While music festivals and specifically those encouraging families with children of all ages to attend are nothing new, day festivals on a smaller scale that will mean less trekking around a festival site with specific areas and acts for little ones aren’t so common. So when Uptown Festival landed on South East London’s Blackheath in 2023, boasting a line-up that included Brand New Heavies, Incognito, Lemar, Billy Ocean and Ronan Keating alongside attractions for kids of all ages, it was a hit. So for this year’s edition, I went to check it out for Rockshot Magazine along with my wife and 7-year-old son for a sun-soaked day of fun and live music.
Uptown Festival 2024
To be clear, our boy is a music festival veteran, having been to Glastonbury Festival now for it’s past 5 editions. But he’s still 7 and as temperamental as any 7-year-old can be, especially one who has suddenly become engrossed in the currently on-going Paris Olympics. So dragging him away from watching live sport from the comfort of his own front room to a music festival with acts he’s never heard of playing clear across town was a challenge, especially when we told him we didn’t need to take the driverless DLR after all. But once we were on the move his mood quickly changed, improving even more once we arrived.
Having never been to Blackheath before despite living in London all my life, I assumed Uptown Festival (and KISSTORY which took place at the same site the day before) would encourage sufficient signage for revellers to easily navigate their way to the site. This wasn’t the case however, and we found ourselves following Google maps to the green space along with everyone else exiting Blackheath station. But even once we got to the park, it was a general wander through it that eventually led us to the festival site.
Once we were in, it was grand. While much smaller than music festival sites you might find in Hyde Park or Victoria Park for their annual music festival series’ BST Hyde Park and All Points East respectively (or even Brockwell Park’s smaller Wide Awake, Cross The Tracks or Mighty Hoopla day festivals) there was plenty to keep those of all ages occupied for a good few hours. There was space to wander about, stilt walkers to gaze in astonishment at as well as dinosaurs walking around – although in the day’s heat, I wouldn’t have wanted to be one the operators trapped inside a plastic suit all day! There’s a set of carnival rides you might find at a travelling fun fair – dodgems, waltzer and even a haunted house are all present and accounted for.
The first big tent we came across was Little Town: the child-focused live event space that kicked off at 12pm with Danny Blake, brought all the kids in for Big Fish, Little Fish Takeover before pulling the older ones like ourselves back in as DJ Luck & MC Neat brought the beats before things closed out with Bush & Richie. Bubbles, foam guns and massive balloons were enough to keep the smaller ones engaged and running around the tent, even between sets!
Uptown Festival 2024
The fun fair rides – at £5 per go on the dodgems! – had to be taken in moderation for fear of canning the cash, but nearby there was a a trio of swingball poles set up for smashing string-attached tennis balls to ones hearts content, something our son was loathed to give up once he had a racket in his hand! The event sponsors were also out in force, Costa Coffee offering both a coffee bar as well as the chance to win prizes by pushing a plunger. You guessed it, our boy was up for trying his luck over and over again with jammy dodgers and a bag of mini chocolate muffins the best he could get, but far more use to him than the top prize of a coffee machine. He couldn’t, however, enter Brothers Cider’s fun house. Probably for the best!
There was also an undercover soft play area for the smaller ones, although our 7-year-old had to be dragged out of that as well once he found his way in! A live incarnation of TV cartoon character Bluey had the children queuing up for a photo.
And just a stone’s throw away was the main festival stage with an arena that meant that even stood towards the back, you’d still be able to see the acts on stage, with a closer view offered by way of two huge screens flanking it. For the most part, folks were spread out across the grass in front of the stage with picnic blankets, even if all food and drink had to be purchased within the festival site. A rather relaxed and more civilised way of enjoying a day of live music than the heaving alternatives.
The likes of The London Soul Choir and DJ David Rodigan warmed the crowd up before the first big band of the day hit the main stage, Ian Broudie bringing his Lighting Seeds – now featuring his son Riley Broudie on guitar – to South East London. Sure, following England’s miss at the recent Euros, Three Lions had to be omitted from the set, but that’s just as well. But to see Riley himself as part of his dad’s band while Broudie senior sang their 1992 hit about his son – The Life Of Riley – was something special.
Tucked away to the far right of the site was the Soul & Reggae Big Top, featuring the likes of Norman Jay, Dawn Penn, Aswad and Omar. The curious little stage at the far end of the oversized tent featured very little light and little room for any band setup, the acts instead relying on backing tracks and limited instruments to play their sets.
As the hot sun started to descend, it was the Liverpool-hailing indie rockers Zutons who brought the hits to the main stage, Zuton Fever and Pressure Point from their massive 2004 debut LP Who Killed…… The Zutons? only teeing things up for massive 2009 hit Valerie, famously covered by Mark Ronson and the late Amy Winehouse. Frontman Dave McCabe, drummer Sean Payne and saxophonist & vocalist Abi Harding still carrying the torch for those early naughties British indie breakaways. But there was one band the masses were gathered on Blackheath for: the Camden-hailing pioneers of ska-pop themselves, Madness. You can read all about their blistering performance in the words of Rockshot Magazine’s Kate Allvey here.
While my boy may not have had the patience to sit through band after band on the main stage, the proximity of the various activities to it meant that it was a breeze to wander around the site and flit between things. Did he have to be dragged away? Yes. Definitely a sign of a great fun-filled day out for all the family.
Uptown Festival 2024
Live review & photography of Uptown Festival, Blackheath on 28th July 2024 by Kalpesh Patel.
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