Music Mile 2025 art
Art for everyone, on the street, in the moment.
The street art
To mark the Kilburn Music Mile Festival 2025, KSOM commissioned street artist Marco Doppel to create three original works paying tribute to legends who all performed at the Gaumont State Theatre on the Mile: Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Marley and local hero Ian Dury. Two portraits were displayed along Kilburn High Road across the festival weekend. The third – Ian Dury – was painted live on the pavement on Saturday, drawing crowds as it took shape beneath Marco’s brush. Together they created a visual thread running the length of the Mile, linking its past to its present.
Ian Dury and his band were standing outside the Gaumont the night they heard Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick had reached number one. The same streets. The same community.
Ian’s sons, Albert and Bill Dury, pictured here with KSOM CEO Al Medley and Marco, came to Kilburn High Road on Saturday to watch Marco at work – and to see their father remembered on the streets he knew so well.
Where are the portraits now? Ian Dury lived on the High Road for one weekend – a fleeting tribute to a Kilburn legend. Ella Fitzgerald has retired to charity-HQ, The PlayHut in Grange Park. Bob Marley? Who knows. He was ‘removed’ over the festival weekend. Who steals Bob Marley from Kilburn? Bring him home. No hard feelings, just good vibes.
No matter where they are now, the memories they made on the festival weekend live on.
The Kilburn tapestries
While Marco Doppel’s portraits lined the High Road, another piece of art was drawing people in off the street and into the North London Tavern.
The Kilburn Tapestries – a monumental knitted triptych created by Kilburn-based Helen Delany and Dublin-based Brenda Ahern, working as design duo Electronic Sheep – hung in the pub throughout the festival weekend, accompanied by a series of Music Mile exhibition panels telling the story of Kilburn’s rich musical past. The exhibition panels were designed and created by Helen Delany.
Commissioned by the London Borough of Brent and two years in the making, the tapestries celebrate the Irish creative community that shaped Kilburn’s cultural identity – from playwright Enda Walsh, who still lives in the area, to legendary music promoter Vince Power and his iconic Mean Fiddler venue.
The tapestries are still on display at the North London Tavern – well worth a visit. You can take a whirlwind tour here with this video.
Come join us this year
This year’s Music Mile is already taking shape – and we need people like you to make it happen. If you can give a few hours to help plan, promote or run the event, we’d love to hear from you.