If I told you that a 66 year old man was in charging of selecting acts for this year’s Meltdown Festival, you might well assume that the event would be slightly devoid of youthful energy.
However, if I told you that the 66 year old in question was Nile Rodgers, erstwhile leader of 80s disco legends Chic, you’d be quite right to bin those preconceptions.
Rodgers has worked with just about everybody who’s anybody in the music industry and the legendary writer and producer seems to only get better with age.
Rodgers has worked with such an incredible list of artists that it is nigh on impossible to list them all in one article. Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Madonna, Duran Duran, Mick Jagger, INXS, Brittney Spears, Lady Gaga and Kylie Minogue have all experienced the legendary producer’s magic and judging by recent projects with the likes of Dua Lipa and Pharrell, the mega producer’s midas touch shows no sign of failing.
Which all bodes incredibly well for this year’s Meltdown Festival. The event is now in its 26th year and like its director, the Southbank based festival shows no signs of slowing down. The festival’s trade mark mix of music, art, performance and film is an annual highlight of the summer festival calendar with the event taking over the Southbank Centre for nine heady days in early August.
Taking a novel approach to the selection of music for such an internationally renowned festival, each year the organiser’s choose an established act or artist as festival director and then leave the creative decisions to this figure.
Previous directors of the festival have included David Bowie, Jarvis Cocker, Nick Cave, Patti Smith and Elvis Costello. Last year’s event was curated by the Cure’s Robert Smith with the popular frontman choosing a host of well known indie names (The Libertines, The Manic Street Preachers, The Psychedelic Furs) to showcase the event.
This year’s Meltdown Festival will take place between the 3rd and the 11th of August 2019.
More information on the event can be found here.
For information on other music festivals in London, please click here.
Find more great things to do in the capital this summer with City Countdown’s guide to the best things to do in London in August 2019.
