The Southbank Centre London has announced the highly anticipated first acts performing as part of Christine and the Queens’ Meltdown. Reflecting the wealth of Christine and the Queens’ influences and inspirations, the 28th edition of the world’s longest-running artist-curated festival will take place this summer, Friday 9 June until Sunday 18 June. No Meltdown is quite complete without performances from the curator and, so, Christine and the Queens will take to the Royal Festival Hall stage not once, but twice, on the final weekend of the festival, Saturday 17, and Sunday 18 June. Renowned for his theatricality and unrivaled pop showmanship, the concerts will be a heady climax to what will be a thrilling, genre-bending festival.
Kicking off the 10-day festival in the Royal Festival Hall on Friday 9 June will be art rock group Django Django. Mainstays of the UK indie music scene since their triumphant self-titled debut, the group has just embarked on an ambitious four-part album project, Off-Planet, which will be released near the time of their Meltdown performance. The following night, Saturday 10 June, African Baddie Yemi Alade visits from Nigeria, reflecting the international outlook of Christine and the Queen’s Meltdown, with support from Moonchild Sanelly. Meanwhile, Monday 12 June, Warpaint will make their Royal Festival Hall debut. Following a string of exceptional albums over the past 19 years, the critically acclaimed foursome returned in spectacular form in 2022, with Radiate Like This.
Later in the week, award-winning Jazz powerhouse KOKOROKO will perform on Wednesday 14 June, followed by one of the most exciting young voices of Nigeria’s music scene, Oxlade, Thursday 15 June. In a very special Meltdown moment, Sigur Rós with the London Contemporary Orchestra will open their European tour on Friday 16 June. Timed with the release of the Icelanders’ first studio album since 2013’s Kveikur, which featured recordings from the LCO at London’s legendary Abbey Road studios, Sigur Rós founders Jónsi and Georg Holm will be joined by former member Kjartan Sveinsson.
The Queen Elizabeth Hall will be home to a world of contrasts from the experimental Sqürl (Sunday 11 June), featuring legendary film director Jim Jarmusch, and Chromatic and Glass Candy’s Johnny Jewel (Wednesday 14 June) to the emotive synth ballads of Bat For Lashes (Thursday 15 June) and cheeky electro-pop patter of the masked Lynks (Sunday 18 June). Meanwhile, the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer will be transformed for ambitious gigs from Serpentwithfeet (Friday 9 June), Let’s Eat Grandma Saturday 10 June) and electronic producer Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (Friday 16 June). The first name announced for the Purcell Room, Soap&Skin, the experimental musical project of Austrian artist Anja Plaschg, will perform two shows on Sunday 18 June. Tickets for Christine and the Queens’ Meltdown are available via: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/meltdown
Images : Christine & The Queens -Paul Koolker/ Django Django – Sequoia Ziff/Let’s Eat Grandma -El Hardwick
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