Little Simz to curate Meltdown Festival with first wave of artists announced

Kicking off this year’s Meltdown in the Royal Festival Hall will be the legendary Mike Skinner-led project The Streets with a host of incredible acts to follow

The first wave of artists performing at a summer festival curated by Little Simz have been announced. Little Simz’ Meltdown will take place from Thursday 12 – Sunday 22 June at London’s Southbank Centre.

As part of the 30th edition of the iconic festival, Little Simz will play a unique, one-off special performance in the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 22 June and perform alongside Southbank Centre Resident Orchestra Chineke! Orchestra. Reputed for her inimitable live performances, Simz will play hits from her stellar catalogue of music including material from her upcoming sixth studio album Lotus , set for release on 9 May via AWAL Recordings.

Kicking off this year’s Meltdown in the Royal Festival Hall will be the legendary Mike Skinner-led project The Streets, performing on Thursday 12 June. The Royal Festival Hall will also welcome 2025 BRIT Award nominee with the number one hit “Messy” Lola Young (17 June), MOBO Award-winning London-born rapper Ghetts (18 June), and the multi-GRAMMY and Academy Award winner Jon Batiste (21 June). In addition, the Queen Elizabeth Hall will host the British-Colombian singer-songwriter Sasha Keable with Flames Collective (14 June), and the vocalist and co-founder of Swedish group Little Dragon, Yukimi (18 June).

London’s youth clubs have birthed incredible talent such as Little Simz, and this tradition will be carried on at Meltdown as the Southbank Centre will build a unique one-off young producers project for the festival. Over the next three months in the lead up to Meltdown, a selection of young producers hailing from all corners of London will prepare to transform the site’s public spaces into a playground of curated activity, events and showcases that will run during the festival. The programme will spotlight young people at the heart of the events, and reflect Little Simz’ ongoing mission into supporting new talent.

Speaking about her incredible new project, Little Simz said: “ My team and I are preparing eleven days of art, music, workshops and more. So many incredible artists have curated this festival so it’s a true honour to be a part of it. Thank you to the Southbank Centre for having me. Meltdown 2025 the Simz way is going to be epic. I’ll see you there. ”

Tickets will go on sale to members on Wednesday 26 March at 10:00am, and to the general public on Friday 28 March at 10:00am via southbankcentre.co.uk .

Further artists performing at Little Simz’ Meltdown will be announced in due course, along with details of the free public programme during the festival.

EVENT LISTINGS

The Streets