A volunteer-run festival which started out as a community get-together in 2010 and has grown into a three-day showcase of music and beer is now out to make an extra-big impression upon its spring return - with the help of TV chef Si King.
The familiar face, one half of The Hairy Bikers, will be taking to the stage when Gateshead Beer & Music Festival gets under way this April with its packed programme of beer, bands and street food. But rather than doing any cooking, the special guest will be surprising festival-goers by performing on stage with local funk and soul band Groovetrain.
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King, who last year was involved with a Soul Food and Music Festival in Sunderland, this time will be showing off his percussion skills during the Saturday session of the huge event hosted by Gateshead Rugby Club in Low Fell, which - while now at the top of its game - still retains its community focus, with an open-to-all approach that welcomes children and dogs.
The Groovetrain show is set to be one of the highlights of the April 28-30 music line-up which includes some previous favourites as well as festival newcomers. The main stage is housed in a giant marquee where, at the opposite end, there will be a Cider Bar, a Cocktail Bar and pop-ups serving prosecco and spirits.
The club grounds come into their own in sunny weather with festival-goers milling around and making the most of the outdoor space but, if it does rain, there is plenty shelter to be had in both the music marquee and the clubhouse where, in addition to its own two bars, the main pop-up is stocked with the wide range of ales and lager.
Marking the Friday opening of the festival, which is organised and hosted by volunteers from the club and is now in its 13th year, will be a beer competition which will see 120 ales created by brewers from across the North East and Yorkshire go head to head in a bid for glory. The Society of Independent Brewers first hosted its annual competition in the Low Fell clubhouse in 2019 and it is now adding to the festival's traditions, with the winners revealed on its first day going on to take part in the national competition BeerX.
The first day also will see the return of We Are Champion, headliners of the past two years, who will perform 90 more minutes of Queen classics. Adding to the party atmosphere will be South Shields favourites The Understudies, which the festival says, is one of its 'most-requested' bands, with their blast of rock, pop, punk and indie classics.
And, another crowd-pleaser, The Reflex will flashback to the eighties with hits by the likes of Haircut 100, Prince, Simple Minds, Rick Astley, Tears for Fears and Human League.
New additions to the festival this year include an extra performance area in the bar hall area - where music sets will include the popular George Welch and Christine Jeans; Taylor; Low Fell Ukes; Dead Skunk Skiffle and Love over Gold - and a wood-fired pizza oven to expand its growing street food attractions. As well as the addition of hand-made pizzas, options will include meat and vegetable paella - an enduring festival favourite - as well as premium doner kebabs, hotdogs and chips. Vegetarian and gluten-free choices will include wraps and there will be sweet treats of made-to-order crepes.
Saturday will kick off another programme of music and - as well as Si King helping to serve up some teatime funk and northern soul with Groovetrain, when crowds can expect the likes of Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan and Marvin Gaye hits - it will include indie six-piece cover band The Good Souls; the Ana Munoz Duo covering the fifties onwards; party band Celtic Man; seventies revival stars The Sleeze Sisters and The Sound Cartel performing everything from Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, Elvis and The Beatles to Sam Fender.
Then Sunday - billed as party night - will wrap up the festival with C-Collective , Two Metres Apart and C-SAW plus acoustic covers band Los Capitanes and singing duo Jen & Liv who made the news when they had Tyson Fury dancing after he spotted them busking in Newcastle.
The festival always supports local good causes and this year autism charity The Toby Henderson Trust; Feeding Families, which supports locals living in food poverty, and the Gateshead-based Children's Heart Unit Fund will have stalls and collections.
There are both day tickets and weekend passes available for the festival's April 28-30 run, when doors will open at 1pm on the Friday and from noon at the weekend. These can be bought direct from the club or online here.
A current early bird sale has full weekend tickets on sale for £35 instead of £40 and Friday tickets reduced from £12 to £10. Single tickets for Saturday and Sunday cost £16 each. For details of the full music line-up see here.
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