Smoove and Turrell and Shola Ama added to Sunderland festival

Last week, the Echo revealed that jazz and funk act The Brand New Heavies would headline Sunniside Live.

Now it’s been announced that Smoove and Turrell, Alison Limerick, Shola Ama and DJ Dejabrew will also take to the stage in Sunniside Gardens on July 16.

The festival, which will feature a day of music, will also give an emerging band the chance to open the event through a Battle of the Bands competition.

Now in its second year, the event has grown in scale with a more high-profile line-up of acts and almost doubling its crowd capacity to 4,000.

Organisers Helen Davies and Sean Maddison, who run Sunniside’s Bar Justice, have introduced a £10 ticket charge to cover costs.

“We’re over the moon with the acts we’ve confirmed so far,” said Helen.

“They’re all of a similar style to Brand New Heavies, so we’re hoping people who are coming for them will come for the whole day.

“We’ve had great feedback from people so far.

“Although the festival last year was free, we’ve had to introduce a cost to pay for booking the acts and a bigger stage, but you’d usually pay a tenner just to see one of the acts, let alone a full day of music.

“We’ll be adding another three or four acts to the line-up, but they will be local bands.”

Tickets will go on sale from 5pm today from the festival website at www.sunnisidelive.co.uk.

Bands interested in competing in the Battle of the Bands can also apply via the same website.