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Goths, indie kids and sensitive, emotional types of London: rejoice! Our patron saint and guiding spirit, Robert James Smith, will be descending on London this summer to curate the Southbank Centre’s 25th annual Meltdown festival. Hallelujah.
The founder and frontman of The Cure will follow in the footsteps of Patti Smith (no relation), Morrissey, Yoko Ono, Nick Cave, David Byrne, Anohni, Ornette Coleman, MIA, John Peel and the actual David Bowie, who have all put together stonking and diverse Meltdown line-ups in the past.
We’re expecting similarly great things from Bobby. After all, he’s nothing if not eclectic: The Cure’s 40-year back catalogue spans spiky power-pop, soul-crushing goth gloom, jazzy chart hits and crunchy electronic workouts. But he’s also one of the most consistent performers of his generation: not only has he been rocking the same tousled barnet and smeared make-up for at least three decades, he’s never stopped writing incredible, earworming melodies.
So what can we expect when he touches down at the Southbank in June? Well, think of the generation of bands The Cure have influenced. Their songs have been sampled and covered by literally countless artists, from hip hop MCs to indie pop groups and alt rock giants. There’s not many people who wouldn’t say yes if Mr S dropped them a line. And bearing in mind that he’s a mysterious and cryptic dude who basically never does interviews, there’ll definitely be a few WTF-type surprises when the line-up is announced in March. Basically, for anyone who’s spent hours immersed in the sonic catacombs of ‘Disintegration’ – or even just bopped along to ‘The Love Cats’ at a wedding – this is going to be… well, just like heaven.
Meltdown runs between 15-24 June at Southbank Centre. Check back in for line-up news soon.