First details of Yoko Ono’s Meltdown have been revealed by Southbank Centre – and heck! It looks great. This year’s festival will take place over two weekends in June, which each set of events having a distinct theme. Between June 15th and 16th is the Activism Weekend, which "will attract contributions by some the most influential campaigners of our times". Then June 22nd to the 22rd will be the Future Weekend, "set to be an extraordinary opportunity to encounter, evaluate and debate some of the intellectual challenges societies face world-wide in today’s and tomorrow’s political decision making."
So what will the music involve? It’ll beging with the Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, and end on the closing night with the first ever live performance of Ono and Lennon’s Double Fantasy – this will feature a "host of special guests". In between those two events, Iggy & The Stooges will play supported by Savages, Immortal Technique is coming over, Peaches will be there, and Peaches will perform Ono’s Cut Piece, where her clothes are cut from her body by audience members. Siouxie will be playing, as are Cibo Matto, Thurston Moore, Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto, Deerhoof, Patti Smith, Marianne Faithfull, Boy George, Kim Gordon’s Body/Head, Reggie Watts and Mac Lethal. There will also be a full programme of cinema at the BFI, including the first cinema screening of Battleship Potemkin with Pet Shop Boys’ excellent score.
Says Yoko Ono of her curation, “It’s not only a great honour to curate Meltdown in its 20th year, it’s also a lot of fun to be able to invite many of my favourite performers, activists and favourite collaborators to join me”. More details on Meltdown 2013 soon.
