Line-up confirmed for third Summer Streets Festival in Sunderland

Sunderland band Field Music had already been confirmed as headliners for the popular, free musical festival, which will be held this Saturday and Sunday in Thompson Park, Southwick.

And another highlight of the weekend will be the Royal Northern Sinfonia (RNS) who will be performing on Sunday, July 17.

Other bands to play on Saturday include Martha, the Cornshed Sisters, New York Brass Band, Hylton Ukes, The Heavenly Thrillbillies, Don’t Panic Steel Pan Band, Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band, The Sons of Bido Lito and Immy Williams.

Saturday will also feature a ‘Junkyard Orchestra’ produced by Rob Kitchen, Schools Programme Leader at The Sage, and featuring 30 pupils from Monkwearmouth Academy and South Shields Community School. The youngsters will be playing ‘instruments’ such as scaffolding bars, angle grinders and car parts.

Youngsters will be entertained by a stand-up comedian, and there’ll also be workshops to try out belly dancing, beatboxing, playing the penny whistle and playing the spoons.

As well as the RNS, Sunday will feature Holy Moly and the Crackers, popular local band Denis, Whitburn Singers, Northern Ukes and the world premiere of theatre show Putting the Band Back Together, which has been rehearsing for months.

Whitburn Singers, the Jubilate! singing group and a live comedy gunge show are also on the Sunday bill.

It will be the third time Summer Streets has been held, and is being delivered on behalf of the Cultural Spring by Futureheads and Frankie and the Heartstrings star Ross Millard.

The Cultural Spring is an Arts Council funded project working to increase participation in the arts on Wearside and South Tyneside.

The festival will start with a parade from Southwick Primary School to Thompson Park on Saturday. The procession will start at noon, and will have a rolling roadblock behind it as it parades along the Green and on to Thompson Park Road.

There will be three stages and various smaller teepees in Thompson Park, and the musical programme on the Saturday will run from 1pm to 7pm, with Field Music being the last performers to appear.

The BBC’s Jeff Brown and Ray Spencer from the Customs House, South Shields, will be hosting the festival and introducing the entertainment.

Street food stalls will be on site on both days and Wylam Brewery will be serving refreshments.

Ross Millard said: “What we're doing is providing a great platform for local bands, groups and musicians, while at the same time exposing audiences to types and genres of music they may not have heard before.

“I’m delighted at the quality and variety of performers we have this year and it promises to be a very special weekend.”

The Cultural Spring’s three partners are the University of Sunderland; The Customs House in South Shields and the Sunderland Music, Arts and Culture Trust.

The project is working in five Sunderland wards (Red House, Castletown Southwick, Fulwell and Roker/St Peter's) and five South Tyneside wards (Biddick and All Saints, Boldon Colliery, Cleadon and East Boldon, Whitburn and Marsden and Whiteleas).