A Guide to Free Live Music In London
I have lived in London for nearly six years now. The place is a wicked and wild one, as Dickens put it: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’; but, on those awful days where you’ve been working all day and all you want to do is go out, see some live music, take in some culture, and enjoy some of the reasons you actually came here for… the city now and then has a way of paying you back. Here are some of the things I’ve found for free through my long term love-hate relationship with England’s capital:
Free Zorba The Hooligan at the windmill by sixtine cail
*I purposefully didn’t include open mics (for the most part) as that’s a different gravy.
Monday
Andy ‘Hank Dog’’s singaround at The Old Dispensaryin Camberwell is a very special night and one very close to my heart. When I first moved to London, about 5 months in, I had just moved to Brixton from Chiswick, round the corner from Chiswick House where The Beatles shot the video for Paperback Writer. Those who know the area well know it’s not my kind of place at all, though it is beautiful as hell.
So I was working at Brixton Jam, a wild club where I saw acts like General Levy pack out rooms with bass, twisted heads and weed smoke. The job was crazy and I would describe my time there as absolute living hell, were it not for it being where I met Jesse: the drummer/singer of The Magdalanes; who introduced me to the world of the South London Punk (to gloss) music scene and the beginning of all that I know and have seen since. The Mondays at the OD are a mixed bag in that you have a combination of local patrons, who just love to jam, doing so with members of bands that frequent the more ‘gig’ type nights on a Wednesday doing acoustic renditions of their songs. It’s one of the genuinely few pure and honest jam nights where anyone can, and is encouraged to, get stuck in; there is no snobbery or, most importantly for a successful jam, dick measuring; just players and music lovers getting together on arguably the hardest and worst day of the week to play songs together. A cracking invention from Hank. Kicks off at 9 ish (heavy on the ish) see you there.
Tuesday
The Earl Ferrer’sin Streatham is another beautiful and very mixed jam night. Though it is pretty damn far out, even if you live south. I highly recommend making the trip down at some point if you can. It’s not every week, it seems pretty random when they put it on, sometimes week after week and then ages without, but if you’re looking for a freaky jam on a Tuesday check the pub’s Instagram or Al White’s (Fat White Family); as he often runs the night, a high energy host with a flute. Only in London..
This Jam is not for the faint of heart; you will be playing with serious musicians and viewed most times by promoters and photographers who frequent the regular scene. If you’ve got the bottle, however, it’s a great time and place to show off what you can do.
Wednesday
Wednesday, as many know is Hank’s more popular night, well known throughout the scene, and running for an incredible 34 years: the Easycome Acoustic night, also at OD. Though it originally began at The Ivy House, and then Skehan’sin New Cross (Who still do a free Wednesday gig hosted now by Scotty ‘Rockstar’, and I highly recommend new bands in London shout him on Insta for slots.) the night has resided in the OD for 7 years and has as long as I’ve known it been a highly successful residency, breeding ground of creativity and opportunity and place to find THE newest band you haven’t heard yet; because if you talk to Hank and you seem alright? He’ll book you. Even if you’ve never had a gig.
I remember when Jesse introduced me to him years back, she said something like: “Go talk to Hank over there, I know you’ve started a band and you need your first gig, he’s the man to talk to.” I said “Hey Hank, I heard you’re the man to talk to if you need a gig.” He says
‘What are you called?’
“Dirty Work.”
‘You sound good. Wanna play next Wednesday?’
And that was it. So if you’re a new London band? Talk to Hank.
Thursday
Scotty, who I mentioned before, runs a free night on Thursdays at Bread and Rosesin Clapham; a very original and interesting place; a gig venue and pub with a theatre upstairs for plays; the combination brings a great variety of drinkers in the crowd.
His night is a sort of competition run over months that results in the ‘top band’ getting a slot at the highly coveted Glastonbury Festival in the venue’s own tent. Another reason to shoot Scotty a message for the band people reading.
Thursday is actually a busy night in this city, there are genuinely too many gigs to mention almost every week of the year; here, Dice is your friend. Two other favourites of mine are Dream Bag Jaguar Shoes in Shoreditch, originally programmed by Permanent Creeps who moved to Post Bar in Tottenham, but it’s still pretty good most weeks, though I appreciate it’s a tough promoter to follow for their successor.
