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KATY WHEELER ROUNDS UP HER ENTERTAINMENT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
From the return of a rock veteran to turning back the clock to the heady days of Madchester, 2017 brought a host of top events to Wearside.
Our lifestyle editor rounds up her picks of the year. musician’s 65th birthday. He’s known as The Ringmaster in the music industry, and for this unique concert the multimillion record-selling musician rounded up a world-class bill of entertainers, including Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell, West End and Broadway performer Ryan Molloy and a band made up of top Nashville musicians. There was also some exceptional performances from local acts The Lake Poets, Social Room, Lilliput and Picnic in this tour de force of musical talent. For one night only the usually sleepy Sunniside Gardens turned into Manchester’s legendary Hacienda nightclub. The Happy Mondays headlined the second night of the best Sunniside Live yet with Bez and Co shaking their maracas to some of the band’s greatest hits, including the iconic Step On. A capacity crowd of 4,000 people packed into the area to see them top a bill which also included Liverpool’s The Farm who led the thousands in a sing-a-long of their anthem All Together Now, changing the words to “All Together Now in Sunderland” as frontman Peter Hooton praised the atmosphere at the festival. One of the most spinetingling moments came as he paid tribute to the bravery of Bradley Lowery who’d lost his battle with cancer the night before. United in grief, the crowd broke into a spontaneous ‘One Bradley Lowery’ chant. Not your average sight in a city centre car park, acclaimed performance troupe Periplum brought their striking blend of pyrotechnics, performance art and contemporary dance to Sunderland to mark the opening of the city’s £3.5million Fire Station development. Taking place in the car park to the side of the station, the piece was inspired by the tale of The Lambton Worm and the city’s heritage. About 1,000 people attended the carpark performance with thousands more watching the firework finale at the front of the new Fire Station, which is comprised of dance and drama studios, a heritage centre and a new bistro called The Engine Room. Almost a quarter of a million people flocked to Durham to see the Lumiere light festival, which takes place every two years. This year’s collec-