A tribute concert was held in memory of Marianne Faithfull last week, with Jarvis Cocker, Beth Orton, Anna Calvi, Rufus Wainwright, Ed Harcourt and more performing. Check out what went down on the night below.
The gig took place on Wednesday night (March 18) at the Barbican Hall in London. It was held a little over a year after the iconic singer died, and also came in celebration of the new documentary about her, Broken English.
Held in partnership with Vue Lumière and the Barbican, Pulp frontman Cocker took to the stage to perform a powerful cover of ‘Sliding Through Life On Charm’ from Faithfull’s 2002 album, ‘Kissin Time’, before Wainwright delivered a stirring rendition of the singer’s 1985 collaboration with Christopher John Spedding, ‘Ballad Of The Soldier’s Wife’.
Calvi performed the 1979 ‘Broken English’ title track as well as ‘Falling Back’ from the 2014 record ‘Give My Love To London’, and Orton performed The Rolling Stones song ‘Sister Morphine’, which Faithfull famously wrote alongside the band’s own Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Orton took on another track from that realm too, breaking out ‘As Tears Go By’ which was written for her by Jagger, Richards, and renowned record producer, Andrew Loog Oldham.
On the night, the guest singers were backed by the film’s house band, led by musical director Rob Ell (PJ Harvey) and featuring Colin Greenwood (Radiohead), Ed Harcourt, Anna Phoebe and Adrian Utley (Portishead).
Check out more footage from the night below.
The Broken English documentary film, directed by BAFTA-winners Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard (20,000 Days On Earth), arrived in UK and Ireland cinemas on March 20, following its premiere at Venice Film Festival 2025.
It stars Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Nick Cave, Suki Waterhouse and Courtney Love, and draws on interviews, archival material and Faithfull’s final recorded performance.
The movie is also described as “an intimate and unflinching exploration of a fractured yet unbreakable life shaped by fame, creative genius and relentless public scrutiny”, and “a genre-defying portrait of resilience and rebellion, a final fearless declaration, Marianna Faithfull’s defiant swan song.”
As well as arriving in cinemas and at Venice Film Festival, the documentary was also screened at Glasgow Film Festival and Dublin International Film Festival. Other screenings have taken place at the 69th BFI London Film Festival and the US’ Sundance Film Festival.
In a four-star review of Broken English, NME hailed the project as “a beautiful celebration of defiant ‘60s icon Marianne Faithfull”. It added: “The undisputed highlight of the film are Faithfull’s various musical performances from across her career. Illustrating her many eras, we see her ace folk, rock, jazz, new wave and spoken word.”
