Newcastle Pride : More Reasons To Be Proud As Leading Festival Expands

Newcastle Pride, one of the largest free festivals of its kind in the country, is returning with its longest ever programme of live entertainment for summer 2016.

Among the many highlights will be three days of live music at Newcastle Town Moor, starting Friday July 15, including a headline performance by singing superstar, Heather Small.

Heather, who is best known as frontwoman for 90s favourites M People, has lent her vocal talents to a string of hits, including Moving On Up, One Night In Heaven and Search For The Hero.

Her signature solo tune, Proud, which was used as the theme song for a host of key events, including London’s successful 2012 Olympic BID, is in-keeping with Newcastle Pride 2016’s theme, be yourself, change the world, #be proud.

Heather, who also appeared on BBC show Strictly Come Dancing, will be joined during the festival’s main music weekend by a host of top talent, including fellow reality TV star Jake Quickenden and actress and singer Heather Peace, who wowed the crowd in 2015.

Also set to appear are 80s chart success and club favourite Hazell Dean, former Brother Beyond star, Nathan Moore, boyband The Ambition and South Shields singing sensation, Cortney Dixon, with more big names still to be announced.

Mark Nichols, Chair of Northern Pride which organises the popular event, said: “The line-up for Newcastle Pride 2016 looks set to be one of our strongest ever and these are only half of the acts that are taking part.

“We’re absolutely thrilled that Heather has agreed to be one of our headliners, especially as her anthem Proud fits in so well with this year’s theme and we’re sure that people will be just as pleased with our second headliner, which we hope to announce in the next few weeks.”

Newcastle Pride, which is now in its 9^th year, attracted a record 71,000 visitors in 2015, with an additional 480,000 listening live around the world on Pride Radio.

This year, to cope with increased demand, Northern Pride are extending the festival to include more satellite events at venues around Newcastle.

The full schedule for these functions will be announced in the coming months, but they are expected to span from the start of June until the end of July.

“Newcastle Pride 2015 was more popular than anyone expected,” said Mark, “contributing more than £9m to the North East economy.

“This year we’re working hard to make it bigger and better than ever before and have extended our line up to cover two full months in an effort to give more visitors the chance to enjoy themselves and get involved.”

Newcastle Pride’s Main Stage weekend is free to attend, however a number of Gold Circle and VIP tickets are available for those who want to guarantee prime viewing spots.  These are priced from £12 per person and are on sale now at www.northern-pride.com/shop/tickets.   Some of the satellite events may also incur a charge and these will be detailed where appropriate.

For information about the event, including a full line up, visit www.northern-pride.com or by searching northernprideuk on Facebook and Twitter.