A full-body, feel-good stampede of rhythm

If you’ve never danced to Afrobeat live, London Afrobeat Collective are the perfect introduction — and if you have, you already know what’s coming: sweat, smiles, and a groove so deep it feels like it rewires your spine.

Formed in London and shaped by the city’s wildly diverse musical DNA, London Afrobeat Collective (LAC) take the spirit of West African Afrobeat — those interlocking rhythms, hypnotic basslines, bright horns and call-and-response vocals — and supercharge it with London’s own carnival energy. Their sound nods to the pioneers (that unmistakable Fela-style swagger and social pulse), but it’s never a museum piece. It’s modern, bold, and built for movement: Afrobeat with a wide-open dancefloor mentality.

Live is where they truly shine. This is a big-band experience: drums and percussion locking in like a machine, guitars chattering, horns firing melodic sparks over the top — and the whole thing driving forward with the kind of momentum that turns “watching a band” into being part of the band. There’s a joy to it that’s infectious; you don’t have to know a single song to feel like you belong in the middle of it.

At Good Vibrations Society, their set is going to hit different. Expect a communal, hands-in-the-air moment where the crowd becomes one moving organism — barefoot dancers on the grass, friends finding each other in the rhythm, and the woods echoing with brass and percussion. It’s the kind of performance that leaves you buzzing on the walk back to camp, still feeling the groove in your footsteps.