Preview: Deep North, Hartlepool

Deep North is a brand new festival of music, comedy, film and food taking place in five venues around Hartlepool on Sunday 28th August.

Starting at 2pm and finishing at 2am, the event, which is supported by Hartlepool Borough Council, will feature a feast of local, regional and national talent with line-ups put together by guest curators; Andy Kelly (Cosmos Presents/Off The Beaten Track) Brian Barnes (Pindrop Events/Lost in the Woods) and Neal Jollie (Hilarity Bites Comedy Club), Maxi Neil Bianco (Daft As Rags).

The festival takes place at The Owl, The Studio, Idols, DING and Hops and Cheese, which are handily all within 5 mins walking distance from each other.

Performing are Leeds’ psych-country instrumental 3-piece Bobby Lee, indie guitar ensemble, The Warrens, local legend The Lake Poets, Teesside’s dark and brooding rock ‘n’ roll quartet Swears, Darlo’s poetic shoegazers AARMS, energetic alt-rappers Ceiling Demons, Hartlepool’s very own infectious summery pop purveyors Market Place, singer-songwriter Gaz Price and lo-fi melody makers outfit Mt.Misery. They’ll be joined by the likes of Skylark Song, Fawns, Harriet Bradshaw, Little Hands, Jasmine Weatherill, Salsola, Lost State of Dan, Faye Fantarrow, The Milk Lizards, J.P. Riggall and Alex Featherstone

On the comedy stage expect LOLs from David Hadingham, Kelli Taylor and Andy Fury, alongside a load of new up and coming comic talents. Plus, there will be dark folk tales from Lincolnshire based RAMBLE GAMBLE.

For the foodies, The Owl and DING will be putting on unique menus for the day and for the film fans, Daft As Rags have curated a programme of 4 brilliant Northern Shorts that will be screened on the day. Films that will be shown include Blue Lagoon (2012) – directed and written by Maxy Neil Bianco & Michael Smith, Mortal (2022) – written by Alex Oates and directed by Andy Berriman, Dark_Net (2015) directed and written by Tom Marshall, and The Wilds (2021) – written and directed by Greig Johnson and produced by Adam Bouabda.

The festival is pay what you decide, with collection stations at all venues throughout the day.