The Southbank Centre today announces the exciting late night events and parties as part of Christine and the Queens’ Meltdown, taking place this summer Friday 9 June until Sunday 18 June, as well as additional performances in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room. Exploring Christine and the Queens’ roots, in performance and partying, as well as the Southbank Centre's ongoing support of pioneering artists and creators, the latest names celebrate bold expression, unbridled joy and London’s unique diversity.
A ten-day celebration in the heart of London, Meltdown curators often invite the most ambitious and creative party-starters to keep the proceedings going until the early hours. For the opening night of his Meltdown, Christine and the Queens has enlisted legendary South East London pop-up queer nightclub, The Chateau, who will present SE_ XCELLENCE in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer (Friday 9 June). The Chateau’s first show since closing in 2020, SE_ XCELLENCE will bring together leading collectives from the scene, pairing old and new crews in epic B2B moments that encapsulate the spirit of queer South London, including Qwe’re, The Spice Boys, WET, Let’s Have A Kiki and UOKHUN? as well as DJs Amor Ante, Rabz, Rita Lin, Jay Jay Revlon, Lagoon Femshayma, Tom Rasmussen, Mo Probs and Victoria Peckham, with visuals from Sweatmother.
In the final weekend of Meltdown, iconic collective and arts platform Pxssy Palace presents London x Paris which will take place in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer and the Royal Festival Hall Clore Ballroom following Christine and the Queens’ first performance during the festival (Saturday 17 June). Flying the flag for Paris in the Clore Ballroom, there will be DJ sets from Syndrome Premenstruel, Sucre Salete and Amor Satyr while MikeQ, TAAHLIAH, River Moon, Cosmic Caz and Ryan Lovell make up some of London’s finest selectors in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer.
Turning up the dial on sensory exploration, BitterSuite Presents: Tilted Bodies, taking over the Clore Ballroom throughout the festival (Sunday 11, Monday 12, Wednesday 14 and Sunday 18 June). Set to a live and bespoke arrangement influenced by Christine and the Queens’ discography, each audience member will be blindfolded and guided one-on-one through the set by a dancer for an intimate journey, radically altering the gig going experience.
In the Purcell Room, Christine and the Queens’ close collaborator and dancer Taos Bertrand will present two performances of Brutal Synth Acts, a brand new Southbank Centre commission especially for Meltdown (Wednesday 14 June). Meanwhile, rising talent and ‘OUCH!’ singer Nxdia makes her Southbank Centre debut (Sunday 11 June) while singer-songwriter Riff Cohen, who garnered popular attention with her 2012 debut A Paris, will take to the stage on Thursday 15 June.
Drag queen, actor, author, and recording artist Katya Zamolodchikova takes over the Queen Elizabeth Hall auditorium for an afternoon tea of ‘controversy and chaos’ with a conversation and Q&A sure to be unlike anything you’ve heard before (Saturday 17 June). Over in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer that evening, Danny Brown collaborator Petite Noir will also perform. On the final day of the festival, maximalist sensation Girli joins as support for Lynks on Sunday 18 June.
For the first time ever, the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer will feature Beat Blocks. which will radically enhance the concert experience for everyone, particularly hearing and visually impaired and other disabled and neurodiverse audiences. A powerful multi-sensory interactive flooring system, Beat Blocks. translates any sound source into felt vibration, creating a truly immersive sensory event.
These new acts join an ever growing line-up for Christine and the Queens’ Meltdown. There will be show stopping performances in the Royal Festival Hall from Django Django, Warpaint, Yemi Alade with support from Moonchild Sanelly, Sigur Rós with the London Contemporary Orchestra, Oxlade, KOKOROKO as well as two shows by Christine and the Queens. The Queen Elizabeth Hall will host Sqürl with director Jim Jarmusch, Chromatic and Glass Candy’s Johnny Jewel and Bat For Lashes while the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer will be transformed for evening gigs from Serpentwithfeet, Let's Eat Grandma and electronic producer Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.
