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This is Tomorrow Huge Quayside Music Festival To Launch in Newcastle Spring 2018

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Catfish And The Bottlemen have been revealed as the headliner of a new music festival, This is Tomorrow, set to launch on the banks of the River Tyne in May 2018

Taking place next to Spillers on Newcastle’s Quayside. Brit Award Winners Catfish And The Bottlemen will play on Friday 25 May, 2018 together with North East indie stalwarts Little Comets, the Newcastle born singer-songwriter sensation and BBC Sound of 2018 artist, Sam Fender as well as innovative alt-pop band Everything Everything.

This Is Tomorrow was Born out of the cutting edge legacy of ‘Father of Pop Art’ Richard Hamilton and his vision of pushing the boundaries of what is expected, this brand new music festival is planting it’s roots in Newcastle with an ethos of experimentation, daring and down right defiance of the norm.

To honour the great, late, artist Richard Hamilton, who lectured in fine art at Newcastle University and moulded the mind of great Geordie music hero Brian Ferry, the Festival finds it’s name from the 1956 Art Exhibition ‘This Is Tomorrow’ at Whitechapel Gallery. The exhibition featured Richard’s seminal work ‘Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?’ and is revered as one of most influential gatherings of pop-art minds of the era.

Festival promoter, SSD Concerts Steve Davis explains: “Following on from our sell-out Live From Times Square events, which will also make a welcome return in 2018, we wanted to offer something completely different for the people of the North East. This festival is the future and will firmly put Newcastle on the map once again as a leading city for outstanding live music on a large scale. This will be an unmissable event for music fans and will be a welcome boost to an already burgeoning festival scene here in the region.

“This will be the first time there’s been a live music event taking place on the old Evolution site and we can’t wait to build on its legacy.

“We have strived to make this festival happen for some time now and Newcastle City Council have been absolutely incredible to us over the last few weeks. We’re delighted to have got it over the line and this will be the festival to go to in the city this spring. Stay tuned for yet more amazing acts to be announced.”

Catfish And The Bottlemen’s appearance will follow the clamour for tickets that led to sellout shows earlier this year at Finsbury Park, London and Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield on the back of their latest critically acclaimed album, The Ride.

Contributing a sense of unapologetic ambition to British guitar music and preparing fans for a raft of new material to follow their 2016 gold-selling album, venerated frontman and songwriter, Van McCann, along with Newcastle’s own Johnny Bond (lead guitar), Benji Blakeway (bass) and Bob Hall (drums). 

Admitting to being happily of ‘no fixed abode’ due to near-constant touring and recording since 2014 when their now platinum-certified debut album The Balcony surfaced, Catfish And The Bottlemen’s eagerly anticipated UK live announcement comes following an uncharacteristic nine-month hiatus since their last shows. The last 18 months has seen the band claim their place as a bonafide arena band at home, adding dates at Wembley Arena to their impressive list of conquered stages, and also fully establish themselves as live favourites in South & North America, Japan and Australia.

Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities, Cllr Kim McGuinness, said: “It’s great news that a massive music festival is set to return to Spillers Quayside next year.

“Newcastle has a growing reputation for staging big events and they don’t get much bigger than Brit Award Winners Catfish And The Bottlemen.

tickets are now on sale

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