London weekend plans: The Regent’s Park Music Festival

The Regent’s Park Music Festival

Each summer weekend, Regent’s Park bandstand bursts with life, joy, and song, hosting very popular free music concerts that draw audiences of up to 900 people for each performance. As every year concerts get bigger and better, Regent’s Park Music Festival organiser Mark Elliott said: “it's a joy to see the pleasure these concerts give to visitors and residents who hear the Bandstand and Gazebo come to life again after several years of occasional events.”

A brief history of the Regent’s Park Bandstand

The Regent's Park bandstand is an elegant Victorian bandstand beautifully located on Holme Green, between the Inner Circle and the boating lake. Although initially set in Richmond Park, it was moved to the present location in the southwest corner of the Regent's during the 1970s.

The tradition of Sunday concerts was revived in 2018, following the initiative of local resident Mark Elliott who was supported by the Friends of Regent's Park and Primrose Hill, the Crown Estate and three major educational institutions within the area: the London Business School, the Royal Academy of Music and the University of Westminster.

Two tragedies that marked the Bandstand

The bandstand is also known as the “Memorial Bandstand” in memory of the dead bandsmen who died on 20th July 1982, when it was targeted by an IRA terrorist attack. The Irish Republican Army planted a bomb right in the base and detonated it during a concert by the band of the Royal Green Jackets regiment.

Twenty-four bandsmen were injured and seven were killed. On the base of the bandstand there’s a plaque that commemorates the memory of the seven bandsmen who were killed and every year there’s a memorial service in their honour, held by the attack’s survivors, and the families of the victims.

The second major tragedy that marked the history of this elegant bandstand took place in January 1867 when forty people were drowned when over 200 people plunged into the water after the ice cover on the lake collapsed.

The 2021 Jazz in the Park season comes to an end this weekend

Every weekend afternoon plus bank holiday Mondays between June 26th until September 19th 2021, fans of jazz, classical, choir, Cuban, and brass bands were delighted with live concerts. Now, as we’re slowly cruising towards October, it’s time to save the date for this summer’s last weekend sessions:

• Saturday 18th is the Mexican Fiesta day (14:30 - 17:00) - a special musical slot courtesy of the best traditional Mexican folk music internationally known as "Mariachi," featuring the one and only Mariachi Loco Quartet and their accompanying dancers.

• Sunday 19th is allocated to Capital Chorus (12.30 - 14:30) and the astonishing Duke Street Big Band (15.30 - 17.30).

So bring a picnic, a blanket, or hire a comfy deck chair on the spot, and that’s your weekend afternoon entertainment sorted right there!