A free, two-day takeover of Black queer music culture lands at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park this month, and there is not a ticket in sight. Queer Frequencies runs on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August at East Bank, curated by a line-up of queer DJs, artists and collectives who have spent years building the spaces this weekend is celebrating.
It is also, conveniently, the perfect Carnival warm-up. Here is everything you need to know before you go.
What is Queer Frequencies?
Queer Frequencies is the third weekend of The Music is Black Festival from East Bank, an eight-month celebration of Black British music inspired by V&A East’s exhibition The Music is Black: A British Story.
This particular weekend is a takeover by London’s queer collectives, celebrating the sound, legacy and future of Black queer music culture – from underground club spaces and grassroots collectives through to the artists filling dancefloors right now.
That framing matters. Black queer people have always been the engine room of club culture, and the euphoria we take for granted on a good night out was built in rooms the mainstream did not make space for. Queer Frequencies puts that history on an outdoor stage, in the daylight, for free. Access has always been a queer issue and a class issue at once, so a weekend with no ticket, no door tax and step-free routes across the whole site is a quietly radical thing to build.
Who is curating it?
Saturday belongs to Shy One and Donnie Sunshine. Shy One started DJing on pirate radio at 13 and has spent two decades championing queer, Black and marginalised club spaces, most recently releasing her debut album Mali. She takes The Waterfront Stage. Donnie Sunshine, an east London born multi-disciplinary artist, curates Mid Terrace with a mix of forgotten cult classics and niche current picks.
Sunday is handled by Mark-Ashley Dupé and Joel Mignott. Mark-Ashley, known as the Prince of Peckham, brings a genre-blurring sound spanning pop, house, R&B, ballroom, Afrobeats, dancehall and Brazilian funk. Joel was the first DJ to play the main stage at London Pride in 2024 and is programming Mid Terrace.
Closing Saturday night is Zinzi Minott, the first dance-trained artist to be artist in residence at both the Serpentine and Tate.
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Who is playing on Saturday?
The Waterfront Stage runs 12pm to 7pm, with Shy One’s section from 2pm featuring SisterMatic, Private Joy, Lil C, Seb Odyssey and Fiyahdred.
Mid Terrace runs 12pm to 7pm with a genuinely enormous bill, including DRYBABE, The CookOUT, Jungle Kitty, Talia.A Darling, EWA, Töpia, The Connection Party, Trades and many more.
From 7pm, the night moves indoors to Sadler’s Wells East for Together We Felt The Bass, Zinzi Minott’s evening of music, dance, poetry and sound art inspired by queer nightlife. It runs until midnight.
Who is playing on Sunday?
The Waterfront Stage is curated by Mark-Ashley Dupé, with SEASONED, POPOLA, STUDS NEED LUV 2, LAVILLE, Miller Black, Ivicore, Allexus Saint and Carter The Bandit, hosted by MISS Jason. Jungle Kitty returns with a special guest.
Mid Terrace runs 12pm to 5pm with Natalie Sandi, Joel Mignott, Shaun Ross and Raven Mandella, hosted by DARKWAH.
Sunday closes with queer Carnival collective Faggamuffin Bloc Party at Sadler’s Wells East, a full pre-Carnival party of DJs, MCs and dancers running 12pm to 6pm.
Getting there
Head for Sadler’s Wells East. The two outdoor stages, The Waterfront Stage and Mid Terrace, are both at Stratford Waterfront. Stratford station is served by the Central, Jubilee and Elizabeth lines, the DLR, the Overground and national rail, and it is a short walk from there.
There are Blue Badge parking spaces at Copper Box Arena and London Aquatics Centre, and the Park Mobility service offers wheelchairs, scooters and buggies if you book ahead on 0800 0722 110.
A few things worth knowing
You can bring your own food and drink, but no glass. There are pop-ups on site including First Choice Caribbean Hut and Café Jikoni if you would rather not pack the picnic.
It is family friendly, with sessions at Sadler’s Wells East from 12pm to 3pm on Saturday. There is no bag storage, so travel light.
And if you want to see the exhibition that started all of this, festival-goers get 15% off tickets to The Music is Black: A British Story at V&A East with the code TMIBFUN15.
The details:
Dates: Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August 2026
Time: Saturday 12pm – midnight, Sunday 12pm – 6pm
Venue: Stratford Waterfront and Sadler’s Wells East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, E20
Tickets: Free and unticketed, just turn up
Instagram: @queenelizabetholympicpark
See you there,
Nonchalant x
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This article was written by one of our creative team writers here at Nonchalant Magazine.
