London is blessed to have such a huge open space within walking distance of the West End and Hyde Park has enough space for a wide variety of activities. The park offers sporting opportunities such as football, rollerblading, rowing and horse riding. The park is divided by the 28 acre recreational lake, the Serpentine, and features The Serpentine Gallery, which focuses on modern and contemporary art. Visitors can also see the Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, Kensington Palace and London's Holocaust Memorial. Hyde Park is also the perfect place to have a picnic, sunbathe and watch a huge concert.

Every summer the park opens its gates and erects a huge stage for a series of showpiece concerts featuring massive stars. The park is also the site of the increasingly well attended Wireless Festival, which is beginning to pull in some huge names.

As a gig venue the park has two flaws. First, for headline concerts like the Chilli Peppers or R.E.M a ridiculous “Golden Enclosure” goes up between the huge crowd of around 20,000 and the stage, forming a grassy lawn for VIPs and preventing fans and performers from seeing each other. The second flaw is noise control which leads to very quiet sound stages – you would think the residents of Park Lane could put up with a couple of days of distant thudding, but no.

Gripes aside, this is a beautiful park and a unique place to catch a gig. As the hordes stream in to see their favourite bands, the atmosphere is electric and when the sun shines, this must be one of the best places to play in the world.
To discover more about the area check out Spoonfed’s guide to London Kensington or take a look at things to do in Kensington for upcoming events.