A SUCCESSFUL North East music festival is gearing up for its return this weekend, headed up by a leading international jazz funk band and Northern funk favourites.
Sunniside Live, Sunderland’s only city centre live music festival, is to take place this Saturday (July 16), with headliners, The Brand New Heavies, who will be heading to Wearside ahead of their USA tour.
The band will be joined by a host of other acts, including North East groups Smoove & Turrell, Juggernaut Love Band, Picnic, and special guests Alison Limerick and Shola Ama.
The event is organised by Helen Davies and Sean Maddison who run both Bar Justice and Gin & Bear it Bar at West Sunniside and is being supported by Sunderland Business Improvement District and BBC Newcastle.
Helen Davies said she was delighted to see Sunniside Live returning to the city: “This was an extremely successful event last year that attracted thousands of people to the city centre.
“There are only a limited amount of tickets available to purchase on the day, so we’d urge people to come along to Bar Justice or Gin & Bear It early on, so as not to miss out on this year’s amazing line-up.”
The event, which will run from 12pm until 10pm, will include number of food stalls, a pop-up café by The Place Café. There will also be a licenced bar run by Bar Justice and Gin & Bear It bar, a retro Pimm’s van and bottle and spirits stall.
Ken Dunbar, Chief Executive of Sunderland BID, who are sponsoring the festival, thinks this year’s festival will be even bigger and better than last year’s with the capacity rising from 2500 to 4000.
“Last year’s festival offered a great opportunity to turn a spotlight on the Sunniside area of the city and helped showcase the fantastic bars and restaurants it has,” he said.
“We’re proud to support such a brilliant event, that not only gives people the chance to see some of the best established and emerging acts in British music, but also showcases Sunderland’s ever-growing music scene to those outside the region.”
For more information about the event visit www.sunnisidelive.co.uk or contact Helen Davies at info@sunnisidelive.co.uk.