What you missed at SXSW London. And what is still on.

Three days down, three to go at SXSW London 2026. A short note on what already happened, and the five things still worth catching before Friday night.

SXSW London 2026 is in Shoreditch this week, 1 to 6 June, second edition of the British spinoff. The music portion (200+ acts across 20+ venues) runs from Tuesday 2 to Friday 5 June. Film and the conference go all the way through Saturday. We are at the midweek as this goes out, which means the first wave of "you had to be there" moments has already happened, and the back half of the programming is still ahead of you. Short note on what you missed, then a tighter note on what is still worth catching if you can get to East London in the next three days.

What you missed

Sega Bodega in a church. On Tuesday night, Sega Bodega played his new ambient album in full at Christ Church Spitalfields, under the working title "I Brought You To The Church To Watch Me Play My Ambient Album By The Altar." Three and a half hours, spatial audio set up around the altar, attendance gated to Platinum Pass holders who had RSVPed through the SXSW London app. It was the first time he had played the album live in full, and the venue did the rest of the work. The kind of one-night-only set that is not going to fit on a streaming platform later.

DJ AG outside, with artists. Wednesday afternoon. DJ AG, the London street-DJ who built his audience on TikTok with viral outdoor sets and name-drop guest spots, took over Billboard's THE STAGE in Ely's Yard, Shoreditch. Multiple rising artists jumped on across the set, including a House Gospel Choir guest spot and the US group Infinity Song before their own showcase later in the evening. The kind of outdoor anchor SXSW London needs more of.

Mike Skinner from The Streets, on the talking side. Mike Skinner, the long-time face of The Streets, did a 35-minute fireside chat with Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, at Shoreditch Town Hall on Tuesday afternoon. Programmed on the Marketing & Advertising track, not Music. That is the SXSW London 2026 gesture worth noting on its own: established artists going into conversation rooms next to advertising execs, behavioural economists and policy people, instead of only onto music stages. Skinner has been on the record about AI in music since 2023, his line being that AI will force human creativity to get weirder rather than safer.

Five things still worth catching

Thursday 4 June

Tiwa Savage. The Nigerian Afrobeats superstar headlining Thursday night is the kind of bill where Western showcase festivals get one shot at hosting a name of this size before she goes back to bigger venues. If you have not shot her live yet, this is the room to fix that in.

Odumodublvck. Same night, same neighbourhood. Nigerian rap, one of the most interesting crossover acts of the last twelve months. Pair him with Tiwa Savage and you have a complete Thursday-night Afrobeats double, on one wristband.

Whiney B2B Hugh Hardie. Drum and bass back-to-back, two scene-vets on one deck, also Thursday. Plays as the contrast act if you have spent the day in vocal-led rooms and need a low-end reset before you head home.

Friday 5 June

Shame. Headlining the final day of music programming. The kind of post-punk show where one frame from the pit can summarise the whole night, and the official close of SXSW London 2026's music portion.

Across the week

Steven Knight in conversation with Lisa Nandy on the UK streaming levy. Not a music set, but the only panel on the conference programme that directly touches what the rest of the music industry will be dealing with next year. The UK Culture Secretary plus the writer of Peaky Blinders, on what it means to start taxing streaming platforms. Check the SXSW London app for the slot.

Two bonus tips, both on Thursday

House Gospel Choir. UK-born live gospel collective built for festival stages. Thursday afternoon or evening, depending on the slot. Brings a different colour to the day than the headline rooms, and the photographs are easier to make than people expect because the choir works in formation.

Samory I. UK-routed roots reggae, also Thursday. The kind of set that SXSW London's model is built to surface, an established working artist outside the algorithm-favoured genre lanes. Worth the walk between venues.

While you're in town

Andy Earl × Bankside Yards. Outside the SXSW London programme but worth the walk if you are already in East London for the festival. Andy Earl is one of the British photographers who defined the visual identity of late-twentieth-century music: four decades on Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Johnny Cash, Robbie Williams. The show is forty large-scale prints in a Victorian railway arch in Bankside that is opening to the public for the first time in more than a hundred years. Free, Wednesday to Sunday, 12 to 7pm, runs through 8 August. The single best music photography show in the city this summer.

A short note on getting in

If you are wristbanding the music, a Music Day Wristband is still available for the remaining days. If you are walking up without anything booked, the queue moves but be ahead of the headliner slots by at least an hour.

We will round up the rest of the festival after Saturday.