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Artist News Gigs & Festivals
Jarvis Cocker to play Sheffield-themed show at Doc/Fest
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 11 June 2013
Jarvis Cocker is to perform live at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield this week as part of the 20th edition of documentary convention Doc/Fest. The show, which is set to take place on the first night of the five day event, is part of the premiere of ‘The Big Melt’, a new film directed by Martin Wallace that tells the story of the Yorkshire city’s steel industry through footage from the BFI National Archive accompanied by music from Sheffield musicians.
Cocker, who also worked as Musical Director on the film, said in a statement: “Just like Billy Casper told Jud he’d ‘never work down t’ pit, I vowed never to get in all that ‘Sheffield: Steel City’ biz. But guess what? Looking at the BFI’s awesome collection of steel-related films changed my mind. I only hope that we can pay proper homage to the extraordinary individuals featured in this footage. Our aim is to melt faces (and hearts) and to blow minds. With maybe a bit of smelting thrown in for good measure. The jesses are so off”.
Wallace added: “We wanted to tell a story about steel that opened out the basic social history and facts about the process itself. There are some awesome BFI archive films that already paint a vivid picture of the real story, so we wanted to drag this archive into the present, re-imagine and invigorate it, turn it into something more fantastical, more playful and, at the same time, more challenging”.
Cocker will be joined on stage tomorrow night by a number of local musicians, including Richard Hawley.
For more on Doc/Fest, check out our interview with BBC Music & Events Commissioning Editor Jan Younghusband here.
