This was an unexpectedly fun day. With no real plans, we checked a few of our favourite sources for inspiration (we’ll do a post on these soon).

We found a series of sessions called Daylight Music at the gorgeous Union Chapel in Islington. From 12 noon, they have an eclectic mix of up-and-coming artists. This was our first visit, but we imagine it encompasses quite a range of genres, and also features a pretty amazing café at the back, with proceeds going towards a homeless charity. They serve endless cups of tea, home-baked cakes and bacon sandwiches [!!!], with an informal atmosphere. We saw the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment‘s Experience ensemble perform Haydn, a slightly too intense guitarist/singer/songwriter, and The Swingles (previously the Swingle Singers), in an amazing line-up (which, to be fair, isn’t a typical weekly occurrence!).

The OAE performed brilliantly, but the Swingles were the real highlight. They sang some of their well-known material and some new, but they interestingly described their technique of live looping, where they sing something once and their sound engineer instantly records it and replays it. This enables them to layer their vocals even further and develop their rich sound.

We then jumped on the tube and headed to Sloane Square, to visit the always great Saatchi Gallery [read about our previous visit here]. Our favourite thing about this exhibition space is that it’s regularly changing, so you can visit every few months and there’s always new art to see. It’s also a good size for an afternoon. As usual, there was a range of interesting exhibits, including a deconstructed Hoover…

A remarkably disconcerting room of the world’s flags, made from hair. This was genuinely difficult to walk amongst, but really effective.

And other globally thought-provoking pieces, relating to the theme of capitalism, in this case Soviet/U.S. clashes:

Two regularly-occurring and free events in London, definitely worth a visit. A frugal day which we’d highly recommend!

Have you visited either of these attractions? We’d love to know what you thought.