The Happy Mondays announced as Sunniside Live headliner

It’s been announced that the band who helped to define the Madchester music scene will headline the Saturday night of next year’s Sunniside Live.

The band, whose hits include Step On, will take to the stage at Sunniside Gardens on Saturday, July 8, to close the two-day festival.

Last week it was announced that Heather Small will headline the Friday night of the festival, which returns for its third year.

Members of the band were last in the city for Haçienda Classical in August which saw Bez and Rowetta take to the 
stage at Herrington Country Park.

Organiser Helen Davies said: “We are all thrilled to bring The Happy Mondays to Sunderland. We hope everyone will be as excited as we are, the acts are getting bigger each year.”

Helen and Sean Maddison, who own Sunniside bars Gin & Bear It and Bar Justice, founded the festival in 2015 in a bid to drive footfall to the oft-forgotten area of Sunniside.

Helen said: “Ticket prices have had to go up this year to allow the festival to grow but we hope everyone will think the price is still good value.”

The event will feature live music from late afternoon on the Friday and will run from noon until 10pm on the Saturday with a full line-up announced soon.

Early bird tickets are available at a 20% discount, priced £28 for a weekend ticket, or £14 for a Friday night ticket and £18 for a Saturday ticket. Once these tickets are gone, prices will rise to £35 for the weekend or £17.50 for the Friday and £22.50 for the Saturday.

There will also be VIP tickets available, priced from £35 on the early bird offer.

l Tickets are available from http://sunnisidelive.co.uk