Line ups, updates and news for Notting Hill Carnival 2011
Notting Hill Carnival 2011
Notting Hill Carnival 2011 Guide: Basics | Safety | Music | After Parties
Notting Hill Carnival 2011 promises to be the party out of doors in London this year. Others may be easier to take in, but Notting Hill Carnival is a messy blast. For many, it's the only time they'll dance in the streets of London, enjoying food and beer and listening to huge truck sound systems. You can't beat going nuts at sundown on a dancefloor outside a building society.
Notting Hill Carnival is also big, confusing and sometimes a little scary: this guide is intended as an introduction, with tips about suitable kit and what to expect. We've done a 'highlights' map, which works if you start on the far right icon:
View Notting Hill Carnival 2011 Sound System map
The map features sound systems – these are the fixed points for revelry, but make sure you spend a little time following the floats, which wind around the Carnival for both days. From scrawny flatbeds armed with a couple of speakers to local school entrants decked out with fantastic décor and live bands, the floats make a stately progress round the area from around 11am to 6pm.
Equipment
An A to Z is a good idea. Bring a rucksack full of beer, sunblock, and a cagoule. Mobile phones are a must. Footwear: Australians, take note. Carnival involves a lot of jumping up and down and your feet will get stepped on. Flip flops, or thongs if you insist, are a bad idea. A terrible idea.
Notting Hill Carnival Food and Drink
Forget flapping awnings and sponsored beer tents, you are better off buying charred sausages and marinated jerk chicken out of front gardens. There are hundreds of families selling cheap barbeque food and it will fill you up just right for drinking.
Off licenses in the area tend to be barricaded, or extortionate. We take a cool bag with beers from Tesco on Notting Hill Gate. Run out? Listen for the distinctive jangle of supermarket trolleys stacked with £2 tinnies. If you're lucky, they'll be cold.
Timing
Carnival is a daytime event. If you get there at dusk, you'll find nothing but empty streets, kids fighting running battles, and a few overcrowded house parties. We've got the word on after parties (see below) but you want to be there from noon to get the best out of it.
Getting to Notting Hill Carnival
Bus in, walk out. The tube stations are shut but you can bus in to Notting Hill Gate or Kensal Rise with ease. However, as the Carnival empties, busses become a difficult nightmare. Either walk to a pub and wait it out, or be prepared to haul ass to Shepherd's Bush, Hyde Park or somewhere the tubes aren't too packed. Much better to go to a pub though. They sell beer!
Notting Hill Carnival Loos
This year the carnival route and sound systems will have a record 40 portaloo arrangements. However it is generally agreed that these are unusable thanks to the queues and the same goes for pubs. The best advice for ladies is to take a small stack of £1 coins for those enterprising families who've opened up their water closets. Guys? You figure it out.
Notting Hill Carnival Safety
Crowd control barriers have done a great job alleviating the crush around the floats, which was the thing that most people found scary about Carnival. If you see a gang of kids 'steaming' through the crowd, don't react, even if they barge you. They're just showing off, but today isn't the day to bring them down a peg. The most important thing is not to do anything dodgy. Stay in the sunlight and smile at everyone - it's Carnival.
Restricted Movement
As mentioned above crowd control measures have done much to make Carnival safer and less stressful. However there are parts of the Carnival where access will be denied once the police decide that these areas are full. Most significantly, there is no access to the northern blocks where Good Times and Sancho Panza operate except via Ladbroke Grove. One of our top tips for this year is to get to Good Times no later than 2pm to guarantee entry. Make an early start on the floats if you want to catch Norman!
Family Sunday vs Rudeboy Monday?
Sound systems on our itinerary operate both days, and the float experience is essentially the same, but Family Sunday is a tad less crowded and edgy. Monday is our favourite but despite popular misconceptions, Carnival is overwhelmingly friendly throughout both days.
Notting Hill Carnival Floats
There are over 300 floats entered over the two days of Carnival, and there is a competition. However, some people don't care about winning, they just want an excuse to stand on their lorry blasting out dub. These are our favourites... However, some of the competition contenders are supported by fantastically costumed dancers, and you haven't really done Carnival unless you've been rubbed up against by a dancing girl while wondering how the hell you got there.
The best place to catch the floats is going north on Ladbroke Grove (see map) where they have plenty of space and no sound systems to compete with, and the dancing really lets rip.
Notting Hill Carnival Sound Systems
The map contains a number of sound system highlights. It's often a lot of fun to stumble upon these yourself but most Carnival veterans will recommend checking out the following:
- Gaz's Rocking Blues
Best For: Live reggae, costumes - Channel One
Best For: Bone shaking dub, topping up ganja supplies - Studio 1
Best For: Lovers reggae, food stalls - Rampage
Best For: Hard edged hip hop, grime, bashment and dancehall - Sir Lloyd
Best for: Rare reggae grooves, authentic sound system vibes - KCC
Best For: Freshest sounds, this year probably pure bassline n grime - Aba Shanti
Best For: Dub, roots, conscious reggae, and dancing with eyes closed - Sancho Panza
Best For: Ibiza sounds - Good Times
Best For: Norman Jay making love to your ears
That's just a taster of what's on offer: you'll even find some cheese hidden in the map. Remember, there's always something round the next corner.
Have fun, be safe, and see you under the Westway.
See more about Notting Hill Carnival 2011 in our Festival Guides section.
Notting Hilll Carnival Q&As
Gaz Mayall Interview
Norman Jay Interview
Notting Hill Carnival: The Buzz - Coverage of 2009 with DJ Tayo, Big Chuck Reed & Co.
Click to view all pre- and after- Carnival parties announced so far.
Click here for all London Live Music.
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