With prices going up every year, booking summer festivals in advance is pretty high on the priority list if you’re an experienced raver. It’s not just better for your wallet, it’s also one of the simplest ways to support the promoters, collectives and festivals you actually want to stick around. Early sales help events plan properly, pay deposits, build with more confidence, and avoid having to squeeze every last penny out of late-release tickets. For ravers, it means fewer brutal last-minute decisions in the group chat and a better chance of building your summer around the dates that actually matter to you.
What follows is not every single thing happening in London between May and September. That would be impossible, and also unreadable. This is a shortlist of the bigger dates worth locking into your calendar now.
Before we get into the recommendations, we’ve built something that makes planning festivals in the UK much easier.
A simple way to see festivals across the UK, filter by date, genre and price, compare options, and even see which ones are independently run.
EVENTS IN MAY
When: 2 May 2026
Location: Hackney Wick, multiple venues
Price: from £44
Genres: House, techno, disco, bass, breaks, leftfield
Line-up: Hodge, Adam Pitts, Wes Baggaley, Willow, Madelic, Ploy
This is one of the best ways to start summer if you like your clubbing spread across a whole neighbourhood rather than one fenced-off site. It feels less like a conventional festival and more like a full snapshot of East London dance culture in motion.
When: 2 May 2026
Location: Brixton, multiple venues
Price: from £34
Genres: Disco, soul, house, funk
Line-up: Derrick Carter, Luke Una, Mousse T
If you want your bank holiday to lean more groove than graft, this is the one. It is rooted in actual disco culture, not just a shiny edit of it, and the multi-venue Brixton format keeps the whole thing feeling social and loose.
When: 22–24 May 2026
Location: Peckham Rye Park, London
Price: from £76
Genres: House, techno, disco, garage, grime, leftfield live
Line-up: Todd Terje, Beatrice M., Djrum, Bok Bok, Steffi x Virginia
GALA is probably one of the most consistently well-curated festivals in London. It manages to balance big names with genuinely interesting programming, so you get headline moments but also deeper cuts that reward people who are actually paying attention.
When: 22–24 May and 30–31 May 2026
Location: Barking Park, London
Price: From £50
Genres: Melodic house, trance, progressive, amapiano, tech house, drum & bass
Line-up: Township Rebellion, Armin Van Buuren, tINI, Highbrid Minds
High Lights is more of a multi-weekend open-air series than a single festival, which means you can choose your lane instead of committing to the whole thing. A good option to consider if you wish to dig deep into your preferred genre of music.
EVENTS IN JUNE
When: 6 June 2026
Location: The Cause
Price: From From £11.50
Genres: Techno, house, electro, experimental club
Line-up: Jen Cardini, Planetary Assault Systems, Prosumer
The Cause really does know how to celebrate birthdays and this one is billed as a 24-hour marathon across eight dance floors. The appeal here is range and stamina: techno, house, electro, experimental club music and selectors who know how to carry a party deep into the next day.
When: 13 June 2026
Location: Blackhorse Lane, multiple venues
Price: From £34
Genres: Balearic, acid house, leftfield electronic,
Line-up: Ivan Smagghe, Factory Floor, Idjut Boys, Alex Kassian
One of the most interesting new additions to the calendar. Another Thought stretches across Blackhorse Lane venues including Big Penny Social, Exale, Signature Brew and others. This feels less like a standard festival and more like a music-head North London takeover.
When: 20 June 2026
Location: The Cause, London
Price: from £46
Genres: UK garage, grime, bass, jungle
Lineup: Tim Reaper, Soul Mass Transit System, Lady Shaka, Y U QT
OUTRO has quickly carved out its own lane by refusing to flatten bass music into one thing with an ethos of having no sponsors and no headliners.
When: 27 June 2026
Location: Hackney Wick, multiple venues
Price: From £42.50
Genres: House, disco, percussive club, global sounds, leftfield electronic
Lineup: Jane Fitz, Manuka Honey, Nosedrip, Dar Disku
Multi Multi returns to Hackney Wick at the end of June, again doing what Secretsundaze does best: building a multi-venue day around dancers rather than hype. This is one great if you enjoy multiple side-quests
EVENTS IN JULY
When: 4–5 July 2026
Location: FOLD + second East London venue TBA
Price: £10–£35
Genres: Minimal, tech house, electro, deep rollers
Lineup: Reptant, Colin Chiddle, DMC
Art of Dark turning 15 was never going to be a quiet affair. The plan is a 24-hour weekend split across FOLD on Saturday and a second East London venue (unannounced so far) on Sunday.. If you do not know the party, this is as good a time as any to correct that. Highly recommended.
