If you’ve spent the last week enviously scrolling through ‘Coachella Get Ready With Me’ videos on TikTok, fear not! UCL’s Summer Festival is bringing great tunes and great vibes right to the centre of campus.
On Saturday 3rd June, the UCL Summer Festival is taking over UCL’s Main Quad and Wilkins Terrace for an afternoon of music, drinks, food and games.
We’re nearing the end of April; the sun has made an (admittedly non-committal) reappearance, and while exam season is still looming like a dark cloud, the beginnings of summer are finally on the horizon. As a result, a lot of us are probably thinking beyond our nasty deadlines to the heady days of beer gardens and barbecues and, most importantly, how we want to celebrate reaching the end of the year.
UCL hasn’t held a centrally run summer ball since 2016. However, this year that’s finally set to change with the Summer Festival, announced several weeks ago and planned for the final weekend of the term.
There are two big things that make UCL so distinctive: that it’s slap bang in the middle of London, one of the world’s greatest music cities, and that our student population is absolutely huge. The latter explains why we have so many different societies, all as diverse as the community that runs them. So when putting on an event to mark the end of the year, celebrate UCL students, and make the most of our campus, a music festival feels like the obvious conclusion.
After the seven year hiatus, 2023’s summer celebrations are re-imagining what an end-of-year party can look like. The traditional formal look has been dropped – so while there are still plenty of society-specific black tie events in the calendar, for the Summer Festival you can swap the heels and tux for your best festival fits. Think Glastonbury or heyday Vanessa Hudgens.
The Festival has already announced three huge headline acts from the dance music scene. Mike Skinner – the legendary musician behind The Streets for more than ten years – will be joined by ragga DJ General Levy, as well as the change-making, all-female collective Girls Don’t Sync. We’ll be introducing you to all three of them over the coming weeks; all three are guaranteed to bring an absolutely incredible energy to UCL’s main stage.
Of course, it would be kind of ridiculous to host a music festival on UCL’s campus without making the most of all the student talent. As well as welcoming the three headliners, the Summer Festival bill will be packed with societies and student bands (the complete line-up is yet to be announced, so keep your eyes peeled on social media). It means that, if the dance music topping the line-up isn’t really your thing, you’ll be able to catch student musicians performing jazz, rock, musical theatre – you name it! Just like the dress code, the line-up’s accessible and less formal vibe should bring a new feel to the end-of-year celebrations; this isn’t an event put on for UCL students, but in collaboration with them.
As well as the music, the day promises fairground rides; a host of bars, refreshment stations, plus classic festival-style food stalls. For its first year out the gate the event is a single day affair, running through the afternoon and into the night. However, in years to come it’s set to grow into a full weekend of artists – this year is your chance to be there at the beginning!
We’ll be bringing you all the goss on the latest news and must-see artists, so make sure to follow us on Instagram here to keep up.
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