Merry Splitmas! ‘Heads, Hydes & Heartstrings Announce A Festive Festival
Ah how the times change in the modern world. If you had suggested to your fiercely proud Dad that you were planning on spending Christmas at your neighbouring “rival town” a few decades ago, you would be greeted with a swift tolchock to the nose and forced to eat a lump of coal for Christmas.
Okay, that might just have happened on my estate, but this is the 21st Century god dammit, it’s okay to be dangerous and wear red pants if you feel like it, and thank the Lord for that because the organisers of a leading Sunderland music festival have invited North East Christmas revellers to their major music and culinary showdown on Wearside next month.
That’s right, hot on the heels of this summer’s musical celebration at Ashbrooke Sports Club – which saw stellar performances from The Charlatans and North East bright lights Beth Jeans Houghton and Little Comets - team Split simply couldn’t handle another year on the sidelines before the next grand gathering and have got their minds together to continue the party at Sunderland University’s North Shore venue on 10 December.
The line up will feature live music from The Futureheads, 2011 high flyers Hyde & Beast, KYEO’s favourite quirky feathered friends B>E>A>K and an aftershow club night which comes complete with a DJ set from Frankie & The Heartstrings.
Split’s Barry Hyde, and front man of The Futureheads, said: “This gig is going to be a very special night. The Futureheads haven’t played a headline gig in Sunderland since September 2010. It’s been Far too long.”
“North Shore is a superb venue to play in and watch bands in. It’s going to be a Sunderland winter musical treat”. The Futureheads have promised a set full of old classics as well as new crowd favourites and Barry will also perform on stage with his little brother’s band Hyde & Beast - who will return from their first national tour to take part in the event.
“We can’t be arsed to leave it for another year before we do it again. It just wouldn’t be right,” said Martyn McFadden, Split organiser and editor of the Sunderland AFC independent fanzine, A Love Supreme. ”The Futureheads supported The Stranglers at North Shore in June and Barry Hyde new right away that more gigs had to be done there. It’s an amazing 1000 capacity venue and it doesn’t step on the of toes promoters who operate in the city centre.
“We’re not running events like this to be financially successful, of course we wouldn’t turn that down, but that’s not why we’re doing it. We all got into Split because we believed in it. We wanted to do something special for Christmas and we want the whole region to come here to enjoy it. We’ve got a great pedigree of music here and we want to shout about it as much as possible.”
There will be a selection of drinks promos to devour on the evening and if that isn’t enough to smack your greedy palet Split head cook and BBC Masterchef finalist Stacie Stewart will return to her native Sunderland to serve up a host of jolly eats. Martyn McFadden, added: “We didn’t want to have crappy burgers at Split Festival this year, we wanted to have good food and the food tent was rammed all the time. So we’ve drafted in Stacey to provide a Christmas Fayre.
“Expect some amazing turkey and cranberry burgers and if you’re vegetarian like Frankie you can try the Frankie Burger” (I see what they did there the, naughty little humour hounds).
Having created something of a timely buzz in the city over the last three years, the men and women behind Split now have very real plans to take the brand to other parts of the city and to different venues. Once the Christmas show waves us goodbye organisers have confirmed a string of new themed events will be announced in the New Year, so stay tuned.
Tickets for Split’s Christmas special are only £12.50 in advance and will be £15 on the door. If you’d like to snap one up right now click here.
For more information and to keep yourself amused on these lonely winter nights go on and have a look at Split Festival’s official website www.splitfestival.com
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Merry Splitmas! ‘Heads, Hydes & Heartstrings Announce A Festive Festival http://t.co/wY9WjtXw Includes greatest ever @FrankieStrings picture
Merry Splitmas! ‘Heads, Hydes & Heartstrings Announce A Festive Festival http://t.co/wY9WjtXw Includes greatest ever @FrankieStrings picture
Merry Splitmas! ‘Heads, Hydes & Heartstrings Announce A Festive Festival http://t.co/wY9WjtXw Includes greatest ever @FrankieStrings picture
RT @kyeotv: Merry Splitmas! 'Heads, Hydes & Heartstrings Announce A Festive Festival http://t.co/6eJG4ZPT