Music fans will be celebrating a first this weekend when A Stone's Throw festival brings the party to North Tyneside.
A total of 11 venues in North Shields and Tynemouth will combine to host the inaugural festival on Saturday which is being described as the North East's coastal music trail. They will link around 60 music acts including, in another first, singer-songwriter Sam Tompkins in his debut headline slot.
Salt Market Social will be the headline venue for the one-day-only event while others taking part will include The Exchange; The Engine Room; Three Tanners Bank; Flash House Brewery; Karma Coast; Tynemouth CIU; Barca Art Bar and The Watchhouse Museum. Among those getting the debut festival started will be rapper Berwyn, voted NME best new act, and Newcastle singer-songwriter Heidi Curtis.
Read more: guide to 2022 festivals across the North East
In a tweet to followers about his upcoming slot, Island-signed Sam Tompkins wrote: "I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but I’m headlining my first ever festival" and he said that he can’t wait to perform at A Stone's Throw, adding: "So exciting". Other names joining the bill will be singer-songwriter Lauran Hibberd, indie rock band Wych Elm, singers Rudie Edwards and Tamzene and local five-piece Jango Flash.
More names include Bandit, Feva, Luke Royalty, George O'Hanlon, Imogen, Deco and Second Thoughts. To ensure music fans can cram in as much as possible, an open-top bus service is being provided by Go North East which will offer a round-trip journey around the locations which will take, say organisers, just about seven minutes.
Festival co-founder Anthony Thompson said the venues and acts make up a "must-see trail" and added: "We're over the moon to be able to provide such an exciting new music event for North East music fans and we look forward to catching our favourite artists along the coast."
The action will get under way from 1pm. For the full line-up and more information see here. Tickets for the festival, costing £33.34 inclusive of booking fee, are on sale online here.
On Saturday, festival-goers will be able to exchange their tickets for a wristband which will allow access to all the venues.
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