Simply Red will perform their only London show of 2027 at Gunnersbury Park next August, adding another major event to a park that has only recently been granted blanket planning permission for large-scale commercial festivals.
The announcement comes in the same week that organisers confirmed the Rock n Roll Circus will also be coming to the park, signalling what is likely to be one of the busiest summers of music Gunnersbury Park has ever hosted.
The band, led by Mick Hucknall, will headline the park on Friday 13 August 2027 as part of their Summer Funk ’27 tour, a UK and European run that follows their 40th anniversary celebrations in 2025. The Gunnersbury date will feature Lisa Stansfield and Soul II Soul, with further acts still to be announced. The show is scheduled to run from mid-afternoon until 10.30pm.
Promoters Louder describe the tour as a high-energy celebration of the band’s catalogue, with the Gunnersbury performance set against the backdrop of the Grade II* listed parkland. The announcement lands at a moment when the future of large events in the park is under intense scrutiny.
Earlier this month, Hounslow Council approved a blanket permission allowing up to 19 major events annually at Gunnersbury Park, a decision that followed years of debate about noise, access, ecological impact and the commercialisation of public green space. Residents’ groups have repeatedly raised concerns about the cumulative effect of festivals on the park’s heritage landscape, while the Gunnersbury Park & Museum CIC has argued that income from events is essential to maintaining the estate.
The Simply Red announcement adds to a rapidly expanding 2027 programme. Only days previously, organisers revealed that the Rock n Roll Circus festival will also take place at Gunnersbury next summer, bringing circus-themed staging, multiple headline acts and thousands of attendees. With two major events now confirmed within the same week, local residents are bracing for a season that may test the limits of the newly approved event framework.
Tickets for Simply Red’s Gunnersbury Park show will go on pre-sale on 17 September, with general sale opening on 24 September. The event is open to those aged 14 and over, with under-18s required to attend with an adult.
The park’s 2027 calendar is still taking shape, but the arrival of Simply Red — alongside Rock n Roll Circus and the wider programme enabled by the new planning permission — suggests that more major events for next year will be revealed in the near future.