Events

The Waterfront Festival proved that when we go for it, we do it in spectacular style. Where else could you find arts, music (local and world), theatre and entertainers all together? It certainly was a weekend for all the family.

Lots of entertainment on the seafront

And I'm not afraid to admit that the thing that interested me most was the promise of a giant inflatable whale – though I'm not sure what that says about my mental age.

The sun was shining – no mud in sight – who needs Glastonbury when we have this event right on our doorstep? But it seems something was lacking. Even with glorious weather, the festival attendance was paltry at best. Considering most people I'd mentioned it to didn't have a clue it was happening, suggests that the advertising of the event could have been markedly better.

Music and colour

The whole of the seafront was filled with entertainments for all, from Cliffe Park, Seaburn right along to Roker Park and Roker Beach. The coloured inflatables and flamingo exhibits were amazing. I've never seen the seafront awash with so many colours!

London African Gospel Choir on stage

As there was so much to see, I picked out a few of the timed events and interspersed them with some of the random happenings.

A wander through the park saw the first band of the day on Roker bandstand – The Good. A duo from Australia, they played summer-sounding acoustic rock – a perfect backdrop to the sunshine. Shame the crowd reached a mere 10 or so.

There was no time to stop, so we moved on to see the art exhibit in Spottee's cave. I remember tales of this from being a kid – supposedly haunted by the old hermit who lived here. 

Cave art

Artist Helena Swatton used the cave to house an audio-visual cave installation entitled 'ROAR' (referencing the infamous 'Roker Roar' as well as the acronym 'R.O.A.R.' (Right Of Admission Reserved)). The piece was inspired by the history and location of the installation, and the result is thought provoking and inspiring. The video on show was Blair Witch Project meets industrial noise. The images were disturbing and the soundtrack was creepy, to say the least. The 'cave art' questioned the idea of isolation in society.

The giant inflatable whale

Captain's tales

And there it was. The Whale. A giant inflatable whale resting under the park bridge as if it had just been washed up from sea. After being accosted by a scruffy looking wench, we were dragged into the whale "to make up the numbers, as the Cap'n won't show just a few round his treasure."

It was looking dodgier by the minute – especially as we had to crawl into the side of the whale on hands and knees  Inside we played the ribs of long John Silver, read the messages in bottles and came face to face with an octopus. Honest! Educational and fun too!

After being forcibly ejected from whale by the Cap'n, we wandered round the rest of the seafront. There was pavement art, musical instruments and Victorian games. 

We then headed along to the Cliffe Park where there was the promise of the Big M - a cinema, workshops with the Sage Gateshead and a marquee filled with arts and crafts for refugee week. There was also a row of rainbow coloured tubes and brightly decorated flags developed by artist Helen Law in conjunction with local schools.

Ring a Ring a Roses

Film and dance

The Big M was showcasing a range of film shorts, developed and produced by students and lecturers from the University of Sunderland. The structure of the cinema itself was interesting too – almost like a huge black inflatable mattress!

We then saw a presentation of Ring a Ring a Roses from the Washington Youth theatre. It brought to life the real meaning behind this macabre nursery rhyme, with black rats symbolising the Black Death, chasing round the children in the pristine white outfits.

There was also a music stage, which featured a number of local bands on the Saturday and showcased world music on the Sunday.

Blues guitarist George Shovlin

We managed to catch The Caffreys – acoustic rock, George Shovlin – blues guitarist, and a bit of The Force – heavy rock.

One of the highlights was the comic compere who tried to get the crowd going with "if you move forward we'll get the moshpit going – maybe you fancy a bit of stage diving?" Maybe if we had all clustered really close it would have worked.

The Sunday was a little busier and we managed to see the London African Gospel Choir who were surprisingly energetic and actually got the crowd dancing and clapping along. 

All in all, it was a varied and extremely entertaining weekend. I think there'll be a few people kicking themselves for missing it. Hopefully next time round it gets better advertised.