Happy Mondays revealed as festival's headline music act

It's happy days for Lindisfarne Festival as organisers announce alt-rock legends Happy Mondays as the Friday headliner.

One of the most famous bands to emerge from the 1980s’ Manchester scene, with a slew of hits including Step On, Kinky Afro and 24 Hour Party People, Happy Mondays will join Brighton folk-punk band the Levellers at the top of the bill.

The announcement is made alongside plans to raise funds at the three-day event for UK homelessness charity Crisis, through the Musicians Against Homelessness (MAH) initiative.

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Plans for the fourth annual festival, which crowdfunded £75,000 in six weeks last October, are going from strength to strength, with organisers confirming record ticket sales for the 2018 event so far.

Happy Mondays are avid supporters of the grassroots rock music movement MAH, which has already raised more than £100,000 for UK homelessness charities since the project launched in 2016, backed by patron Alan McGee.

Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder said: “We’re all really looking forward to headlining Lindisfarne Festival on August 31. It’s going to be a great party. I love that the festival supports Musicians Against Homelessness too – a great cause.”

The festival, which runs from August 30 to September 2, will showcase more than 150 acts over its eight stages, with live music and DJs until 4am.

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Other acts already announced include The Showhawk Duo, Ferocious Dog, Colonel Mustard & the Dijon 5, Bombskare, Detroit Social Club, Bessie & the Zinc Buckets, Hip Hop Hooray, and 13-year-old singer-songwriter Tom ‘Mouse’ Smith.

Conleth Maenpaa, founder of Lindisfarne Festival said: “We are absolutely thrilled to add Happy Mondays to what is undoubtedly our biggest and best line-up to date.

“This year, we are stepping things up in every way imaginable, and with ticket sales currently exceeding all our expectations, we know that this year is going to be the most incredible party the North East has ever seen.”

As well as a new dedicated rock & blues bar, this year the festival will also see the addition of a new acoustic busking stage, which will give up & coming musicians the opportunity to expose their talents to the festival’s anticipated 4000 attendees, whilst encouraging charitable donations for the MAH campaign.

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Festival organisers are working closely with MAH to curate a strong line-up of unsigned talent for the new stage and maximise fundraising opportunities both at the event and in the months leading up to it.

Conleth said: “We are exceptionally proud to be supporting Musicians Against Homelessness again in 2018. The organisation is a true inspiration and its dedicated volunteers are not only a huge credit to the music industry but to humanity! Last year, our festivalgoers helped raise a substantial amount for the campaign and this year we’re committed to doing everything we can to support both their fundraising efforts and their mission to create opportunities for more unsigned musicians.

“Independent, affordable and unpretentious, Lindisfarne Festival has become revered for being the perfect value-for-money party festival – offering a boutique festival experience without the expensive festival price-tag.”

Tickets with camping are currently priced at £59 to £95 (for the full three nights from Thursday to Sunday) and can be bought at https://lindisfarnefestival.com

A range of glamping options are also available.