Brand new festival set to rejuvenate Crystal Palace Bowl (The Streets, Supergrass, Dizzee Rascal + more)

South Facing Festival is a brand new open air concert series taking over Crystal Palace Park this summer, featuring 12 headline music performances and a host of free midweek events for the whole community. The genre-spanning series will run from 5-31 August  2021 in the park’s iconic open-air concert stage, the Crystal Palace Bowl. Making up the first wave of massive acts is Dizzee Rascal & The Outlook Orchestra, The Streets, Supergrass, Max Richter and the English National Opera (ENO) performing a concert of ToscaEarly bird tickets start at £35 + booking fee. Sign up to pre-sale tickets via southfacingfestival.com/sign-up.


Created by some of the people behind Field Day, Winterville, Cross The Tracks, Wide Awake and Dimensions, South Facing is a new annual event that aims to breathe new life into the Crystal Palace Bowl: a stunning outdoor amphitheatre soaked with a rich heritage of live music, untouched for the last decade. In its 60 year history, the venue (affectionately known as the ‘Rusty Laptop’ by locals) has played host to some of the world’s most acclaimed artists – Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, Elton John, The Cure, Lou Reed, Vera Lynn, to name a few – and South Facing aims to tie into this history by curating a standout series of bespoke and diverse concerts this summer.

From the pioneering grime of Dizzee Rascal – backed for the first time by the 20-piece, drum’n’bass-inclined Outlook Orchestra – and the iconic UK garage of The Streets, to the platinum-selling Britrock of Supergrass, the award-winning compositions of Max Richter and the critically acclaimed English National Opera (performing Tosca and featuring Conductor: Richard Farnes, Tosca: Natalya Romaniw, Cavaradossi: David Junghoon Kim, Scarpia: Roland Wood), South Facing promises to get music fanatics excited and to reboot the Rusty Laptop.

South Facing will be working closely with the Crystal Palace Park Trust to re-establish its historical role and respond to the expressed desire of park users to see a diverse range of events and activities being offered in the Park. The Crystal Palace Park Trust states –

“The income generated
by these events will be an important new revenue source enabling the Trust to start a programme of much needed improvements in the Park, such as the restoration of the concert platform.”

South Facing intends to deliver a highly sustainable event series. Challenging targets, focusing on every aspect of the event delivery from supply chain to audience experience to travel, will help achieve as close to net neutral impact by 2024.

South Facing Festival Director, Marcus Weedon, says –

“After what’s been an extremely difficult 12 months for the live music industry, we can’t wait to put on a fantastic series of events that people can really get excited about. Not only do we have some amazing artists who are itching to put on a great show, we also have the privilege of being able to stage the festival at an iconic and  important outdoor London venue, which has sadly been dormant in recent years. We’re all working incredibly hard to make sure South Facing is a fitting return to glory for the Crystal Palace Bowl!”

The Director of the Crystal Palace Festival, Noreen Meehan, says –

“We are delighted that South Facing Festival is coming to the Crystal Palace Park bowl, a beautiful and historic event space, with such an exciting plan to reactivate it for the 21st century. We are really looking forward to working with South Facing, the festival’s promoters, on community focused programming for all to enjoy.”

South Facing will take place between 5 – 31 August 2021 at the Crystal Palace Bowl, London, Early Bird tickets start at £35 + booking fee. Sign up to pre-sale tickets via southfacingfestival.com/sign-up.