Split Festival 2011

The third annual Split Festival takes place on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September 2011 at Ashbrooke Sports Club, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. The event will be a true "Festival of Music" rather than a collection of gigs.

Line-up

Curated by The Futureheads, with guitarist Ross Millard at the helm as Split's Music Programmer, the line-up is as follows:

Main stage

Saturday: The Drums, Mystery Jets, The Rifles, Little Comets, Dutch Uncles, Beth Jeans Houghton, B>E>A>K, Spector, Vinyl Jacket, The Generals, Sheilds, We Beat the System, Grandfather Birds, and James and the Wolf.

Sunday: The Charlatans, Frankie and The Heartstrings, The King Blues, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Ganglians, Hyde and Beast, Leatherface, The Dauntless Elite, Tomahawks For Targets, Retriever, and Loud Mouth.

Fringe Tent

Saturday: Beth Orton, Michelle Stodart (The Magic Numbers), Withered Hand, Paul Mullen, The Lake Poets, Chased by Wolves, The Union Choir, This Little Bird, The Din, The Cush and Ajimal.

Sunday: Kurran And The Wolfnotes, Nev Clay, Skylark Song, Michael Rolfe, The Railway Club, Matt Stalker and The Fables, and Morris Ford. Sunday evening is rounded off by Comedy with Jason Cook, Andy Fury, Nick Cranston, Lee Kyle, Marc Smethurst, Richard Gadd, and MC Tony Jameson.

As well as the gourmet tent hosted by BBC Masterchef finalist Stacey Stewart providing Split's festival food. Plus many more are to be announced over the coming weeks.

Tickets

The early bird offer has ended. Tickets are on sale priced at £40 for a weekend ticket, and £25 for a day ticket. To buy tickets, click here.

The third Split Festival is expected to be held under cover in a massive marquee at Ashbrooke Sports Club. It's main aim is to give a platform for North East musical talent and this year's main acts so far booked are all from this area.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Lewis Carroll wrote 'Alice In Wonderland' in Backhouse Park, Sunderland and to celebrate Split Festival will be holding its own 'foodies' Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, hosted by BBC Master Chef finalist, Stacie Stewart. Also confirmed are Borneo Bistro who will be providing Filipino cuisine and Judge Kahn who will be serving Indian dishes within a pantomime experience. British Juniper’s Pantry will be serving up traditional treats, whilst Hendon based butchers Alf Smith will be cooking up a BBQ and local restaurant Oldfields will serve their venison bangers and mash. The food billed as gourmet, local and affordable.

Getting there

Organisers are encouraging all festival goers to use public transport to the Park Lane interchange in Sunderland and are providing courtesy bus travel for the short ride from there to the venue. A team of volunteers will be conducting entry interviews on methods of travel and will be offering spot prizes throughout the weekend for festival goers who can show public transport tickets for their trip to the event.

Play Zone

Another area that the Festival is very keen to encourage is the younger music element and this year offers all primary school children free entry on both days as long as they are accompanied by an adult. Once inside, there will be a dedicated "play zone" for all youngsters where they can be entertained by a variety of rides, games, circus performers and tasty treats to suit everyone.

More information will be here when available.