GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
Robert Smith's memorable Meltdown
The Cure legend is in charge of this year's festival and it got off to a very impressive start, says MIK SABIERS
MEMORABLE: The Psychedelic Furs
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an excellently crafted new musical that explores the life and death of Ruth Ellis
PAUL DONOVAN is tickled by the excruciating take-downs of one of the funniest, wittiest, political writers around.
RON JACOBS points out, via a transcription of Kissinger’s secret recordings, that Trump could never have existed without Nixon and Kissinger
ELLIS RAE is persuaded that the advantages of the ‘talking cure’ are superior to the treatment of mental illness with drugs
JOHN GREEN, MICHAL BONCZA and BELLA KATZ review The Good Boy, Broken English, and Don't Be Prey
Meltdown
South Bank, London
THE SOUTH Bank’s annual Meltdown Festival is a celebration of music, art and performance that allows one artist to not just make their mark but show their influences and inspiration.
For the special 25th anniversary celebration this year, and following in the footsteps of such luminaries as John Peel, Patti Smith, David Bowie and Yoko Ono, the curator is none other than the enigmatic Robert Smith of goth legends The Cure — he of the smudged lipstick, eyeliner and birds-nest hair.
Over 10 days Meltdown is hosting a wide roster of bands and events, all under the watchful eye of Smith, with post-punk rockers the Psychedelic Furs opening the festival to a packed house at the Royal Festival Hall.
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