. The Soft Bulletin. A live show that has been described, not inaccurately, as one of the things you simply have to see. The Somerset House courtyard will be covered in confetti.
Sunday 26 July: Benjamin Clementine The Mercury Prize-winner returns to a series he has headlined before, one of only a handful of artists to be invited back. His latest album, Sir Introvert and the Featherweights, is the kind of record that makes sense live in a way it doesn’t anywhere else.
The London x London Take: Naïka, Black Country New Road and Thee Sacred Souls are our three picks if you can only do a few. But honestly, the Lightning Seeds in a courtyard on a July evening is the one we’d regret missing most.
Need to Know
- Where: Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA
- When: 16 to 26 July 2026, one show per night
- Price: Tickets vary by night