When: 5 July 2026
Location: Silverworks Island
Price: From £47
Genres: Drum & bass, jungle, bass music
Lineup: Pendulum, Andy C, Kanine, Mozey
A very different proposition, but a major one. WAH In The City is a large-scale outdoor drum & bass day. If your summer needs one full-send day in East London docklands, this is very much that.
When: 25 July, 26 July and 2 August 2026
Location: Boston Manor Park
Price: From £49.50 per day
Genres: Techno, house, hard dance, progressive, minimal
Line-up: Jeff Mills, Adam Beyer, Miss Monique, I Hate Model
Still one of the biggest names in London electronic music for a reason. Junction 2’s identity remains rooted in big-system techno and house, but the programming has widened without losing its centre. The 2026 edition is spread across three dates. Being beneath the M4 still hits differently.
When: 31 July 2026
Location: Boston Manor Park, London
Genres: Bass, breaks, jungle, garage, ravey house
Line-up: Breaks, bass, jungle, garage-rooted energy
Price: From £44
A newer addition to the outdoor run, but it already makes sense on paper. Expect UK-facing rave pressure rather than a flat, one-speed festival line-up.
EVENTS IN AUGUST
When: 8 August 2026
Location: Finsbury Park
Price: from £68
Genres: House, techno, leftfield electronic, bass
Line-up: Four Tet, Aurora Halal, Ben UFO
This event has now become somewhat of a summer ritual. Part of a series of krankbrother takeovers at Finsbury Park. Usually Four Tet plays both the opening and closing slot, so you should be there nice and early to make the most of it.
When: 8 August 2026
Location: Burgess Park
Price: From £60.50
Genres: House, techno, trance, club, leftfield electronic
Lineup: Helena Hauff, Job Jobse, SHERELLE, TYGAPAW
If you want a festival that still feels community-led rather than over-engineered, then this is your summer bet. It returns to Burgess Park with its usual mix of house, techno, trance and filthy underground sounds, alongside stage partnerships that tend to reflect the scenes actually shaping London - UNFOLD, PXSSY PALACE and more.
When: 9 August 2026
Location: Burgess Park
Price: from £40.50
Genres: House, tech house, techno, crossover festival house
Line-up : East End Dubs, Skream b2b Patrick Topping, Groove Armada
Eastern Electrics is the day after Maiden Voyage, keeping that Burgess Park summer run moving. It traditionally sits closer to bigger-room house, tech house, techno and crossover festival energy than some of the more leftfield dates on this list.
When: 29 August 2026
Location: Southwark Park, London
Price: From £71
Genres: Leftfield club, live electronics, experimental pop, techno, house
Line-up: Blood Orange, Daniel Avery, Parris, DJ Voices, Jump Source
Rally continues to sit in its own lane, which is part of the appeal. It draws from DIY culture, contemporary art, experimental electronics, live music and grassroots London scenes without ever reading like a random moodboard.
When: 30 August 2026
Location: Southwark Park, London
Price: From £62
Genres: House, techno, electro, trance, queer club sounds
Line-up: Eris Drew & Octo Octa, BASHKKA, Blasha & Allatt, Amaliah
One of the most important dates on the calendar, full stop. Body Movements is a queer electronic music festival built around queer and trans artistry, expression and club culture, and it has earned real trust because that politics is reflected in the programming, not just the branding.
EVENTS IN SEPTEMBER
When: 12–13 September 2026
Location: Gunnersbury Park
Price: From£49
Genres: House, techno, electro, bass, sound system culture, broken club
Lineup: Alex Kassian Live, Christian AB & Craig Richards, OK Williams
Waterworks expanding to two days feels overdue. The festival has built its reputation on serious curation rather than obvious festival-booking logic, and the 2026 line-up keeps that intact. This is one for dancers who actually read line-ups.
When: 24–26 September 2026
Location: Multiple venues including The British Library
Price: Pro Pass from £126
Vibe: Electronic music, audio-visual arts, club culture, technology, industry
AVA is not a conventional festival, which is exactly why it belongs here. It sits at the intersection of club culture, industry, ideas, technology and audio-visual practice, bringing together talks, keynotes, performances, installations and club showcases across three days and nights. If your world includes DJing, producing, programming, label work, media, or just wanting a sharper understanding of where electronic music is going, AVA is one of the smartest dates in the calendar.
Final Word
These are just some of the bigger dates we think are worth getting in front of now. London summer always looks one way from far out, then very different once the smaller parties, community festivals, dayers and last-minute one-offs start landing.
So treat this as part one, not the whole picture.
There is a lot more coming, especially if your taste runs more DIY, more local, more queer, more bass-led or just slightly less obvious.
