The Lake Poets announced for Hit the North festival

Sunderland’s The Lake Poets has been added to the line-up at this year’s Hit the North Festival in Newcastle.
The Lake Poets aka Marty LongstaffThe Lake Poets aka Marty Longstaff
The Lake Poets aka Marty Longstaff

The East Herrington singer/songwriter, whose real name is Martin Longstaff, already had a good following thanks to his haunting tracks, which are often inspired by his home city’s lost industry. But his career recently received a boost after track Shipyards appeared on the Netflix docu-series Sunderland ‘Til I Die, which led to him performing for a record home crowd on Boxing Day at the Stadium of Light.

Now it’s been announced he’ll play Hit the North on Sunday, May 5, a festival which will take place across a series of venues in Newcastle city centre.

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Also announced today for the festival are London’s Shame, The Academic, SOAK and Columbia Records’ music duo Seafret, who have been added to the line-up, which already includes headliners Jake Bugg and Tom Grennan.

Fellow Mackem musicians The Futureheads will also be performing, as part of an opening event for the weekend at The Riverside, Newcastle Quayside, on May 3.

Hit the North Festival organiser Steve Davis said: “There’s no doubt that Hit the North Festival is back with its best line-up this year and we know fans of Shame and The Lake Poets will be delighted that they’re heading to Newcastle in May.

“Last year’s event was amazing but this is a step up for sure. We’re building a reputation as one of the UK’s leading city-centre festivals and we can’t wait to see all of these amazing bands in action.”

More acts and details of the full weekend will be announced in the coming weeks.

Tickets for Hit the North Festival are available now via Ticketline: https://www.ticketline.co.uk/hit-the-north