MARRAPALOOZA is a multi venue festival in the Ouseburn Valley of Newcastle. It programmes performances across a plethora of venues in a short walking distance from one another, capacity between 100 - 350.

We have a longstanding involvement with the UK’s grassroots music scene and our booking policy includes stages that emphasise folk/experimental/singer songwriting/punk/metal. We also partner with Autism Able to ensure we’re inclusive of disabled artists.

Started in 2023 by two DIY promoters in Newcastle , Marrapalooza is an independent festival showcasing the UK’s best grassroots music, held across a plethora of 100 - 350 capacity venues in the beautiful Ouseburn Valley of Newcastle and at Northumbria University. In four years, the festival has grown to encompass six venues and brought onboard a wide range of other North East grassroots music initiatives: Tyne and Queer, Sista Shack, Autism Able and developed a longstanding system of sliding-scale ticketing to make the most inclusive event possible for Newcastle. Marrapalooza likes to pretend its a Hollywood affair.

Each year is given a slogan, Marrapalooza 4: Wild and Fierce and Not Bothered takes its cue from a scene in the Ken Loach film ‘Kes’ where protagonist Billy Casper is recounting his fascination with the bird of prey he befriended in his last year of school.

For the past three years the festival has brought a wide range of hotly tipped artists to the North East that span a huge range of genres ( MOBO nominated Nu Metallers, Native James, Alt-country Brown Horse, Transgressive Records’ University, Black Country rock duo Gans) It hosted indie legends like Gruff Rhys and given a mainstage platform to the North East scene’s largest local bands like Martha, Benefits, Pit Pony, The Safest Place but has always stayed loyal to the British grassroots music scene, building its line-up from a 20 year network of DIY promoters from around the Uk and Europe.

Marrapalooza also stays true to the working class musical traditions of the North East by hosting community Brass Bands each year.

Marrapalooza 4: Wild and Fierce and Not Bothered will continue to build on the cult festival’s mission to be the most ambitious, varied and affordable event in the North.

“a near-perfect weekend. That might sound a bit corny, but it’s true.” Narc Magazine
“A truly special event” NE Volume
”Marrapalooza and events like these are incredibly important, with a packed bill of DIY bands powering a DIY festival, which is run for a love of music, rather than a love of profit.” Humbug North East

Our offer to artists:
- You’ll play a stage curated to bring fans of your musical style and and a wider, established general audience
- You’ll play a music festival with 4 years worth of experience curated by a team of promoters who have worked at this level in the North East for decades
- You’ll play an event with £thousands in promoting, ads, flyering, video content - it will be the most advertising a small or mid level artist can receive in Newcastle
- You’ll be given a stage manager who will look after you all day
- You will play the only event of this scale at this level in the North East.

What we ask as a minimum in return:
- Help us promote the festival on social media and around: we will invite you to collaborate on posts and send you ‘We’re playing’ graphics and videos at intervals no more frequent than monthly. We will make this very easy, we don’t want to hassle you and your agent, but we expect that to be a minimum engagement.

- If your tech rider has complex expectations that we might not realise, negotiate this with us in advance so that we don’t scramble later.

- Understand that our festival takes place in a riverside area of a major city, so some expectations regarding dressing rooms etc. might not be met do to restrictions with space.