First, I don't care how skilled a musician you are, if you play with a backing track you're shit and I hate you.
London Bridge tube has some excellent buskers. The chap who plays an 8-string stick (whom I saw again just now) is phenomenal, my favourite. He did an interpretation of Little Wing last time out, fucking killed it
The Queensway double-bassist is also classic, obv
Marble Arch has terrible buskers. Careless Whisper Saxophonist, fuck off. Trust Fund Cheeky Strummer Who Plays 'Get Lucky', go jump in sewage
This will be an onrunning audit and you are all encouraged to add
― veneer timber (imago), Friday, 22 November 2013 16:39 (ten years ago) link
There's a woman I've seen a couple of times late at night at Newington Green. She sits on the ground and plays a penny whistle. I like the sound of it echoing around and made a recording of her once. https://soundcloud.com/dubmill/busker-at-newington-green
A busker I really don't like plays reggae with backing tracks. I've seen him at Covent Garden and also on the South Bank, although not recently. His rig is quite loud and you can hear it from a long way off but the music is not very good and he can't really sing.
― dubmill, Friday, 22 November 2013 17:19 (ten years ago) link
The Queensway double-bassist is keen - I saw him on Christmas day last year.
I generally don't approve of amplification or backing tracks.
― mohel hell (Bob Six), Friday, 22 November 2013 21:58 (ten years ago) link
https://twitter.com/Domalomalom/status/404045598602825729
― Merdeyeux, Saturday, 23 November 2013 00:38 (ten years ago) link
haha oh god, the cancer spreads
― veneer timber (imago), Saturday, 23 November 2013 01:02 (ten years ago) link
wait A FEDORA!!!!
― sarahell, Saturday, 23 November 2013 01:03 (ten years ago) link
Aged-yet-perky melodeon player with giant moustache and genuine 1920s Hohner at Green Park who played me a jig and explained the intricacies of various accordion-type instruments, rock on brother
― VENIET IMBER (imago), Wednesday, 8 January 2014 12:52 (ten years ago) link
He's not changing the word, but Leicester Square shredder who always seems to be playing One by Metallica often cheers me up quite a bit.
― jamiesummerz, Wednesday, 8 January 2014 12:56 (ten years ago) link
Leicester Square tube that is, possibly piccadilly line?
I used to work by Piccadilly Circus and there was a bloke who always played One by Metallica there about 3-6 years ago. Doesn't he get bored?
― Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 8 January 2014 13:00 (ten years ago) link
ah sorry yes i do mean piccadilly. must be him.
― jamiesummerz, Wednesday, 8 January 2014 13:19 (ten years ago) link
Himalayan looking dude on the bridge between Charing Cross and Waterloo. Uses a biro to strum an ultra-battered acoustic guitar in infinite one-note minimalist fashion. Chants a bit too. Kinda hypnotic.
― + +, Wednesday, 8 January 2014 13:50 (ten years ago) link
the hungerford hypnotist
― VENIET IMBER (imago), Wednesday, 8 January 2014 14:13 (ten years ago) link
they seem to have different ones at euston northern line but they're all unbelievably loud and dreadful and murderable. careless whisper saxophonist was definitely among them
quite recently tho i came down the stairs at old street one friday nite to find the surreal scene of a cool dude boho busker picking out jay-z 'i just wanna love u' and a super hyped punter in front of him hollering GIMME THAT SWEET THAT NASTY THAT GUSHY STUFF
i was too tired to find the joy in it and walked on by
― r|t|c, Wednesday, 8 January 2014 14:32 (ten years ago) link
ignoring the siren, a most homeric rtc
― VENIET IMBER (imago), Wednesday, 8 January 2014 14:39 (ten years ago) link
http://www.thair.net/superproduct/index.php/2011/02/13/the-mystery-of-londons-pyramid-hat-man/
not a busker but this chap (of whom i was not previously aware) was in front of me on the escalator today
― r|t|c, Wednesday, 8 January 2014 22:59 (ten years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/qRsTdXO.jpg
couldnt resist :/
― r|t|c, Wednesday, 8 January 2014 23:00 (ten years ago) link
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FAjiUSS7S4M/Ul0w-cZh-EI/AAAAAAAAJRY/Bqiok6Koqe4/s400/jamesbrownwithpyramid.jpg
― ogmor, Wednesday, 8 January 2014 23:13 (ten years ago) link
HOW EARTH IS CHANGINGPyramids are becoming increasingly important now because the earth is shifting to higher vibrations and its gridlines are going into progressively higher octaves. – See more at: http://www.adversityuniversityblog.com/the-making-of-a-copper-pyramid/
― Vote in the ILM EOY Poll! (seandalai), Wednesday, 8 January 2014 23:28 (ten years ago) link
Roma quartet (2 x trumpets, accordion, dude standing about and occasionally playing the tambourine) at corner of High Holborn and Kingsway last week was great. Unfortunately, I think the police have moved them on and told them not to come back. Feeling quite positive that Romania being fully integrated into the EU free movement system will lead to a marked improvement in London busking standards.
― Yuri Bashment (ShariVari), Saturday, 15 March 2014 20:54 (ten years ago) link
Anatolian accordionist outside Harringay Green Lanes station, A+
― めんどくさい (Matt #2), Saturday, 15 March 2014 21:54 (ten years ago) link
Old guy with white beard?
― Yuri Bashment (ShariVari), Saturday, 15 March 2014 21:59 (ten years ago) link
Tappy delay guitar dude at Embankment station, learn some songs, 'cause if the battery goes on your delay pedal son, yer fucked.
