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Getting ready for festival season in Newcastle

Newcastle is famous for being a city that knows how to have a good time, so it hardly comes as a surprise that it has one of the best festival programmes in the UK.

Every year the city and surrounding areas plays host to an incredibly diverse array of events, so if you're heading to the north-east for a stay in one of the hostels in Newcastle you will almost certainly to be able to find a festival to enjoy.

As Carol Bell, head of culture and major events at NewcastleGateshead Initiative, explains, "NewcastleGateshead has a year-round festivals and events programme" which is hugely varied and has something for everyone, whatever they're passionate about.

To help you navigate your way around them all, and possibly plan your trip to Euro Hostel Newcastle accordingly, we've knocked up a guide to the city's top festivals…

!Vamos!

Running for six weeks at the start of summer, !Vamos! is a celebration of all things Latin and Lusophone, with a huge programme of lively events held across loads of venues throughout the north-east.

Nothing is excluded from !Vamos! as long as it has a Latino vibe: concerts and dance performances, film screenings, picnics, plays, Spanish lessons, club nights and more are all incorporated into the diverse programme. Highlights include a Latin Dance Party hosted by the Los Charly's Orchestra at the Sage Gateshead and a Samba International Night at Madame Koo bar.

Many of the events are free, but some need to be booked in advance with tickets costing a maximum of £12. June 1st - July 15th, various venues.

EAT! NewcastleGateshead

EAT! has rapidly become a staple in Newcastle's festival diet, and it is hardly surprising given how amazing the annual food (and to a lesser extent, drink) festival is. This year it runs during the London 2012 Olympics and with St James' Park a football venue for the Games, the atmosphere in the city could threaten to bubble over.

It's impossible to list everything that will go on during EAT! because there is so much lined up, but with all kinds of unique food-based events on the go and a great festival fringe which ropes in local people and venues to put on their own shows, it promises to be bigger and better than ever.

Amateur chefs will open their homes to serve up their favourite dishes, there will be all kinds of masterclasses and workshops on offer, Noel Jackson will teach people all about molecular gastronomy, a giant picnic is being put together … the list goes on and on. We're licking our lips already! July 13th – 29th, various venues.

Ouseburn Festival

A community-run festival in the east end area of the Ouseburn and Byker, the annual Ouseburn Festival has been running for years and is always packed full of great events – with an emphasis on performance arts and music.

The Ouseburn Valley is populated by cool bars, pubs and venues as well as music studios and art workshops, with many of them getting involved and hosting their own events as part of the festival. The urban Ouseburn Farm is heavily involved with lots of family-friendly activities going on, while the Cumberland Reel day of live music outdoors at the Cumberland Arms [http://www.euro-hostels.co.uk/hostel-news/2744_fancy-a-jar-the-top-ten-real-ale-pubs-in-newcastle] is a great place to enjoy a drink, a barbecue and the sounds of the north-east's best bands. Even better, the vast majority of the events are free. July 20th – 22nd, various venues around the Ouseburn Valley.

Newcastle Gateshead Comedy Festival

With NewcastleGateshead hosting its Comedy Festival just a week before the Edinburgh fringe kicks off, it is a great place to see some top acts fine-tuning their shows before taking them north of the border. It has a great line-up of established comedians as well as up-and-comers, and the usual programme of improv workshops is also on the cards.

Organised by Jesterval and sponsored by Euro Hostels and the Ware Rooms, the festival is spread across the city's best venues - including its two top comedy clubs: the Hyena Cafe and The Stand. Many of the events are ticketed but a lot are free, so get on their website to reserve yours now! July 20th – 29th, various venues.

Mouth of the Tyne Festival

2012 is the eighth year of the Mouth of the Tyne Festival and each year it is getting bigger and better. Spread across venues in and around the beautiful Tynemouth area where the River Tyne meets the North Sea. The family-friendly festival sees a great programme of music, dance and performance descend on the town, with headline acts playing at the historic Tynemouth Priory.

This year, the festival is taking on more of a carnival atmosphere with a pageant and street performances taking centre stage, but the usual range of great gigs hasn't disappeared. Headlining the show are pop acts The Wanted and McFly, but if you're looking for something a little bit alternative the Jazz Stage could be more your thing with the likes of the Rae Brothers Jazz Band set to perform. The Undertones and The Beautiful South are also playing. Some events are ticketed. July 12th – July 15th, various venues.

Newcastle Mela

The term 'mela' comes from the Sanskrit word for 'gathering' or 'to meet' and is the name given to festivals of south Asian descent that are rapidly becoming a colourful cultural fixture in cities around the UK. In Newcastle the annual Mela is a wonderful celebration of the city's multiculturalism, with the local Punjabi, Pakistani, Bengali and Hindi communities organising a stunning event in the central Exhibition Park.

Everyone is welcome to enjoy the sights and smells of the festival, which is all about art, music and culture from south Asia. Hundreds of stalls take up place at the Mela selling all kinds of art, crafts, food and clothes and the main stage is taken over by the very best Bhangra musicians – and entrance is free. Top notch stuff. August 26th and 27th, Exhibition Park, Great North Road, NE3 5JP.

Other festivals worth a mention that didn't make our list, either because they've already passed or we couldn't squeeze them in, include: the Green Fest and Evolution Festival that place in early June, the pioneering AV Festival and Wunderbar, Sunderland International Airshow and Sunderland Kite Festival, and the Juice Festival for children and young people.

 

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