More acts than ever are playing at Teessidefs massive Middlesbrough Music Live event next month. VIV HARDWICK reports.

THE free on-day music festival, Middlesbrough Music Live, Sunday, June 3, will feature bands and artists such as The Twang, Tony Christie and The Dub Pistols. All are confirmed for the 96.6TFM main stage in Middlesbrough city centre as event co-ordinators, Ten Feet Tall, announced a new double performance area for Teessidefs best 19 up-and-coming bands.

The Tees Music Alliance double stage replaces the Studio 64 Stage at this yearfs event as nine-and-a-half hours of non-stop music is promised at the Corporation Road site.

gWefre really excited this year to be putting forward not one stage, but two.

Itfs a measure of how much our organisation has expanded over the 12 months but more importantly, itfs testament to the amount of quality bands around on Teesside at the moment.h says alliance boss Paul Burns. Leading the way will be The Oxfam Glamour Models, a band whofve made quite an impression since making their live debut back at Middlesbrough Music Live in 2004.

Among the other acts, fresh from a successful tour of Europe, will be hard working Billingham indie outfit The Lurios and explosive young metal-core kids A Thousand Battles Lost, who earned rave reviews for their incendiary performance at Music Live 2006.

gWe were looking to create a few more slots for local acts this year and wefre dead pleased to have this two stage idea that wefve cooked up with TMA. Last year a lot of the local bands were cooped up indoors so itfs great to have them outdoors this time around, letfs hope they donft scare off the kids,h jokes Graham Ramsay from Ten Feet Tall. The other stage offers Hartlepool and Music Live stalwarts, The White Negroes; Teessidefs hard-edged, testosterone fuelled, indie rockers Dirty Weekend and Teletextfs tip for 2007 Jamie Sample.

gWefre really happy to be able to provide such a wonderful platform for local bands this year. Having two stages showcasing the best in Teesside talent recognises how much the local music scene is thriving at the momenth says Judith Croft from Middlesbrough Council, who fund and organise the event. For more information, band biographies and myspace links visit www.middlesbroughmusiclive.co.uk This yearfs Middlesbrough Music Live takes place within a new enclosed site to ensure a safe and happy event for all concerned. Audience members will not be able to bring their own alcohol on to the site, there will however still be a fantastic selection of on site bars and catering available.

This year sees over 100 performers appear across eight stages throughout the town, with the focal point being the 96.6TFM Main Stage which has a fantastic new home right in front of MIMA in the impressive new Centre Square.

Headliner Tony Christie will be bringing Amarillo to Teesside for a teatime slot on the main stage. Although hefs best known for that Peter Kay endorsed charity single, it was his vocals on the Jarvis Cocker penned top ten hit Walk Like A Panther, by All Seeing Eye back in 1999, that brought him to the attention of a new generation. With more Christie/Cocker collaborations on the cards for later this year and with his international tour diary full until the end of the year, Christie is still as active as ever. gWe just fancied something a bit different.

Hefll have a ten-piece big band with him and hefs a total showman so it should be a great spectacleh says Graham Ramsay from Ten Feet Tall.

Among the other acts also appearing in Centre Square will be The Dub Pistols featuring Terry Hall (The Specials), who already have bookings at the V Festival, Creamfields and Glastonbury. The festival has previously showcased stars of the future such as the Kaiser Chiefs, The Fratellis, Kasabian, Keane, Razorlight, The Ordinary Boys and Paolo Nutini.

This year, The Twang lead the latest crop of hot new bands to Middlesbrough. Joining them will be a variety of promising acts including London indie-pop kids Good Shoes, mathematical party-punks Foals and new Sony BMG signing Newton Faulkner.

Dubbed as New Zealandfs answer to Green Day, Steriogram are the band responsible for unleashing the undeniably danceable pop-punk single Walkie Talkie Man, heard blasting from iPod adverts all over the globe. They grace the Evening Gazette Sound Stage, Middlesbrough Town Hall and Crypt Stage with Yourcodenameis:Milo, who are fresh from touring and still riding high from the release of their seminal new album They Came From The Sun.

Priestess Priestess play genuine, noholds- barred, old-skool, rock enf roll with tracks reminiscent of all the greatest classic rock heavyweights.