― MaresNest, Sunday, 16 March 2014 00:54 (ten years ago) link
Strummy cunt at Marble Arch was playing Blurred Lines just now. Nearly flipped him the finger
― imago, Thursday, 20 March 2014 16:03 (ten years ago) link
theme from the godfather on or around hungerford bridge every evening ever
― conrad, Thursday, 20 March 2014 16:27 (ten years ago) link
Marble Arch, just now: a wonderful surprise! Two-stringed East Asian banjo-type thingy, played with what looked like a paint scraper. One quid.
― imago, Friday, 25 April 2014 15:43 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/8Ysnjrc.gif
― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Friday, 25 April 2014 16:23 (nine years ago) link
on a tangent to my route so I didn't go over & pay dues but an uncommonly melodious whistler at Green Park today
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 20:00 (nine years ago) link
― VENIET IMBER (imago), Wednesday, January 8, 2014 12:52 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this guy is at Oxford Circus all the damn time now
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 20:01 (nine years ago) link
― veneer timber (imago), Friday, November 22, 2013 4:39 PM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this guy is at London Bridge all the damn time as well
they're both good buskers tho so I shdnt complain
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 20:02 (nine years ago) link
literally the worst beatboxer ever outside charing x
― imago, Thursday, 13 November 2014 19:54 (nine years ago) link
The power trio outside Waterstones Tralfalgar Square on Saturday evenings get an impressive audience.
― Twist of Caliphate (Bob Six), Thursday, 13 November 2014 22:55 (nine years ago) link
under Southwark Bridge, midnight last - an opera singer, howling with melodious mournfulness and beauty as my new girlfriend and I walked by, arm in arm. £1 each, probably should have been more
― imago, Sunday, 23 November 2014 14:53 (nine years ago) link
Green Park whistler was back the other day - tall, burly man, somewhat Eastern European in appearance, with a blind stick. utterly arresting. alas the wrong way down a passageway for me to reach, but his xmas carols were so melodious
― imago, Thursday, 4 December 2014 20:16 (nine years ago) link
argh the previous post had 'melodious' in it too. repl. w/ 'sonorous' idk
― imago, Thursday, 4 December 2014 20:17 (nine years ago) link
Not busking as such but the pianos at St Pancras are a nice touch, both because it's rare for something interactive to be provided that you don't have to pay for and because it's even more rare for the public to be trusted to use nice things for their intended purpose rather than vandalising them or causing a nuisance. Coming off Eurostar to a bunch of Spanish kids serenading iPad-filming tourists and a spaced-out homeless guy was a nice way to return to th city.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Tuesday, 20 January 2015 19:56 (nine years ago) link
girl doing some electronics at Kings Cross was reasonably ok but then started singing and it was awful
― anvil, Tuesday, 20 January 2015 20:25 (nine years ago) link
Watford underpass (not London) just now: frenzied acoustic version of 10.15 Saturday Night. Too far away, otherwise would have coughed up
― ear sirrom (imago), Monday, 26 January 2015 15:34 (nine years ago) link
Decent beatboxer in Piccadilly Circus right now, a bit dubstep even
Spotted the melodeon player at Marble Arch latterly, made a sweet change from the worst saxophonist ever
― the discussions, the slanging matches, the banter, the lot (imago), Wednesday, 10 June 2015 18:46 (eight years ago) link
That stick player is just everywhere now
― twunty fifteen (imago), Sunday, 1 November 2015 16:07 (eight years ago) link
Everywhere but mostly London Bridge. And almost everything he does is a Little Wing interpretation
― twunty fifteen (imago), Sunday, 1 November 2015 16:08 (eight years ago) link
― dubmill, Friday, 22 November 2013 17:19 (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Is this the fucker who plays outside the Marble Arch Sainsbury's basically every night now?
― twunty fifteen (imago), Sunday, 1 November 2015 16:13 (eight years ago) link
Guy on the Jubilee line tunnels at Waterloo testily mucking about with some envelope follower part of his multi fx unit that plays percussion and drum sounds along with his guitar, sounded a bit like Neubauten from a distance
― MaresNest, Sunday, 1 November 2015 16:32 (eight years ago) link
Chapman Stick player at Southwark, playing the most fragile and vapid new age music I think I've ever heard, it was like angel's hair, but in a very bad way.
― MaresNest, Monday, 18 July 2016 16:25 (seven years ago) link
I have my headphones in but as near as I can tell in Cambridge today there is some sort of Latin combo playing "I wanna be like you" after the los lobos cover of same, and a trio of gifted children playing stuff like kings of Leon and George Ezra; latter group irritatingly playing outside the cafe I want to drink outside
― kasybian (wins), Sunday, 24 July 2016 11:23 (seven years ago) link
Guy outside work on Brick Lane has cut up like 30 drain pipes, arranged them like drums and makes it sound likea crazy synthesizer. A+
― plums (a hoy hoy), Sunday, 24 July 2016 11:33 (seven years ago) link
That stick player presumably the one I always see at London Bridge
I used to like him but I'm sick of him now, as my posts throughout this thread night attest to . Did he have a sizeable beard, MaresNest?
― imago, Sunday, 24 July 2016 11:49 (seven years ago) link
Ah good, the annual (amplified) buskers competition has started up outside the office again. Someone in an ear hat playing Death Cab.
― It certainly is punk of the Church of England to think that way (tangenttangent), Tuesday, 26 July 2016 15:17 (seven years ago) link
Cutty Sark, right now: middle-aged man playing Silver Machine on semi-acoustic with slide and harmonica. One pound
― imago, Saturday, 13 October 2018 15:45 (five years ago) link
I used to see the pyramid hat guy all the time as he must have lived nearby and would alight in the same places as me, but not for years, hope he's okay and not accidentally teleported somewhere.
Oh and earnest, looping-voice, KT Tunstall wannabe at the Exhibition Rd tunnel, please stop.
― MaresNest, Saturday, 13 October 2018 17:22 (five years ago) link