For their huge twenty fifth anniversary edition, the Meltdown Festival which takes place at London’s famed Southbank Centre have invited legendary frontman of The Cure, Robert Smith, to help curate the festival. To put it mildly, he’s done rather well. Today’s first announcement of the line up for Meltdown Festival 2018 has a stunning array of bands across the alternative musical spectrum, from shoegaze to metal to indie and beyond.
We’ll have all the specific show information for you below in a minute, but the line up includes such varied heavy hitters as Nine Inch Nails, Deftones, Manic Street Peachers, Mono, 65daysofstatic, Alcest, The Libertines and many, many more. Check out the full initial line up below:
15th June – Opening the festival are alternative rockers The Psychedelic Furs with a show in the Royal Festival Hall, with support from Australian legends The Church
15th June – Old friends and former collaborators with Robert Smith, 65daysofstatic come to the Queen Elizabeth Hall stage for an energetic live show
16th June – Placebo perform music from across their illustrious career in a special intimate show
16th June – German indie/electro rockers The Notwist take to the Queen Elizabeth Hall stage.
17th June – The Libertines make their Royal Festival Hall debut
17th June – French post-metal band Alcest bring their atmospheric metal to the Queen Elizabeth Hall
19th June – Welsh rock titans Manic Street Preachers return to Royal Festival Hall for the first time since 2008 following the release of their 13th studio album Resistance Is Futile, with support from The Anchoress (Tuesday 19 June)
20th June – Their only UK show of 2018, US alt-rock arena filling icons Deftones take to the Royal Festival Hall stage.
21st June – Glasgow rock pioneers Mogwai play a one-off show in the Royal Festival Hall, with support from singer-songwriter Kathryn Joseph
21st June – Songwriter, guitarist and singer Kristin Hersh performs in the Queen Elizabeth Hall
22nd June – Nine Inch Nails bring their legendary, unique sound to the Southbank Centre as the band makes its Royal Festival Hall debut
22nd June – Japanese legendary instrumental rock/noise outfit Mono take over Queen Elizabeth Hall.
23rd June – Shoegaze pioneers My Bloody Valentine return to the Royal Festival Hall stage for their first UK show in five years
Tickets for the festival will go on sale to Southbank Centre members on the 13th of March with the general sale following two days later on the 15th of March. This is just the first line up announcement for what is one of the most incredible festivals of 2018 – based on this we cannot wait to see what is next!
