Mardi Gras 2026
Fat Tuesday the 17th February
until
Saturday the 21st February
Mardi Gras, Plaquemine Lock–style. Live bands on Mardi Gras Tuesday, then again Friday and Saturday, King Cake all week, Creole food on the tables, brass in the air, and beads where they don’t strictly belong. Come dressed up, come hungry, come ready to stay later than planned.
Fat Tuesday
Errol Linton
He will bring New Orleans soul to Plaquemine Lock. From about 7.30pm onwards on the 17th of February, Errol and his pianist will be in the room, turning this corner of Islington into something that feels like Frenchmen Street at sunset. Errol’s voice carries the weight and warmth of jazz, blues and bayou spirit all at once, and with his pianist rolling the keys alongside him there’s never a dull moment: slow-burning ballads one minute, harmonica swagger the next.
Expect a set that’s cosy and fiery, where the music feels like an invitation rather than a performance.
Friday 20th
Cosimo Matassa Project
The Cosimo Matassa Project lands on Friday night. Not the man himself, obviously, but a loud, loving homage to the New Orleans studio genius who shaped the sound of early R&B, funk, and rock’n’roll.
Fronted by Plaquemine Lock regulars ‘Al Dente’ Dunn and Dai Price, this is a band diving headfirst into groove, grit, and happy musical accidents.
What will it sound like? Somewhere between a sweaty back room and a jukebox on the brink. Expect deep New Orleans energy and something that only really makes sense in the bayou. Let the good times roll!
*the video only shows Dai & Al
Saturday 21st
Jack Jules and the Mad Jam Session
Jack Jules hosts an over-the-top jam session on the Saturday. Seven musicians, no fixed plan, and a shared love of Louisiana music pushing the whole thing forward. This is big, brassy, full-tilt New Orleans energy, made up as it goes along, where friends, students, and scene-heads pile in, swap ideas, and see what sticks.
Expect loose grooves, sudden solos, joyful mistakes, moments that shouldn’t work but somehow do. It’s a bit janky, slightly stupid, very loud, and exactly the kind of night where people cut their teeth, find their sound, and turn a pub into something that feels briefly, gloriously out of control.