From the official website:
HOME GATHERING, curated and presented by Tyneside’s much-loved The Unthanks, returns for its 3rd edition this September, with another thrilling line-up across two stages in Newcastle’s Hoults Yard – a post industrial site brimming with atmosphere and regional heritage. The eclectic programme is topped by an exclusive performance of The Bairns by Rachel Unthank & The Winterset, marking the 10th anniversary of the Mercury nominated album. Pianist Stef Conner appears to reform the Winterset, for one performance only.
Other festival highlights include a rare solo performance by the peerless Joan As Policewoman, the beguiling folktronica of Beth Orton and 6 Music favourites, Dutch Uncles. If The Unthanks are known for their political and socially conscious output, it should be no surprise to find on the bill the poetic subversive funk of The Blockheads(celebrating 40 years since the release of their classic New Boots and Panties album), the cutting social commentary of folk singer Chris Wood and original rude boy Neville Staple who along with new material brings to Home Gathering the number one hits of The Specials, still as culturally relevant today as they were to turbulent late ’70’s Britain.
Comic royalty comes in the form of Alan Partridge and Royal Family writer, Henry Normal, and Graham Fellows, the genius behind John Shuttleworth and Jilted John, who surfaces from the shadows of his beloved characters for a rare performance as himself.