by Christine & The Queens has unveiled the first acts for Meltdown Festival 2023, with Sigur Rós, Warpaint, Django Django and more set to perform.
The French singer-songwriter is curating and directing this year’s festival, taking place June 9-18 at London’s Southbank Centre.
Other acts announced in the program include Let’s Eat Grandma, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Serpentwithfeet, Bat For Lashes, Johnny Jewel, Kokoroko, Moonchild Sanelly, Yemi Alade, Oxlade, Lynks, Squrl and Soap&Skin.
Christine & The Queens themselves – real name Héloïse Letissier, who has been using male pronouns in public since August – will perform at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th.
“Art to save the city! Ten nights that are ours,” the artist said in a statement. “The Southbank Center is full of popular artists, some of whom I have only recently discovered who I know are amazing artists and poets. Dance. Theatre. words and music. friends and future friends. Raving, hopefully. Art to save the city! To free its contours and enliven the soul – that’s why we do what we do. I can barely wait for it.”
Adem Holness, Head of Contemporary Music at Southbank Centre, said: “Meltdown is about inviting audiences and artists into the curator’s imagination and the music they love.
“If you’ve ever had the opportunity to experience the creativity of Christine & The Queens, you know it’s filled with fun and joy, but also something that helps us make sense of the world around us, especially as queer people . Meltdown 2023 is shaping up like no other festival we’ve seen. With tremendously infectious energy and bold ambition, Meltdown will embrace creativity from across the creative spectrum of Christine and the Queen.”
Mark Ball, Artistic Director of the Southbank Center said that Christine & The Queens “with his work pushing boundaries has made him one of the most compelling artists of our time”.
He added: “It’s exciting to see the breadth of his extraordinary imagination come to life in Meltdown, one of the true highlights of the summer at the Southbank Centre. I can’t wait for all of us to experience his curation and celebration of selfhood, identity and creativity.”
Tickets for Meltdown Festival 2023 go online at 10:00 GMT on Friday (17th March) on the Southbank Center website, where you can see the full schedule of events.
This year sees the 28th edition of the London festival, which has in the past been curated by the likes of Grace Jones (2022), Nile Rogers (2019) and Robert Smith of The Cure (2018).
“What an honor to be chosen as curator by the amazing teams at Meltdown Festival,” said Christine & The Queens at the time of the announcement. “I will choose musicians who have a heartbreaking quality and I wish for all of us to walk around and be rejuvenated through artistic gestures during these ten days.”
He added: “I hope you will enjoy this glorious edition and long live the burning poetry and the musicians who are crazy and brave enough to go on – shaping the emotions of the future.” Let’s thank them all!”
Last week Christine & The Queens announced the sequel to their 2022 pop opera Redcar les Adorables Etoile with Paranoia, angels, true love. The 20-song album, out June 9, features guests like Mike Dean, 070 Shake and Madonna.
