FESTIVAL REVIEW: KALEIDOSCOPE 2026, ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON

I’ve been looking forward to the Kaleidoscope Festival  2026 for months. I’m based all the way up in Newcastle-upon-Tyne so I booked myself a weekend in London especially to review it. I try not to go into a review with expectations but I’ll be honest with you, it’s hard not to after researching a festival to see if it would be up my street. It takes something special to lure this northerner down south, especially in the summer, double especially in a summer this hot. 

After a very mediocre breakfast in Shoreditch I hopped on a train from Old Street and I was on my way. I could feel the buzz of excitement in the carriage, it wasn’t very busy (which is always nice in London) but the other people were clearly headed to a destination they were stoked about and I could tell we were going to the same place, Alexandra Palace. On paper the train station is really close to the venue. In practice, it’s up a bloody big hill, which in hindsight, I really should have anticipated, because you can see the beautiful old building for miles! If you are worried about getting up there due to mobility issues, fear not, there is a lovely little golf buggy to take the less mobile up the hill. Don’t try and con them into giving you a lift tho’, the drivers are very shrewd and had none of it when I tried to fake a limp. 

What a venue Alexandra Palace is! I’ve never been before, it’s the sort of place that I’ve heard about and seen when passing on the train but never had the opportunity to visit before. Maybe it’s the glorious sunshine, everywhere looks better in the sun, or maybe it’s the grandeur of the place but it’s a magnificent building, with vast grounds and some very spooky cellars.

Upon arrival there was a short line that vanished as soon as the doors opened. Tickets scanned, bag checked, The Cellars were my first stop. After slogging up the hill in the sun I was absolutely dying for some shade so I headed directly underground to snag myself a front row seat for Cassandra worthy of the mistress of Victorian Ghost Stories. I was so pleased by the spooky vibe, I stayed for two of her spine tingling tales. I don’t want to cover the content because I would not rob you of the experience of hearing them first hand, but she is a talented presenter and her costume was brilliant. I did find the inclusion of spooky stories, in the middle of the day and in the middle of summer, to be a bit incongruous. I would have liked to see more of the same, and maybe later in the day, but I quite liked how different it felt in tone to the rest of the festival. 

I’m gutted Some Voices Choir clashed with the ghost stories because I’d been looking forward to them, apparently you don’t need to audition to be a part of them, they take all comers and it’s amazing what a little practice can do because I heard on the grapevine they were truly rousing! I also managed to miss the World’s Tallest Bubbleologist. I’m a big kid at heart and I was looking forward to his tricks, but I guess I must have been having fun elsewhere. 

Post the ghost stories I did a dash down the hill to The Fringe Stage for Disco Yoga with DJ Darlo. I missed the start so I felt too self conscious to join in late, which in hindsight I regret a little. Props to absolutely everyone who was getting their zen boogie on in that heat. It was hotter than Satan’s armpit and there was not a spot of shade to be had. It looked exceptionally fun and I managed to catch a glimpse of them doing a more child focused version later in the day. 

By the time the Disco Yoga was finished a sliver of shade near a fence had developed and I dragged my deck chair over to it and waited for the comedy to start. The comedy at the festival was a major draw for me. I can’t get enough of it, I love a variety of acts and I was relatively sure I had heard of, but hadn’t seen the majority of the performers before. It was a very challenging event for every performer, but particularly the compare and people earlier on the bill. As I mentioned, the day was scorching, there was not a cloud in the sky and sitting out in the midday glare felt like a recipe for sun burn and an early night. So almost every member of the audience was crammed into the shade on the periphery of the area. I was lucky to be close to the stage, but there was a not insignificant gathering of viewers hiding amongst the trees, but as for people willing to endure the full wrath of the sun for a couple of hours, well, they were few and far between until the comedy was really in full swing.

Next year I’d suggest festival goers pack an umbrella and bring their own shade. I’ll tell you who didn’t mind being front and centre in the sun tho, kids, several young kids. Every comedian was thrown off by this, the compare did explain that they weren’t necessarily expecting to do clean/ family friendly material and frankly this was unintentionally hilarious. All the comedians handled it like champs, accidentally dropping an F bomb here, frantically apologizing, saying something a bit sexually explicit there, looking sheepishly at the parents. Do I think the comedians would have enjoyed their time more if they could have done sweary sexy material? Probably. However, I found it another layer of funny and it made it more memorable; Emmanuel Sonubi talking about his cat getting it’s balls licked and looking down ashamed at the fresh faces in the front row absolutely buckled me.  Bec Hill and Olga Koch both tackled the kid issue by performing wildly different songs for parts of their performance. Bec’s misheard song lyrics bit is some of the best prop comedy going, I will never be able to listen to a single one of the songs she included without thinking about food from this day forth!

