In a manner befitting a legendary supermodel, Grace Jones was an hour and two years late to the stage to open her stint as the curator of the Southbank’s Meltdown festival. The series of handpicked events, organised in past years by artists including David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith and Massive Attack (who picked Jones to perform for them in 2008) was supposed to take place in 2020. “Been a long time. Like no time at all,” she said of the pandemic’s stasis. Thankfully her line-up is even fuller than it was when first announced, with the addition of John Grant, Hot Chip & the Kasai Allstars, Sky Ferreira and a second concert from the curator herself.
Those who witnessed this opening night may have jumped straight onto the booking site to try to secure another evening of amazing Grace, not least because the curfew forced her to finish with only a brief a cappella version of Pull Up to the Bumper and she promised to do it properly next time. Before then, the 74-year-old was a tongue-waggling riot in a succession of increasingly outlandish headpieces, orchestrating more than one very deliberate wardrobe malfunction and winding up singing Slave to the Rhythm in an exploded soldier’s bearskin while hula-hooping with her left breast on display.
