The Mayor's Thames Festival

The Mayor's Thames Festival is an annual event hosted by the City of London to celebrate the City and it's River and maybe to boost old Boris' popularity a bit (the colourful Boris Johnson is of course the current Mayor of London).

During the two days of the festival the area along the river between Westminster and Tower Bridge (a big chuck of city!) is transformed into a free party and entertainment zone, so whatever the real purpose of the festival, it's great fun.

Unfortunately I missed most of the big events like the Banquet on the Bridge, the Night Carnival and the Fireworks, but I did manage to see some great street performers and musicians. Here's a short compilation of the acts I did see:



The main show of the afternoon at The Scoop amphitheatre was this guy and his mechanical horse. The “horse” is actually a remote controlled robot, but you soon forget this little fact as his skillful controller brings him to life and he becomes a wild, fire spewing, neighing, galloping character in the show. The performers have amazing interaction with the people in the audience, making them a part of the surreal show. They even manage to make a few children cry and surely violate a number of Health and Safety regulations, but this just makes it all the more entertaining!



These little segments do not come close to doing justice to the entire festival (not that I know how you're supposed to be able to experience everything on offer), but should at least be able to keep you amused for a few minutes.