The region’s emerging acts have the chance to share a bill with some of music’s biggest names this summer.
Sunniside Live, Sunderland’s only city-centre music festival, returns for a third year on Friday July 7 and Saturday July 8.
Applications for the competition have been submitted, and voting is now open until June 2.
The winner of the online public vote has the honour of opening the festival on the Saturday, before a line-up that features Lord Swans, Social Room (Battle of the Bands winner 2015), Chris Helme of The Seahorses, The Farm and headliners Happy Mondays.
Event organisers Helen Davies and Sean Maddison were delighted with the response to the competition, which is open to solo performers and bands of all genres.
Helen said: “We have been inundated with acts wanting a chance to perform at this year’s festival. We couldn’t possibly have chosen out of them all, so we are letting the public decide.”
The acts vying for a place on stage are Rivet City, Cappellino, Regan, Arrows Of Time, Nutopians, Tabitha Jade, Maybelleen, Cazimi, Under The Abstract, and DeadWetThings.
To listen to each entrant and pick your favourite, visit www.sunnisidelive.co.uk/vote