Headliner Russel Kane was the exception to the line up in that he did not give a fig that there were kids there and really leaned into it, swearing and making smutty jokes at the expense of one of the little lads in the front row. The change in approach almost gave me whiplash, and it was really refreshing. I found his performance a bit of a mixed bag, there were parts where he absolutely killing me, and was channeling something like 90’s Rik Mayall’s energy and then towards the end of his set he went on a bit of a rant about how kids today are snowflakes and they don’t like comedy and I was waiting for him to start in on his mother in law.          

The Hilltop Stage is the main stage and the act I most enjoyed was the Amy Winehouse band, I caught them as I was standing at the top of the hill. Listening to Rehab, if I didn’t know better I would have thought it was the real thing! They were so good that when I noticed they were coming to Newcastle I almost got tickets to see them again, but it clashed with another event I already had tickets for. The joy of the Hilltop Stage is it sits at the bottom of the hill, directly below the front of the palace, which means that you don’t even need to get close to the stage to be able to experience the sound and visuals. You could get in line for food and drinks and still hear every word. I caught bits of many of the acts on this stage as I was just moving around the venue, which was very good because even if they weren’t festival bucket list experiences I enjoyed having the music and buzz of the crowd encompass me as I was mooching about. 

Post comedy I was hungry, and I found myself spoilt for choice. The road in front of the Palace was lined with food trucks, there were food trucks in the kids area and the whole hall inside the palace was packed with options and seating. I started with an Ice Cream, did I mention it was hot? I needed a cool little treat and the idea of hot food at that moment was a bit too much. The food hall was always busy but I was never too crowded, which was nice. There was always a seat or two when I wanted one and the cleaning staff kept it immaculate. 

A little later I decided it was pizza time, and I wanted to scope out the kids area so I killed two birds with one stone and got myself a slice from one of the vans in that area. You may have picked up on my child free status when I was enjoying the awkward moments at the comedy. I don’t have children and I didn’t have one with me, so my exposure to the kids area was quite brief, however, I imagine if I did have kids, or even if I was a kid I would have had an amazing time. The kids area is well partitioned off from the rest of the festival so tipsy grown ups aren’t going to be marauding through. The offerings I saw for the kids looked super fun, the aforementioned disco yoga, face painting, circus style performers and some sort of science show caught my eye. This festival is a really family friendly space. There were lots of kids running around away from their parents but they seemed to be merging with groups of strange kids and making new friends, then splitting off and running around some more. It was a really nice, friendly, very safe atmosphere. If you are looking for a day out with something for everyone then you really can’t go wrong. I did not see one crying child all day, which, if you are a parent, should sell you on this more than any one specific performance. 

As the day wore on I spent more time milling between the stages and catching bits and bobs of the performances. I was mostly enjoying the atmosphere, when you were close to a stage it was really buzzy and vibrant, but you could move into a more chilled environment in just a couple of minutes. I watched the crowd go wild for ‘Vindaloo’ and other football anthems during hip-hop Karaoke. I found a nice little spot of grass to enjoy the Groove Armada DJ set for a while. Looking out over London and listening to music was just such a perfect way to spend the day.

In terms of other ways to spend your money at this event, there isn’t anything barring one merch stall and food/drink. There are no stalls selling T Shirts, jewelry and miscellaneous tat like you might find at other family festivals, which I found quite refreshing. It kept the focus on the performances. I do also want to say the food and drink was actually reasonably priced for a place where you are essentially a captive audience. I think my large slice of pizza was about £7.50 and a can of coke was about £3, which in terms of London prices was not bad at all. I was pleasantly surprised that the water-stations were so plentiful and accessible; so bring your own water bottle next year.

Kaleidoscope Festival 2026 was sold out, and tickets for 2027 have just gone on sale (link below). Who is this festival for? It’s for people looking for a diverse range of entertainment in a compact space who may or may not have kids in tow. There is something for everyone and it’s the sort of event that you will find yourself walking into fun happenings you never knew you would be interested in. 

Tickets for Kaleidoscope 2027 have just gone on sale.

Kaleidoscope Festival: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Header image photograph by Josette Crispin all other images by Josette Crispin and Sophie Harbison.

Review by Lauren Powell

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