Acid jazz band Incognito added to Sunderland festival bill

It’s been announced today that the group, whose hits include Don’t You Worry About A Thing and Always There, will share the top of the bill for the Friday night of the event with Heather Small from M People.

They’ll cap off the first night of the festival, which returns to Sunniside Gardens for a third year, on July 7 before Happy Mondays headline the following night.

The acid jazz project has deep roots in the 1970s jazz/funk/soul world and was formed in 1979 by Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick and Paul “Tubbs” Williams.

In 2014, the band celebrated its 35th birthday and the release of their 16th studio album.

Sunniside Live’s Sean Maddison, who organises the event with Helen Davies, said: “It’s great to welcome Incognito to the bill on the Friday night, they really fit in with the rest of the line-up and are a great live act.

“We’d encourage people to buy their tickets early rather than leaving it until a couple of days before as the more tickets we sell, the more acts we can add to the event.”

For the first time this year the home-grown event will run across two days, with live music from late afternoon on Friday and all day and night on the Saturday.

It’s hoping to attract a capacity crowd of 4,000 people each day to see acts including The Farm, K Klass, Allister Whitehead, Chris Helme from The Seahorses and local acts Social Room and Lord Swans.

•Friday and Saturday tickets, priced from £14, as well as weekend tickets, are available to buy now from the festival website http://sunnisidelive.co.uk/