The third weekend of East Bank’s Music Is Black Festival lands at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on 22 and 23 August, with DJ sets, live music and public dancefloors curated by Shy One, Mark-Ashley Dupé, Donnie Sunshine and Joel Mignott.
If you were at the Power & Respect weekend in July, you already know what East Bank’s Music Is Black Festival is capable of. If you weren’t, Queer Frequencies on 22 and 23 August is your second chance, and the lineup is formidable.
The weekend is dedicated to the sound, legacy and future of Black queer music culture, with four curators bringing radically different energies to three stages across Stratford Waterfront. The first two weekends in the series drew over 7,000 people across the first weekend alone. Free, unticketed, and genuinely one of the most ambitious free cultural programmes London has put together this summer.
Saturday 22 August
Shy One takes the Waterfront Stage from 2pm to 7pm. She started out on pirate radio as a teenager and has spent her career building safe spaces for London’s queer community through club nights that have become genuine institutions. Her Saturday lineup includes SisterMatic, Private Joy, Lil C, Seb Odyssey and Fiyahdred.
Mid Terrace runs all day from noon, curated by Donnie Sunshine, the East London-born multi-disciplinary artist known for his mix of forgotten cult classics and current niche selections. The Saturday mid terrace lineup is a proper sprawl: Alizé, DJ Biggy C, DRYBABE, EWA, Mark-Ashley Dupé, Talia.A Darling, The CookOUT, The Connection Party, Jungle Kitty and more.
Saturday night closes at Sadler’s Wells East with Together We Felt The Bass, a club night curated by Zinzi Minott, the choreographer and artist who has been artist in residence at both the Serpentine and Tate. Expect music, dance, poetry and sound art inspired by queer nightlife, running from 7pm until midnight.
Sunday 23 August
Mark-Ashley Dupé, the Prince of Peckham, takes the Waterfront Stage on Sunday with a lineup that draws across Pop, House, R&B, Ballroom, Afrobeats, Dancehall and Brazilian Funk. Acts include Jungle Kitty, POPOLA, Studs Need Luv 2 and LAVILLE.
Joel Mignott, the first DJ to play the main stage at London Pride in 2024, curates Mid Terrace, building a lineup that reflects the energy and freedom of contemporary Black queer dancefloor culture. Natalie Sandi, Shaun Ross and Raven Mandella, hosted by DARKWAH.
Sunday at Sadler’s Wells East closes with Faggamuffin Bloc Party, the queer carnival collective, running a full pre-carnival day party from noon to 6pm with DJs, MCs and dancers. Given that Notting Hill Carnival is the following weekend, this is a very good warm-up indeed.
The London x London Take: This is free festival programming done properly, for the third weekend running. Joel Mignott and Zinzi Minott on the same weekend is enough on its own, and the Faggamuffin Bloc Party pre-carnival session on Sunday is the kind of thing you don’t stumble across, you plan for. Make the plan.
Need to Know
- Where: Stratford Waterfront, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London E20
- When: Saturday 22 August, 12pm to midnight; Sunday 23 August, 12pm to 6pm
- Price: Free, no tickets required
