Last Saturday, Kaleidoscope Festival 2026 celebrated it’s sixth year returning to Alexandra Palace Park for a community celebration and thoughtful curation of music, culture, comedy all while embracing family-friendly fun. Set across the parkland of the historic grade II listed building, the one-day boutique festival unfolded across an array of outdoor stages and indoor spaces that had something for everyone to enjoy. Back for our second year in a row, the Noctis team set our sights on the Palace eager to see what 2026 had in store.
Trekking up the hill to the palace in the sweltering UK heatwave was certainly no joke, but once we were greeted by the most spectacular view overlooking London, our weariness instantly were swept away as we stood in awe of the best view in North London. A quick blast of the mini fan and were through security and on our way to enjoying the day.
Set to a soundtrack of Valerie we wandered towards dancing crowds at the Hilltop stage to catch an afternoon performance by the Amy Winehouse Band, as they performed the fan favourites Back to Black and You Know I’m No Good with an impressive degree of accuracy, capturing the unmistakable essence of the originals.
Over on the Cloud 10 stage, UK Garage pioneer Wookie got behind the decks to deliver the first of two sensational sets that united ravers of all ages. OG fans relived the glory days to children on shoulders forming core memories of their first experience of UKG.
With an array of food stalls on offer ranging from classic pizzas slices to authentic street food, we were spoilt for choice as it came time to refuel for the afternoons antics. We opted for loaded cheesy fries and burgers which were reasonbly priced, much to the delight of our bank balances after becoming unwillingly acustom to extortionate festival food and drink prices of the past – not today though!
As afternoon turned to evening, I convinced our group to head over to Hip Hop Karoke at The Fringe Stage, which had been a personal highlight of mine from the previous year. Hyped up by the lively crowd, members of the audience jumped on stage to test their skills rapping along to iconic hip-hop hits from Eminem and Dr, Dre, 50 Cent, Nicki Minaj, Bustah Rhymes and more. Who knows, maybe next year we might pluck up the courage to get on stage ourselves!
Then came the time for Rudimental, did not dissapoint with an unforgttable headline show that had us immersed in 2010’s nostalgia. The energy was high from the very start with special guests and Liam Bailey and Malika coming out on stage to perform hit songs. Ella Eyre’s performance was the cherry on top, with the crowd going wild for their iconic single Waiting All Night building up momentum to the finale.
Sun setting over the hill and once again ilumitating the beautiful London city skyline below, festival goers headed inside the venue for pre-game celebrations before a screening of the World Cup quater final, wrapping up what was a perfect summers day, and another memorable edition of Kaleidoscope Festival.
Tickets for Kaleidoscope Festival 2027 are now on sale:
kaleidoscope-festival.com
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Words: Genea Bailey
Photography: Josette Crispin