Once a year, London's Southbank Centre locks down a big name to headline and curate its Meltdown Festival, and the big name usually puts together a lineup full of semi-obscure cult favorites and ascendant fringe acts. In the past, that role has gone to legends like David Bowie, Scott Walker, Patti Smith, Yoko Ono, Robert Smith, and Grace Jones. Last year, UK rapper Little Simz was in change of Meltdown. This year's Meltdown curator is Harry Styles, one of the biggest pop star on the planet. He has risen to the occasion.
Before he released his new album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally, Styles cited inspirations like LCD Soundsystem and Radiohead, and his upcoming global series of concert residencies will include openers like Jamie xx, Robyn, and Fcukers. Styles will perform at Meltdown, which goes down June 11-21 at the Southbank Centre, though the details of his performance haven't been announced yet. LCD Soundystem aren't on the bill, but frontman James Murphy will play a DJ set. Dev Hynes, a past Styles collaborator, is also on the bill — not with Blood Orange but with what's billed as the Devonté Hynes Ensemble, which will feature musicians like Tariq Al-Sabir, Adam Tendler, and Cæcilie Trier, and which will perform new compositions.
The rest of Styles' Meltdown lineup is deep in the hipster zone. There's a lot of jazz, including Shabaka & Friends and Ethiopian legend Mulatu Astatke. Kamasi Washington will do two performances — one where he'll play his 2023 album Fearless Movement in full and another where he'll reinterpret the work of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. The lineup also includes Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Warpaint, Nilüfer Yanya, Erika de Casier, Ninajirachi, bar italia, Foushée, Stephen Fretwell, Getdown Services, Yussef Dayes, Orlando Weeks, and Jon Hopkins with Maddie Ashman and Leo Abrahams. You can find all the info here.