The other venue I love on a Thursday is Post Bar, however this night of the week is run by a different promoter, and genuinely one of my favorites in the world. A woman every band, especially of the Punk/Rock ‘n’ Roll persuasion should meet: Nataska of Shameless Nights. Though her nights aren’t always free it’s always worth checking; even when they’re not they’re usually cheap, and this is a woman that somehow consistently has found and promoted excellent bands for years; I don’t think I have been to a single event of her’s that hasn’t hit hard. The venue itself is also special for many reasons: for one there are (I genuinely have no idea how many) cats constantly wandering round, like you’re in Greece; the venue is a great size; as is the stage; it gets packed most of the time and with high energy crowd… I think partly to do with the proximity of famous squats and guardianships in the area such as ‘Church of Sin’.
A few doors down toward the station there is also a small Jamaican gaff highly worth checking if you need to burn some time between soundcheck and doors, in summer you can sit outside, be served Nigerian Guiness, a solid patty and he will blast a formidable playlist at you on a massive speaker… there’s not much on that side of Tottenham but this is definitely something to experience.
Friday and Saturday
Finally it’s the weekend, and… wait… what? You can still find free gigs in this horrific do not pass go, income tax and then straight to jail style city? Of course. And perhaps even the best of them:
Probably my favourite ‘grassroots’ gig venue is the first I will mention: The Shacklewell Arms in Dalston. Many know how special this particular part of London is; renowned for its ‘melting pot’ qualities in its mix of cultures, and because of that, variety of events each given night: from the super camp acid house nights of The Divine to the Cuban clubs like Tipsy, all littering the high street.
One of the many things I love about The Shack is how it’s off a side road; you wouldn’t simply stumble upon it. You almost have to know it’s there. As much as I’m fully aware this walks dangerously close to the line of Hipster ‘in-the-know-’ edge, the place has just enough charm to pull it off.
Generally Thursday, Friday and Saturday are worth checking Dice or their website to see what’s on; most of the nights these days are free or very cheap and usually coordinated by a solid promoter like Bad Vibrations; who, if you’re unaware are one of the top groups to get in with as a band. This is a promoter that has nights throughout the year at The Shack and MOTH Club which ultimately lead to ‘up and coming’ artists getting slots at some of their larger attractions such as Wide Awake Festival in Brockwell Park, Brixton, probably being the main prize in the eyes for those who play.
Flashback Records also run some nights there which are always worth catching, as well as a few at other venues such as the Old Blue Last, almost always free and almost always on Dice, so keep an eye out.
There are, of course, too many to mention, so for this issue that’s all you get.
Other notable mentions
Old Blue Last, Shoreditch - plenty of free and cheap nights with top bands, both week and weekend, always worth checking.
Copper Cats, Dalston - every other Thursday has a cracking jam, it’s definnitely on the weirder more left field side, but 100% worth seeing.
Windmill, Brixton - usually happens earlier in the week but a lot of their last minute gigs are free or very cheap andd sometimes has great bands, who will often do ‘practice gigs’ at this time, so you can end up seeing new material be tested, always a treat.
The Sebright Arms, Hoxton often runs free or very cheap nights. I make a habit of keeping an eye on them on Dice; it’s honestly a great venue simply. Pool table, gigs in the basement, crackin’ DJs on the ground floor til late a lot of the time, decent smoking area size, and maybe a rogue thing to notice but I always have a great time with the bar staff; they always seem to hire fun people.
Dash The Henge, Camberwell is another sweet spot for the oblivious band to both frequent and contact regarding gigs. Generally they will do free shows at 3 and 5 pm on Saturdays annd some weekdays especially in summer. Dash are a brand you want to know especially if you work in the industry; a lovely record shop/creative space that is not stush about whom they involve themselves with is a rare find. These are the kind of guys that will stock the first press of your band T’s asking for a minor cut, to walk on the right side of the line that industry heads will call the supposedly coveted ‘exposure’ prize. As far as I’ve seen people who are ‘important’ or have ‘gravitas’ in the more niche, cooler side of the current London music uprising and ‘scene’ are generally not forthcoming with information and opportunity; seclusional is the word, to be frank, but the guys at Dash are a rare and welcome exception.