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The Southbank Centre’s early summer festival Meltdown has long since established itself as a key date in London’s cultural calendar.
Each year, the arts centre invites one celebrated artist to curate the festival, getting them to hand-pick a roster of their favourite musical talents and nightlife promoters to star across a two-week programme of gigs, participatory events and after-hours parties at the prestigious venue. Such luminaries as David Bowie, Yoko Ono, David Byrne, Grace Jones, Nick Cave, and Little Simz have previously stepped into the role, with news of who will curate each year’s edition of the festival always hotly anticipated.
Anticipation for this year’s event is surely set to reach fever pitch now that it’s been revealed that it’s being masterminded by none other than former One Direction member, multiple BRIT and Grammy Award-winner and all-round pop superstar Harry Styles. Cue the ear-splitting screams.
Taking place from Thursday June 11 to Sunday June 21, during the iconic London venue’s 75th anniversary celebrations, the 31st edition of Meltdown will see the ‘Watermelon Sugar’ singer draw on his eclectic musical influences to curate a line-up traversing pop, soul, rock and electronica, and featuring plenty of young British talent.
‘My goal as the curator is to share the music and art that I love, and to celebrate the rich history of the venue,’ Styles said of his part in the latest edition of the festival. ‘We both share a passionate belief that music is a vital part of life. It brings us together and the Southbank Centre has been at the heart of it, providing easy access to great music for the past 75 years.’
As is usually the case for curators of the festival, Styles will also be gracing one of the Southbank Centre’s stages himself for a truly special headline gig amid the stadium tour for the hitmaker’s upcoming fourth album, ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.’
The capacity of the Southbank Centre’s largest space, Royal Festival Hall, is a mere 2,700, so the one-off live date will be a much more intimate affair than Styles’s recently announced summer tour, which features a whopping twelve dates at London’s 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium.
No doubt competition for tickets will be fiercer than ever before, so stay tuned for more details, with further line-up announcements and on-sale dates due in the spring.
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