RALLY, a one-day festival in Southwark Park, is presented as an independent event focused on DIY culture, experimental music and grassroots talent. Founders Giles Napier and Jonathan Edwards say its 2026 theme, “Make Your Reality”, encourages people to sustain local creative spaces and form in-person connections amid widespread digital saturation. The festival matters because it aims to offer an alternative to more commercial events by prioritising discovery and cross-disciplinary programming.

This year’s line-up includes Blood Orange, Daniel Avery performing *Tremor* with a live band, Montreal duo Jump Source and Roman Flügel’s rare live presentation of *Tracks On Delivery*. Napier and Edwards met as students in Newcastle around 15 years ago, later co-founded GALA after moving to south London, and developed RALLY from ideas for an unrealised pandemic-era DIY venue. Napier says the festival’s programme is deliberately collaborative, involving Bird On The Wire, NTS and Dev Hynes, with unfamiliarity and discovery central to its approach.