Former Banshees frontman Siouxsie will return to the concert stage this summer after a five-year absence to perform at the Yoko Ono-curated Meltdown festival at London’s Southbank Centre, an event that also will feature sets by Patti Smith, Iggy & The Stooges, Boy George, and both Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore — plus a live performance of Double Fantasy.
The festival, which marks Meltdown’s 20th anniversary, runs from June 14 to June 23. Siouxsie is slated to perform June 15 at the 2,500-seat Royal Festival Hall. Tickets go on sale to Southbank Centre members April 9. A day later, “a very limited number of Siouxsie tickets across all ticket prices” will be available to members of Siouxsie’s mailing list. The general on-sale follows on April 11.
Also included on this year’s lineup: Plastic Ono Band, Deerhoof, Cibo Matto, Immortal Technique, Marianne Faithfull and Bill Frisell, and more (see full details below).
The concert will be Siouxsie’s first since she toured throughout much of 2008 in support of her solo debut MantaRay. The intervening years, however, have been fairly quiet on the Banshees’ front, with Universal Music pulling the plug on the band’s reissue campaign mid-stream. Since then, ex-bassist Steven Severin has mentioned the possibility of a 20-disc box set that has yet to see the light of day.
As for Meltdown, it’s another coup for the festival following last year’s Antony-curated installment, which boasted the first full performances from Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser in 14 years.
Yoko Ono’s Meltdown lineup:
YOKO ONO PLASTIC ONO BAND
Friday 14 June
Royal Festival Hall
Siouxsie
Saturday 15 June
Royal Festival Hall
Cibo Matto
Saturday 15 June
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Immortal Technique
Sunday 16 June
Royal Festival Hall
Reggie Watts + Mac Lethal
Tuesday 18 June
Royal Festival Hall
Amadeus Leopold
Tuesday 18 June
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto
Wednesday 19 June
Royal Festival Hall
Thurston Moore
Wednesday 19 June
Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall
Iggy & The Stooges + Savages
Thursday 20 June
Royal Festival Hall
Body/Head (Kim Gordon) ft. Ikue Mori + Mystical Weapons
Thursday 20 June
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Deerhoof
Friday 21 June
Queen Elizabeth Hall
An Evening of Words and Music with Patti Smith
Friday 21 June
Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall
Marianne Faithfull and Bill Frisell
Saturday 22 June
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Boy George
Sunday 23 June
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Double Fantasy Live With Special Guests
John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s final album performed live
Sunday 23 June
Royal Festival Hall
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Vintage Video: Siouxsie and the Banshees on ‘Rockpalast’ in 1981 — watch 75-minute set
- ‘120 Minutes’ Rewind: 120 X-Ray on Siouxsie & The Banshees with host Kevin Seal — 1988
- Siouxsie and the Banshees 20-disc ‘mega’ box set with 11 albums, live DVDs in works
- Steven Severin: Siouxsie and the Banshees’ reissue program dumped by Univeral Music
I would love to go to this, but in Australia…
Hopefully this means new Siouxsie album soon and world tour!