Roundhouse festival brings big names and youth talent

Three Sixty, the London venue’s month-long event, features raves and variety shows, as well as exciting projects by stars like Daniel Kaluuya and young creatives, writes Ellie Muir

- Ellie Muir

When singer-songwriter Tom Odell first walked into London’s Roundhouse aged 14, it felt like catharsis. It was the first time Odell from sleepy Chichester in West Sussex saw his favourite artist, The Kinks’ Ray Davies, performing in the capital. “It was one of those strangely formative moments,” he remembers. “It blew my mind. Where I grew up, we didn’t have any venues as great. It had a huge influence over me.”

Odell is just one of the starry names paying it forward for Roundhouse Three Sixty, a groundbreaking new festival of contemporary culture happening at the Camden landmark this April. Across 30 days, the venue will offer a range of music, spoken word, theatre, visual arts, podcasts, and club nights, led by some of the biggest names in British talent, with the help of hundreds of young people and emerging artists as part of Roundhouse’s youth network.

Bafta-winning Big Boys creator Jack Rooke – a Roundhouse youth alumnus himself – will present a club-cum-cabaret-cumcomedy night featuring fellow comic Mawaan Rizwan, plus DJ sets by Self Esteem and Lolly Adefope. Odell himself has worked with five young musicians to produce a performance showcasing the art of songwriting. Corrinne Bailey Rae will be performing her 2023 Mercury prize-winning album Black Rainbows from start to finish. If that wasn’t enough, Daniel Kaluuya, an associate artistic director at Roundhouse, will be leading his youth theatre company Centre 59 in an originally devised performance. Things will get looser at Sherelleland, a rave “for anybody and everyone” curated by DJ and electronic musician Sherelle, with tickets priced at £10.