Things To Do In London This Weekend: July 7 - 9
What's that? A quiet one, you say? NOT. A. CHANCE.
ART: Vauxhall Art Car Boot Fair
Now, we wouldn't usually advise buying art – or anything else, for that matter – from the back of a car in Vauxhall. Except for this weekend, that is, because more than 100 artists will be heading to the district to sell exclusive pieces from the boots of new and vintage rides (Vauxhalls, of course). Big names include Sir Peter Blake, Marcus Harvey, Gavin Turk, Pam Hogg and Bob and Roberta Smith – all of whom will be there in person – and the theme of the fair is 'The Original', so there'll be plenty of one-off works up for grabs. Surely marking the first time anything good ever came out of the back of a Vauxhall Astra.
9 July; £5
Art Car Boot Fair, Whitgift Street, London SE11
NIGHTLIFE: Erol Alkan – To The Rhythm
It's fair to say that XOYO are spoiling us with their Friday night residents. The Black Madonna has just finished a stint, following in the beat-laden footsteps of Andy C, Heidi and Bicep. But starting on Friday might just be their most brilliant series yet, as Erol Alkan – he of the seminal Noughties night Trash – takes charge of proceedings. And he's going in hard, recruiting electro-punk/alt dance icon Peaches for a live set, plus Dalston Superstore owner Dan Beaumont to take to the decks. In the 13 weeks to come, you can expect the likes of 2ManyDjs, Boys Noize, Daniel Avery, Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor… You may as well just block book Fridays in your diary now.
7 July; £20
XOYO, 32-37 Cowper Street, Shoreditch EC2A 4AP
FOOD/DRINK: Negroni Night at Rotorino
You might think that in London every night is negroni night, and you'd be right. Only this Friday at cool Dalston restaurant Rotorino, it's in a much more official capacity. You see, after service is over, instead of closing up the lights will go down, the music will crank up and you can settle in for a late-night cocktail session featuring rhubarb negronis, toscano negronis, barrel-aged negronis and, er, negroni negronis. And as if this wasn't all sounding marvellous enough, at 1am there'll be a service of the restaurant's famous lasagne for just £5 a slice. Hmmm, wonder what drink to have with it…
7 July, 11pm-3am; free
Rotorino, 434 Kingsland Road, London, E8 4AA
EVENT: Pride Parade 2017
Given recent world events, this year it feels more important than ever to party at Pride. Don't miss Saturday's out, proud, joyous and hyper-colourful parade celebrating the LGBT+ community, starting at the north end of Regent Street, heading past Trafalgar Square and down to Whitehall. Limber up with a VC-fuelled brunch at the London Edition with drag icon Jonny Woo; then post-parade it's after parties ago-go. Dig throwback drag with Duckie DeCrim at the Vauxhall Tavern, hit the dance floor at BUTCH Pride! at The Glory, or party to fierce female DJs at the Official Pride in London Ladies' After Party. Wherever you are, paint the town red. And green. And yellow. And orange. And…
Various locations
POP-UP: Go Glow at EDITION
Don't get us wrong, we love Wimbledon. But don't you just think the whole thing would be even better if it was, you know, a bit more fluorescent? The good folk at the London EDITION clearly agree, because they're celebrating the final week of The Championships with UV ping-pong parties in their Basement bar. Yup, all next week you'll be able to channel your inner Williams sister with a table tennis game in the neon-lit venue – where you'll also find glow-in-the-dark artwork, a '90s disco soundtrack, tacos, sliders and frozen margheritas. All which would improve Wimbledon too, now we come to think of it…
8-17 July; £13.25
Glow-Up, The London EDITION, 10 Berners Street, W1T 3NP
FUN: Zip World
London, it's fair to say, has plenty of venerable attractions. Buckingham Palace. St Paul's Cathedral. Tower Bridge… And now, a big f***-off zip-line ride. YEAH. Because as of this week, on Southbank you'll find the biggest, fastest city zip wire in the world. That's right: it's 35 metres high (that's more than nine double decker buses stacked up), hits speeds of up to 50mph, and gives you a bird's (well, more like a speeding-bullet's) eye view of the London Eye, Big Ben and The Shard. In short, it's the most fun you can have throwing yourself off somewhere high. Unless your name is Boris, that is. In which case you should probably give it a miss.
From 6 July; £22.50
Zip World | Lambeth Palace Road, SE1 7JY
EVENT: BluesFest
Ok so this isn't for this weekend, but if you caught Chic featuring Nile Rodgers' disco party in the sunshine at Glastonbury a couple of weeks ago – whether from a field or on the TV – you'll know that no one does funk and soul quite like these guys. So while it may be stretching the genre ever so slightly, you'll be thrilled to hear that Chic will be opening BluesFest at the O2 on 27 October (Hall & Oates and Steely Dan appear on 28 and 29 October respectively). Expect boogying, expect epic tunes, expect the night of your life. We know how quickly these tickets are going to get snapped up and they have just gone on sale, so grab yours now.
BluesFest, 27-29 October
Eirwen Oxley Green
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Things To Do In London This Weekend: July 5 - 7