CHART-TOPPING girl band Sugababes will be among the groups performing at this year's Feel the Noise Live event at Stockton International Riverside Festival.

The free concert, which is sponsored by NatWest Access 2 Music, will attract some of the UK's largest pop acts and will be the finale to the 15th Stockton International Riverside Festival's Music Weekend. More than 25,000 people are expected to turn up for the concert.

Liberty X and 3SL are joining Sugababes on stage, on Sunday, July 28, at the Riverside.

More bands will be announced before the event.

Tickets for this five-hour concert will be available from 9am next Thursday, on a first-come first-served basis, from 96.6 TFM reception and the HMV stores in the Cornmill Centre, Darlington, and the Cleveland Centre, Middlesbrough.

Managing director of TFM, Cath Ellington, said: "Feel the Noise Live with NatWest Access 2 Music is going to be a fantastic pop concert and is a great opportunity to bring the very best musicians and performers to Stockton.

"This year, for health and safety reasons, everyone wanting to come along will need to pick up a ticket from the station or our two local HMV stores."

Kevin McAuley, festival coordinator at Stockton Borough Council, said: "It's shaping up to be the best day for music of 2002."