Last Saturday my sister and I saw Siouxsie Sioux. She was performing at Yoko Ono’s Meltdown – a festival run by the Southbank Centre in London, which is curated by a different person each year (previous years have included David Bowie, Anthony Hegarty and Massive Attack, to name a few). Each curator has always done notoriously well with their line-up, and as well as Siouxsie, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith and Iggy Pop have been performing.
Our Mum had asked us if we wanted to go thinking she’d be booking tickets for the whole family, but when it came to it she had just booked tickets for my sister and I. My sister, who I’ve written about previously, was very much looking forward to it as Siouxsie had been so integral to her musical loves when she was a teenager in the 80s. Obviously, I was too and it was amazing to go to a gig to see someone my sister had introduced me to musically so long ago.
She did numbers from the Banshees days, as well as her own solo material. It was such an amazing gig. Happy House and Dear Prudence are still my favourites and Siouxsie did those numbers justice. To top it all off, I ended up meeting Viv Albertine, who was supporting, when I popped out to the loo and to the bar. VIV FUCKING ALBERTINE. She questioned whether I was old enough to know who she was, to which I replied “Oh yeah, of course I do! Of course!!” I could have had a finer moment meeting one of the original riot grrls but I talked to her nonetheless! Haha. That was huge enough for me! I usually just saunter off and try to take a picture of them without them noticing from a distance. And usually fail because someone walks in front of me. I also didn’t have my phone when I met Viv so I had to change my usual geek out from a distance tact. It was just a pretty amazing evening all round.
And if I look like Siouxsie in a white leather one-piece jumpsuit with a bondage harness over it at the age of 56, my mission in life is complete.
Ladylove,
Jaqueline xxx
Beatrix & Alabama 