Southbank Centre

From 10 – 19 June, the 18th Meltdown saw Ray Davies bring poets, punks, Pythons and more to Southbank Centre as icons from the worlds of music, literature, comedy and film filled the halls at Meltdown. Opening the festival himself, Davies gave the sold out Royal Festival Hall one of the musical moments of the summer as the opening riff of Waterloo Sunset sounded out a short walk from where Terry famously meets Julie.

Elsewhere, legends from the 60s joined today's stars as we paid tribute to the iconic TV pop show Ready Steady Go; New York counter-culture trailblazers The Fugs returned to London after 42 years; Monty Python's Terry Jones & Michael Palin had Queen Elizabeth Hall in raptures and suggested that if they were to curate Meltdown Bruce Springsteen doing panto would be top of their wishlist.

Meanwhile John Cooper Clarke's rapid-fire poetry gripped a sold-out Queen Elizabeth Hall; a violin was smashed (on purpose) in Peter Maxwell Davies' magnificent Eight Songs For a Mad King; there was a touching tribute to Tony Wilson featuring Paul Morley, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Peter Saville and a show-stealing video cameo from Tony's dog William.

Madness took us into the festival's final weekend with a romping set that threatened not only to take the roof off but to remove all the fixtures and fittings too; our guests from New Orleans The Preservation Hall Jazz Band had the entire crowd dancing in their seats, in the aisles and for a lucky few onstage; 1960s legends The Sonics showed the Royal Festival Hall crowd that their amp-busting garage rock is just as relevant in the 21st century, while Wire's eclectic and gut-rumbling set implied that they were here to challenge The Sonics in the noise department; As Meltdown reached it's rapturous finale, it was fitting for those in the Royal Festival Hall to witness Ray Davies performing the classic Kinks album Village Green Preservation Society in full, joined by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Crouch End Festival Chorus.