King Krule celebrates The George Tavern's coming of age

The iconic Stepney venue has seen perseverance through the threat of property development, and continues to serve as a grassroots haven for a thriving creative community. The festival commemorates the anniversary with a stacked line-up of gigs, comedy sets, poetry evenings, club nights, and theatre shows.

The festivities kicked off earlier this week with an intimate show headlined by Archy Marshall, who – as Zoo Kid, and then King Krule – has served as a considerable influence within alternative music spaces since releasing his debut 6 Feet Beneath the Moon back in 2013.

Tickets for the evening were announced the day of the performance via Instagram, with a note that a queue had already formed around down the road from the venue. With all proceeds from the night donated to Sa7ten, a Palestinian–led initiative formed to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, support came from LL Burns, the project of South London-based siblings Michael and Paraic Morrissey, and Peckham-born singer-songwriter Sam Akpro.

The George hit capacity when Marshall took the stage and played through a number of tracks from 2023 record Space Heavy, as well as the darker, scuzzier The Ooz. With a band that included saxophonist Ignacio Salvadores, Marshall delivered a show to remember. The evening’s most poignant moment came when Marshall acknowledged the role of The George within his own journey, as the video for “Rock Bottom” was filmed in the venue back in 2012: “Everybody say Happy Birthday to The George. Pauline is the cactus lady in the music video, and LL Burns made the video, so this is a very full circle.”