THOUSANDS of people filled the picturesque grounds of Hardwick Hall Hotel, in Sedgefield, to experience the return of the two-day, family-friendly music event.

An eclectic line-up of artists including Madness, Ocean Colour Scene, Peter Doherty, Fun Lovin’ Criminals, The Buzzcocks, Soul II Soul and Gabrielle made for a great weekend of live music.

Friday night’s headline band Madness brought their Baggy Trousers to the bill along with classic ska songs such as, House Of Fun, One Step Beyond and Our House.

Birmingham rock band Ocean Colour Scene took the Saturday night headline slot and kicked off their set with The Riverboat Song, which sounded epic.

Mellow tracks such as Profit in Peace and Better Day sounded timeless and a cover of The Beatles’ Day Tripper proved to be a real crowd pleaser.

The bands’ polished performance was a sobering contrast to the preceding one from Peter Doherty.

Notorious for showing up late Doherty proved the doubters wrong by arriving on time, yet ironically his set was delayed due to an earlier blip with the stage generator.

To appease fans, The Libertines and Babyshambles frontman sauntered around the stage during sound-check with guitarist Jack Jones and stirred quite a frenzy with younger fans at the front.

Renowned for unpredictable performances, Peter was on form with his out-of-control behaviour. Appearing dazed and disorientated he slid off speakers and knocked down the drum kit several times.

His on-stage antics were fascinating to watch, more so because of his ability to still comprehensively play the guitar and (sort of) keep it together vocally despite appearing heavily intoxicated.

He opened his set with a 2016 release, I Don’t Love Anyone (But You’re Not Just Anyone) and treated fans to a Babyshambles’ hit F**k Forever and even sang You’re My Waterloo, a track from The Libertines’ album, Anthems For Doomed Youth. In true rock ‘n’ roll style Peter threw his acoustic guitar into the crowd followed by a microphone stand after his set was cut short for running over his timeslot.

Other highlights included a super cool set from the Fun Lovin’ Criminals - frontman Huey Morgan was a joy to watch. And The Buzzcocks rocked their 1978 hit Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve).

Soul II Soul’s music sizzled in the summer sunshine and throwback songs from Gabrielle such as When A Woman and Sunshine added a feel-good vibe to the festival.

Hats off to Hardwick Live.

Review by Marie Westmoreland