Cross The Tracks 2026: London's Soul Festival You Can't Miss

If Field Day is Saturday at Brockwell Park, then Sunday belongs to Cross The Tracks. Running on May 24, 2026 — the day after Field Day — CTT is a one-day festival dedicated to soul, funk, jazz, gospel, and the full spectrum of Black music traditions that connect them. It's warm, joyful, and deeply musical in a way that sets it apart from almost anything else in the London festival calendar.

What is Cross The Tracks?

Cross The Tracks launched in 2021 and immediately carved out something genuinely distinct. The festival puts soul, jazz, funk, gospel, and afrobeat at the centre — not as nostalgia, but as living forms with contemporary artists pushing them forward alongside the originals.

More than a concert, CTT feels like a gathering. The crowd spans generations and backgrounds. The music selection comes from genuine depth of curation, not a checklist of familiar names.

Date, location and tickets

• Date: Sunday, May 24, 2026
• Venue: Brockwell Park, London, SE24 0PA
• Nearest stations: Herne Hill (rail) and Brixton (Victoria line)
• Tickets: Via crossthetracksfestival.com

If you're doing both Field Day on Saturday and Cross The Tracks on Sunday, you're looking at one of the better festival weekends London has to offer in 2026. Same park, same logistics, very different vibe — but a complementary one.

The lineup

The 2026 lineup is still to be confirmed. CTT typically announces in the early months of the year. Past editions have brought Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Cymande, Arrested Development, Omar, Corinne Bailey Rae, and a consistently impressive spread of contemporary jazz and soul. Check crossthetracks.co.uk for announcements.

What to expect at Cross The Tracks

This is a festival where people actually move. The music demands it. That creates an unusually communal atmosphere — people dancing freely, singing along, engaging rather than standing still and watching.

The crowd is one of CTT's best qualities. Diverse in age and background, united by an appreciation for music with roots. You'll find someone who's been listening to Cymande since 1972 next to someone hearing them for the first time. That mix works.

There's usually a spoken word and cultural programme alongside the music stages, and the food at CTT is genuinely good — independent traders that reflect the cultural breadth of the event rather than the usual festival fare.

The atmosphere between acts

Cross The Tracks has a social texture worth mentioning. The music is groovy rather than hectic, which means people aren't frantically chasing the next act. They spread out on the grass, find spots to sit, and actually talk — about the music, about whatever.

Brockwell Park rewards this. The slopes and open areas invite people to set up with blankets and picnics, creating something close to an extended outdoor living room. Social in the most natural possible way.

Meeting people at Cross The Tracks

The combination of soulful music and a warm, unhurried atmosphere makes CTT one of the better festivals in London for actually meeting people. The crowd isn't chasing a single electronic headliner — it moves fluidly, gathers around performances, and spends real time in the open.

Good conversation starters at CTT are plentiful: the set you just saw, a shared appreciation for a particular era of music, someone's reaction to a moment in the performance. The music gives people something real to say to each other.

The lido at the edge of the park is worth knowing about — a decent spot to step away from the festival footprint if you need air.

How FirstMove enhances Cross The Tracks

Soul festivals have always been about community — shared heritage, shared feeling. FirstMove puts a social layer on top of that.

With a VibeZone active at Brockwell Park on May 24, your FirstMove profile is visible to other CTT attendees who've done the same. In a park full of people who care about good music, you're likely to find genuine common ground quickly.

The Mutual Handshake feature means even a brief encounter — in the queue for food, at the edge of a particularly moving set — can lead somewhere, but only if both of you want it to. That low-stakes quality matters at a festival where warmth is the whole point.

Because CTT is a one-day event, the Ephemeral Profile feature suits it well. You can be socially active during the day without that activity persisting beyond it — unless you want to keep the connections you've made.

For anyone doing the Brockwell Park double — Field Day Saturday, Cross The Tracks Sunday — the continuity of connections across both days could develop into something more substantial. Two days, same park, extended common ground.

Tips for Cross The Tracks 2026

• Arrive early — the park fills up, and the earlier atmosphere is good
• Bring a blanket — you'll want to spread out on the grass
• Don't skip the early acts — they're often the discovery of the day
• Check out the cultural and spoken word programming alongside the music
• Combine with Field Day on Saturday for a full Brockwell Park weekend
• Download FirstMove before you go so your VibeZone is active from the first set

Cross The Tracks 2026 is a reminder of what music is actually for — togetherness, joy, connection to something larger. That's rare on any Sunday in May.

Download FirstMove

Music built on community deserves a social layer that works the same way. Download FirstMove free and connect with fellow CTT attendees through VibeZones at Brockwell Park.

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