Sources for figuring out what's on in London
October 23, 2011 1:56 PM   Subscribe

Londoners, I want to know about events listings websites, promoter and venue Facebook pages, curated blogs, web forums, and whatever else is out there to find out what's going on in this town in music/arts/culture in general.

I'm especially interested in more underground stuff or smaller and more emerging scenes, because these are the things I am less likely to hear about through the traditional media that I already have access to. Also I want to find Londony things, not just things happening in London, if you know what I mean. Example: someone just told me about Access All Areas which has an events listing for upcoming underground raves and big electronic club nights and stuff. I will slowly find this stuff on my own I'm sure, but being new in town and only here for 6 or 7 months I want to cheat and ask for help.
posted by PercussivePaul to Media & Arts (8 answers total) 25 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: You might already know about these so forgive me if I'm giving you the obvious stuff:

Londonist
Spoonfed
Time Out London
Culture24(this is more museum exhibitions and the like)

Everyone I know seems to use Beer in the Evening to point out pubs to each other and check up on where's a good place to meet near any given landmark.
posted by calico at 2:29 PM on October 23, 2011




Best answer: Hot Soup Girl has covered most of the ones I can think of. There's one music one that was excellent, but I can't remember it's name off the top of my head.

My girlfriend has noted I Know This Great Little Place, which looks pretty useful, and also has a semi-active Facebook group.

For clubbing, there's also the big, obvious stuff like Resident Advisor and Don't Stay In. Not very underground, but comprehensive.
posted by Magnakai at 2:47 PM on October 23, 2011


If you're interested in the more underground end of the sort of dance music stuff on AAA, check out the upcoming party forums on psymusic, and Resident Advisor as mentioned above.

For physical flyers plus the odd bit of stuff that's not online, head up to Camden stables market - as you walk up away from the main road there should be a stall in front of you containing a dude with a CD player and big speakers playing banging psytrance. The stall is normally covered in flyers which are well worth going through; check out Cyberdog as well. Unfortunately the best way to find out about dodgy raves is to go to other dodgy raves, but the above is how I got started - I don't go as often as I used to but feel free to memail if you want more details.

You might also find the Randomness Guide to London handy for the more obscure but cool museums, and particularly if you want to find a decent pub or restaurant near wherever it is you're going.
posted by doop at 3:13 PM on October 23, 2011


Oh, also, for dance music listings, be aware that "Secret Location" is usually a euphemism for "squat party", with all that entails. "Secret licensed location" may be legit.
posted by doop at 3:18 PM on October 23, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks! Great stuff already.

I'll just clarify that I am not necessarily looking for dodgy raves and that sort of stuff -- just coincidentally that is one thing I have already found out about. Basically anything goes.... whatever's fun in this town. And don't worry if it's not underground enough. Even the pretty obvious stuff is new to me.
posted by PercussivePaul at 3:21 PM on October 23, 2011


> for dance music listings, be aware that "Secret Location" is usually a euphemism for "squat party", with all that entails.

That's dependent on what the music is really. It's probably true that a "secret location" + psy-trance is a squat party rave, but for a lot of house and techno nights, the "secret location" is usually one of the not-so-secret legit warehouse spaces around East London. The reason that it's secret isn't so much that it's not licensed (and has the possibility of being busted), but that the local authority waits until the last possible minute to grant the license, making it difficult for the promoters to publicise it in advance. Plus marketing, you know, it sounds cool and underground and elitist.
posted by iivix at 1:28 AM on October 24, 2011


If you're not reading diamond geezer then you're missing out. It's not exactly "What's On", but I'd call it essential reading for Londoners.
posted by alby at 3:24 AM on October 24, 2011


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