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Vintage black and white photo of two men playing steel pans outside

Steel Scenes

Fri 24 – Sun 26 Jul 2026

Explore what steel pan has built, as a musical form and community, over the past 75 years

The riverside thrums with pan at a weekend takeover marking 75 years of steel pan in the UK, celebrating the instrument’s legacy and looking to its future.

Our thanks to the Steel Scenes advisory group, community partners and individuals who played a vital role in building this programme.

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Friday 24 July

Steel Rising
Members of Kinetika Bloco smiling while wearing harnesses holding steel pans

Steel Rising

Gigs
Riverside Terrace
Free

Saturday 25 July

Rhythm of History Exhibition
An archival display shelf featuring historical black and white photographs, concrete cylinders, and architectural signs.

Rhythm of History Exhibition

Art & exhibitions
Royal Festival Hall
Free
Defining the Modern Pannist
Close-up of a silver steelpan drum with hand-written musical notes and two wooden mallets resting inside.

Defining the Modern Pannist

Talks & debates
Purcell Room
Steel Sounds with Just Vibez
People dancing on Southbank Centre Riverside Terrace for Just Vibez Carnival as part of M.I.A.'s Meltdown festival

Steel Sounds with Just Vibez

Gigs
Riverside Terrace
Free
Rhythms of Reggae with UFO Steelband
Close-up eye-level view of shiny steelpan drums on stands arranged across a stage in a modern, multi-story hall.

Rhythms of Reggae with UFO Steelband

Courses & workshops
The Clore Ballroom
Tickets Free
The Social Infrastructure of Steel
A woman in a memorial t-shirt sits with a young girl holding a Trinidad and Tobago flag, watching an indoor stage performance.

The Social Infrastructure of Steel

Literature & poetry
Purcell Room
Calypso Grooves with RASPO
Members of the RASPO steel orchestra perform outdoors in matching red shirts, playing chrome steelpans on a sunny day.

Calypso Grooves with RASPO

Courses & workshops
The Clore Ballroom
Tickets Free
Steel Pan Reimagined
Black and white image of two young men tuning steel pans on a staircase

Steel Pan Reimagined

Gigs
Royal Festival Hall
Steel Pan Reimagined
Black and white image of two young men tuning steel pans on a staircase

Steel Pan Reimagined

Gigs
Royal Festival Hall

Sunday 26 July

Beginnings of Pan with Impact Steel Band
A close-up shot focuses on a musician playing a polished chrome steel drum with a mallet, wearing a black graphic t-shirt and an Apple Watch.

Beginnings of Pan with Impact Steel Band

Courses & workshops
Riverside Terrace
Tickets Free
Steel Legacies
Dancers with raised arms lead a large crowd under Caribbean flags, including Guyana, Trinidad, Jamaica, and Barbados.

Steel Legacies

Gigs
Jubilee Gardens
Free
Hot Hot Hot with New Generation
A musician playing a chrome steelpan on an outdoor stage decorated with Caribbean flags and a

Hot Hot Hot with New Generation

Gigs
Riverside Terrace
Tickets Free

While you're with us

Jeppe Hein: Appearing Rooms
People enjoying the Jeppe Hein Fountain at the Southbank Centre

Jeppe Hein: Appearing Rooms

A summer favourite returns to our site with water fountains to splash around and cool down in.

Shopping
Wooden displays in the Southbank centre shop, featuring books, plushies, and colourful merchandise

Shopping

A vibrant range of inspiring books, homeware, prints, accessories and more.

Klaus Weber: Thinking Fountains
Two statues; a green human body with water spouting from its neck and another of human legs with water pouring down from above displayed outdoors

Thinking
Fountains

Water cascades and spouts over Klaus Weber’s bronze figures.

Modified Social Benches
Two children eating ice cream on a red cirrcular bench

Modified Social Benches

Benches that challenge the space and distance we place between one another.

William Pye's Zemran
A photograph showing Riverside Terrace at Southbank Centre, with the metal sculpture Zemran in the foreground, next to Queen Elizabeth Hall

William Pye's Zemran

Pye’s beautiful stainless steel sculpture sits overlooking the Thames.

Natura Nostra Forest
Bright sunlight bursts through green leaves with a lens flare, set against a blue sky and a textured concrete building.

Natura Nostra Forest

Our growing pocket forest creating a natural oasis.