Royal Festival Hall re-opening at Southbank

Saturday 9th June - This weekend to celebrate the re-opening of London's Royal Festival Hall which apparently had been shut for restoration for a couple of years. There was lots on over the Weekend and we had a couple of Hours to spare before catching our Train home on Saturday so popped down for a look.

The first thing that grabbed us as we got close was the London Eye which we saw from a different angle coming from Waterloo. I just cannot believe that originally it was planned only to keep it for a year or two. Were they mad, it's a great feature?

As we got nearer we started to spot the Anthony Gormley Figures on top of the buildings. They looked fantastic and I wish we had had time to actually go and see the exhibition, but we didn't.

The place was teaming and we arrived to hear the last notes of the Bollywood Brass Band. Walking through the throngs past old cars and routemaster buses, through an allotment (!) we go up to the fountain 'Appearing Rooms' by Dannish Artist Jeppe Hain. It is basically a square fountain subdivided into four further square rooms. Different areas of the fountains turn on and off randomly allowing people to walk from one room to another without getting wet.

In reality on a busy hot Saturday during the opening celebrations of the Royal Festival Hall it is a perfect excuse to get wet and cool down.

All immense fun.



Someone I was pleased to see was modern day folkie, Londoner and all round good bloke Billy Bragg sound checking for a free Busker Set (one of several performances he gave that weekend). Below you can see him improvising around Goodnight Irene (I didn't know he was a Gashead) whilst his sound man tries to both listen in the optimal audience position and adjust soundlevels on the soundboard behind the stage. Shortly after this Billy did a mainly covers set of Busker standards that he used to do at the tube stations, etc in his youth.