That most eclectic of musical festivals, the South Bank Centre's Meltdown, has announced its line-up for 2007. After a hiatus last year while the Centre was undergoing a much needed facelift, the festival is back with a bang - and this year it's being curated by channel-hopping, square-jawed music man, Jarvis Cocker. "We shall rouse you from your slumber. And you're going to love it," writes the bespectacled one on the South Bank website.
The range of bands is as broad as the festival's tradition, and Jarv's unique tastes, would lead you to expect, ranging from the hard metal craziness of Motorhead, to the post-punk Americana of Devo, via some symphonic bliss from John Barry and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. There's even a performance by newly flower-loving Iggy Pop and his Stooges.
Jarvis even regresses us back to our childhood with a concert presented by producer Hal Willner, consisting of classic themes from Walt Disney, as well as picking out bands that had Londonist thinking "Oh yeah, whatever happened to them?" like Cornershop and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Thursday 3 May) at 9am, so remember to tell your work that you'll be in late - or turn up early, and sit there refreshing the South Bank website impatiently.
Meltdown runs from 16 to 23 June at the newly-refurbished South Bank Centre. The line-up can be found on their website
Iggy Pop's garden will be at the Chelsea Flower Show 22–26 May. Jarvis Cocker will be the subject of a South Bank Show special, due to air on 10 June.
By Michael Reeve
Image taken from Beatnic's Flickr photostream.
