The Best Music Events in London This Week: Where the Real Ones Are Going

If you’re wondering where the best music events in London are actually happening this week, the answer is: everywhere, and all at once. More than 17,000 people are already circling the same gigs, plotting the same post-work dashes to Camden, Soho and beyond. The city feels properly switched on right now – the sort of week where you accidentally end up at a 12th birthday for a house night and somehow still make it to a ska show the next day.

The big talking point? HOUSE OF LOVE @ KOKO – the HOUSE IS A FEELINGS 12th birthday – which has massive "cancel all other plans" energy. It’s the one you book first if you’re in the mood for a proper house session in a room full of people who actually care about the tunes, not the TikToks. And because London can’t resist an afters, the HOUSE OF LOVE OFFICIAL AFTER PARTY is already on people’s lips – that’s where you go if you’re not trying to be in bed before sunrise.

Up in Camden, things are gloriously rowdy. CIRCA79 play SKA79 live at the Dublin Castle – a classic sticky-floor, band-right-in-your-face sort of venue – with TWO TONE SKA, new wave and punk energy colliding in a way that’s extremely "I might lose my voice but it’s worth it". Add Gentlemen of Ska n B into the mix and you’ve basically got an entire subculture packed into one night. If you like your gigs sweaty, shouty and full of lifers in band tees older than your younger cousin, that’s your spot.

On the heavier, darker end, Retribution Alive: Dark Clouds Over Camden is there for the metal and alt crowd who think "easy listening" is a personal insult. That’s more for the superfans – the people who know every band on the bill and probably a few of their side projects too. If you want something with bass that sits in your chest rather than screams in your face, Culture Yard’s roots and dub sessions are a smoother move: proper system culture, deep selections and a crowd that came to listen, not just pose for Stories.

There’s also a deliciously niche corner of the week with ROVR presenting Stompin’ Riffraffs (Japan) live – the kind of gig you brag about in three months when everyone else "discovers" them – plus cult heroes Keb Darge, Little Carl and Boz Boorer keeping the rare, raw and rockabilly-leaning side of things very much alive. Those are the nights where you end up talking to a stranger about 7-inch pressings at the bar and it somehow makes sense.

And it’s not just about Camden and KOKO. Spots like Trinity Laban Dance Faculty out in Deptford, Soho Place tucked just off Oxford Street, and The Lighthouse Bar and Club shining away in Shoreditch are quietly hosting the sets people won’t shut up about the next day. These are the rooms where you catch dancers rehearsing in the afternoon and live bands taking over at night, where your "quick drink" turns into a full evening because the DJ refuses to play anything mid.

If you’re trying to find the best music in London this month, this is what discovery actually looks like: hopping between house birthdays in Mornington Crescent, ska blowouts in Camden, roots and dub sessions that rattle your ribcage, and late-night afterparties you definitely didn’t tell your group chat you were going to. Pick one big night, one wildcard, and leave a little space for the inevitable "how did I end up here?" moment – that’s the real London way to do it.