Moon-themed festival set to shine bright
A PARADE
A FOUR-DAY festival of music and entertainment inspired by the moon is set to descend on Newcastle this month.
The Tour de Moon festival will be held at venues across the city over the last weekend of May, featuring a range of interactive events, including DJ sets, musical performances and film screenings. Organisers say the event is aimed at everyone from amateur sports teams to die-hard clubbers.
The festival, commissioned by Unboxed: Creativity, will kick off with a parade called The Moon Convoy on May 27, featuring huge floats and interactive elements including a large rotating moon. Live music and DJ sets will accompany the procession when it sets off from the Civic Centre car park at 6.30pm before heading up Nelson Street.
The Newcastle locations to be featured in the festival are Walker Activity Dome, the Discovery Museum, the Star & Shadow Cinema and the Lime Street creative quarter in the heart of the Ouseburn district. Nightclub World Headquarters will also host a major party until 5am on Saturday, May 28, that will showcase rising talent in a blend of live performances and DJS.
Partygoers can expect to see live DJ sets from Alannah Lamb and Becky Woodcock and live performances from Hannabiell and Midnight Blue Collective as part of Moon Music.
Theatre maker Melody Sproates, comedy performer and podcaster Lee Kyle and queer Jewish dance artist Jesse Salaman will also take part in debates called Moon Talks.
Two warehouses in Lime Street, Ouseburn, will be transformed into unusual theatrical spaces as part of the festival’s Moon Experience, with visitors able to see plays, independent films and musical performances.
Film-makers including Karnage and Issi Nanabeyin, will be showcasing commissioned films, while artists such as Riz Ahmed, Oliver Coates and Kae Tempest will perform.
Tour de Moon’s founder, Dr Nelly
Ben Hayoun, said: “Our main objective for Tour de Moon is to prompt radical imagination, support pluralistic thinking so to offer alternative futures developed by and with youths.
With this festival, we decided to redistribute our funding and to use our platform to celebrate the nightlife sector and young adults – demographics that have been hit especially hard by the impacts of Covid and funding cuts over the last few years.
“Tour de Moon travels with the night, seeking new beginnings to empower others to create, initiate and innovate with new thinking and pluralistic practices so that history does not repeat itself on and beyond Earth.”
EVENT WILL INCLUDE FILM SCREENINGS, DJ SETS AND