we have to admit we love the southbank. especially since our pals in saint etienne took over as artists in residence, it’s been an even nicer place to hang out. the st e boys bob and pete, along with their filmmaker pals paul (birdie) kelly and andrew hinton, are finally ready to unveil their new film about the royal festival hall, at the royal festival hall on 29 june, and they’ll be there playing along with it. a few weeks ago we went to southbank’s overture, which kicked off the re-opened rfh building with a weekend of free events for the kids (or the 70-year-olds), and apart from some small complaints (please don’t leave the bright, flickering fluorescent lights on during the performance! please tune the piano! damn it’s hot in here!), it seemed to go down a smash. we cannot report on the southbank’s meltdown, sorry. we wanted to go to melanie, the jesus and mary chain, lost ladies of folk, john barry, iggy, and of course roky (no thanks to pete doherty singing disney songs though), but we were at a funeral when the tickets went on sale. we are just grateful that it isn’t always so crowded as it was that weekend.