Marrapalooza 2 | Gruff Rhys At The Grove

The May, music venues across Newcastle will host the return of Marrapalooza an annual festival of grassroots alternative music for Marrapalooza 2: The North Rises Again.

Marrapalooza was founded by a collection of grassroots gig organisers in the North East. After a sell-out first year, the festival returns to a plethora of venues in Ouseburn Valley on the 17th and 18th of May, with a mix of local artists, touring bands and well known cult favourites.

On Friday 17th May the festival opens its doors at The Grove with a one-off gig from legendary Welsh indie musician Gruff Rhys - the former frontman of Super Furry Animals, who’s most recent album Sadness Sets Me Free has received rave reviews that posit the record as the best of his career:

"[Gruff Rhys is]firmly established as one of the UK’s finest songwriters" Music Ohm 9/10

"It’s hard to recall a set of songs on which Rhys’s low-key radicalism and unquenchable sense of wonder have coexisted with such ease" Uncut 8/10

One of the great pop eccentrics of his generation, Gruff Rhys emerged in the mid-'90s as the frontman for the Welsh neo-psychedelic quintet Super Furry Animals. Before setting out his stable as a songwriter and frontman in his own solo projects that have consistently seen Gruff heralded as one of the UK's biggest musical talents.

On 18th May, a range of venues within a short walking distance of one another in Ouseburn Valley will play host to a range of emerging touring bands and some of the North East’s most prolific artists. Including:

Teeside's incredible Benefits (“A brutal but heartfelt wakeup call” NME *****)

A rare Newcastle set from Sunderland Til I Die soundtracking Sunderland songwriter The Lake Poets (“Beautiful Songwriting” Clash)

A trip from London for probably the best band in British indiepop, Don Giovani records’ Ex Void

BC Camplight member and Paul Hamlyn Award composer Dilettante

The festival also continues a commitment to provide space for young performers and for North East musical traditions, this year welcoming the Redhills Youth Brass Band.

The festival has previously brought bands from Oxford, Cambridge, Liverpool, Leeds, Wakefield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff, London, Brighton, Peterborough and more and this year’s festival will continue our efforts to bring bands from around the UK’s thriving grassroots scene to the North East.

Thanks!

David, Hannah, Beck