Patti Smith to curate Meltdown

United Kingdom | | 20 March 2005

Patti Smith has been announced as the creative force behind this year's Meltdown Festival in London's South Bank Centre - following on from Morrissey who did the honours last year.

Meltdown 2005 takes place between 11-26 June and will feature a number of concerts and events organised by Smith. Previous acts have included Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Coldplay and Tricky.

The 58-year-old US punk pioneer told The Observer newspaper that the festival would be her response to these "Material, exploitative and greedy times".

She said: "I never think in terms of labels. I just see rock as a raw art form that belongs to the people, but has the possibility of merging with poetry, politics, the spiritual and the revolutionary."

No acts have yet been confirmed for Meltdown. Last year's festival saw curator Morrissey joined by Nancy Sinatra, a reformed New York Dolls, and almost The Libertines (they cancelled).

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