Festivals near London

London never built its one big field festival — it invented the curator's festival instead. Each year at the Southbank Centre, Meltdown Festival hands the entire programme to a single guest artist, from David Bowie to Patti Smith, who decides who shares the stage. It is the spirit of a city that gave birth to punk, built the golden age of British soul and funk, and remains a world capital of pop and electronic music.

The scene plays out in settings no one else can offer: the Tudor courtyard of Hampton Court Palace, where Nile Rodgers & Chic set a palace dancing, the Royal Hospital lawns for Live At Chelsea, or Victoria Park, where Lido Festival lets its headliners build the bill themselves. FestT computes your FestiScore — how closely a line-up matches your favourite artists — and keeps dates and ticketing up to date.