Robert Smith Curated Meltdown Festival Announces 2018 Lineup Featuring Nine Inch Nails, Deftones and My Bloody Valentine

Photo credit: Raymond Flotat

Robert Smith has certainly delivered to the fans and is bringing an incredible lineup to this year’s Meltdown Festival. Celebrating a 25th year, the festival takes place at London’s Southbank Centre, an arts complex that covers 21 acres. The first slate of artists has been announced for the festival which will take place June 15 through June 24.

Bands announced are Deftones, The Libertines, Manic Street Preachers, Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails, Placebo, The Psychedelic Furs, 65daysofstatic, Alcest, The Anchoress, Kristin Hersh, Kathryn Joseph, MONO and The Notwist.

“As each invitee confirms, as each shimmering piece falls into place, I pinch myself – this is really happening,” said Smith of the announcement, “and the complete picture will undoubtedly be out of this world!”

Robert Smith had no easy footsteps to follow as last year’s festival was curated by MIA and featured performances by Young Fathers, Afrikan Boy, Crystal Castles, Dexta Daps, I Wayne and many more.

Previous curators have included Massive Attack, Patti Smith, Morrissey, Elvis Costello, Nick Cave, Yoko Ono and Guy Garvey. Previous performers have included Grandmaster Flash, DJ Shadow, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Roots, Moby, Iggy & The Stooges, Motorhead, Devo, Elbow, Fleet Foxes and many many more.

Meltdown shared their excitement today in a tweet stating that tickets would be on sale to members on March 13. The festival was put together to celebrate a mixture of art, music, performance and film. Since 1993 the festival has been bringing the best in all art and only missed out on 2006 when the Royal Festival Hall was closed for refurbishment.

UPDATE (6/19): Following the tragic passing of Frightened Rabbit leader Scott Hutchinson, Meltdown Festival has announced mental health panel will replace the band’s set. The band was scheduled to perform today at the UK festival, which is curated by Robert Smith of The Cure. Moderated by clinical psychologist Jay Watts, Spin reports that the panel will include Placebo’s Stefan Olsdal, Throwing Muses’ Kristin Hersh, the rapper Dizraeli, and Christine Brown of the charity Help Musicians UK.

Patrick Blair: I am graduate of Webster University in St. Louis, MO. I earned a B.A. in Media Communications with a minor in Journalism. I am a freelance and contributing writer for all things music and sports. I believe combining the two is the best way to bring a community together.
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