The Royal Festival Hall’s Level 2 foyer spaces are currently being refurbished, as we work to bring you a brand new cafe, bar, shop and Ticket Office. Find out more

Over the Easter weekend, the Royal Festival Hall is closed to the public on Sunday 31 March and Monday 1 April. The Queen Elizabeth Hall is open 12 noon – 8pm on both days. Find out more 

Cut Hands

+Heather Leigh

PAST EVENT
Sat 11 Jun 2022, 7.45pm
Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall
Gigs
From £15
past event
past event
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Cut Hands, musician, Meltdown

‘Bennett’s work has changed over the years, but what it retains is a relentlessly energetic creativity.'

Pop Matters

The solo project of William Bennett, formerly of influential noise music band Whitehouse, is an intense rhythmic onslaught.

Founded in 2007 to experiment with elements of vaudou music and raw electricity, Cut Hands soon evolved into a powerful dance music form.

Inspired by Haitian vaudou musicians’ capacity to make intense music with almost no technology, 2002’s Wriggle Like A F*cking Eel 12" by Whitehouse was seen as a radical musical direction by many in the wider noise/industrial scene.

After Whitehouse disbanded, Bennett began to explore this direction further with solo project Cut Hands, whose acclaimed debut Afro Noise I was released in 2011 on Very Friendly/Susan Lawly.

The most recent LP from Cut Hands, Festival of the Dead on London/Berlin based label Blackest Ever Black, features some of Cut Hands' most remarkable work.

The night begins with Heather Leigh, a musician and songwriter who furthers the vast unexplored reaches of pedal steel guitar and vocals. Impossible to pigeonhole, her playing is as physical as it is phantom, combining spontaneous compositions with psychedelic folk and industrial-strength progressive rock.

The music of Cut Hands has been featured on soundtracks for award-winning documentaries including Siberia: Krokodil Tears, the highly acclaimed Snoop Dogg documentary Reincarnated and Lil Bub & Friendz.

In spring 2015 Cut Hands was the audio backdrop for Proenza Schouler’s epic New York fashion show, and in 2016 samples were extensively featured on Detroit rap artist Danny Brown's hit ‘Pneumonia’.

‘In Cut Hands, William Bennett has created one of the most instantly recognisable audio trademarks in electronic music’

The Quietus

Support act

Heather Leigh

Composer and singer Heather Leigh playing a pedal steel guitar

Dates & times

Sat 11 Jun 2022, 7.45pm

Price

  • Standard entryFrom £15*
  • Concessions25%**


* Excludes £3.50 booking fee.

Book as early as you can to ensure the best choice of tickets. Ticket prices may be adjusted without notice to reflect demand.

** Limited availability. Read about concessions.

Tickets can only be sold through the Southbank Centre and our authorised agents, and can't be resold. You can return your tickets to the Southbank Centre for a credit voucher up to 48 hours before the event. Tickets resold on any third-party platforms will become invalid.

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Venue

Purcell Room

Our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our visitors and staff. 

Check here for our current guidance

Open 90 minutes before an event until the end of the event. Closed at all other times.

See the opening times for all our venues

Our address is: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. The nearest tube and train stations within 5-7 minutes walk are Waterloo (Northern, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Waterloo & City lines) and Embankment (District & Circle lines). There are also lots of bus routes with stops 2-5 minutes from our venues. For more information on getting here by road, rail or river.

 Visit our Getting here page

Pre-booking online is recommended. Check our website on the day for returns. There’s no need to print your e-ticket – just show your phone to our Visitor Assistants on entry.

Some free events don't require a ticket. Found an event labelled FREE on our website with no way to book? Simply turn up on the day.

If you don't receive your e-ticket

Your e-ticket will be sent to you seven days before the event date from [email protected]. If you don't receive your e-ticket, and it's not in your junk or spam folder, please get in touch. 

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More information

Find out all you need to know about tickets, including concessions, group bookings, returns, credit vouchers and more, via the link below.

Frequently asked questions

Get an overview of the seating layout of the Purcell Room by downloading our seating plan.

Download seating plan

Toilets

An accessible toilet is located in the foyer.

A Changing Places toilet is located on Level 1 Royal Festival Hall next to the JCB Glass Lift, for the exclusive use of disabled people who need personal assistance to use the toilet.

The facility includes a height-adjustable bench, tracking hoist system, a centrally-placed toilet, a height-adjustable basin and a shower. The phone outside the Changing Places toilet will connect you with a member of staff, who can provide you with the key. The facility is open daily 10am – 11pm.

Cloakroom

The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room cloakroom is closed. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the venues, so please leave large bags at home.

We're cash-free

Please note that we're unable to accept cash payments across our site. 

Purcell Room is located in Queen Elizabeth Hall. For step-free access please use Royal Festival Hall JCB glass lift to Level 2 and enter via Riverside Terrace.

Talk to a member of staff at the auditorium entrance if you have a disability that means you can’t queue, or you need extra time to take your seat. They can arrange priority entry for you as soon as the doors open.

Please bear with us while we update our access map to reflect the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall’s Level 2 foyer spaces. The step-free routes remain the same.

Download step-free access map

More about Access & facilities