A huge music festival in Sunderland has announced the full line-up of acts as it prepares to take over venues across the city centre.
The highly-anticipated Waves Festival is returning to Sunderland on November 5, with six of the city's favourite venues playing host to some of the best and brightest emerging artists. The all-day, multi-venue festival returns following a hugely successful launch event last year.
Sunderland's newest venue, The Fire Station, will act as the main stage for the one-dayer alongside five other popular music haunts including Independent, The Peacock, The Ship Isis, The Bunker and Live Lounge. In addition, the festival has announced a brand new BBC Introducing stage which will showcase some of the best talent in the North East.
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Hosted by the much-loved Geordie radio presenter Nick Roberts, the BBC Introducing stage will see Eve Cole, The Peevie Wonders, Nadedja and Noprism perform. Joining headliners The Pale White, Tom A Smith, Ishmael Ensemble and Pip Blom is Scottish indie rock sensation, Declan Welsh and The Decadent West.
New additions to the line-up also include some of Sunderland's most promising new talent, such as Chloe Gardner, Dead Wet Things and Neoletrics. Chloe Gardner has toured across Europe with the legendary rock band Status Quo as a backing vocalist and acoustic guitar player.
The Pale White will headline the festival with a performance at The Fire Station meanwhile the Dutch indie four-piece Pip Blom will return to Independent to headline the stage following a sell-out show in April. The Peacock will be headlined by Leeds-based electronic/funk party band Galaxians.
Other big names on the line-up include the incredible Ishmael Ensemble and Sunderland-born Tom A Smith, who is on a meteoric rise having recently played Glastonbury for the second time and supported Elton John. York 5-piece Bull will also bring their noisy indie racket to Sunderland for the first time.
Among the acts already confirmed are Sunderland's dance/pop outfit Vanderbilt, the psychedelic/indie sounds of The Dream Machine, Luke Royalty, Hivemind, Yaatri, Wax Heart Sodality, Ghost//Signals as well as many more still to be announced.
The area surrounding the Empire has been transformed into a cultural quarter with the opening of The Fire Station’s £11m auditorium last year, the renovation of the Grade-II listed Dun Cow pub, and the restoration of The Peacock which is now co-managed by Sunderland hero and Futureheads frontman Barry Hyde.
The new charity initiative Sunderland Culture is continuing to unite the city's cultural offerings and put it on the map as a destination for world-class arts and music. And Waves is playing a major role in Sunderland's ongoing regeneration effort by bringing a "top-tier" music festival to the city.
Festival co-organiser Ben Richardson said: "We can’t wait to host Waves festival again this year, there was such a great atmosphere last time out and we’re predicting it to be exactly the same this time, just on a much bigger scale. The addition of The Fire Station as main stage is a big coup and will allow us to bring bigger and better bands to Sunderland as part of the festival."
Ben Wall from the venue, Independent, added: "We’re really proud of the line-up we’ve put together for this year’s event, it’s amazing to bring bands that have played and sold out Independent in the past (The Pale White, Pip Blom) back to the city alongside so many more exciting emerging artists that are playing here for the first time. The further announcements to come only make the day better, with loads more acts, stage takeovers and more still to be announced."
Tickets for Waves festival (November 5) are on sale now from: https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/events/waves-festival-2022/
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