Giant spiders will descend the walls of a parish church, there will be ballroom dancing in the street and a spaceship landing in Trinity Gardens as festival fever grips Stockton.
The17th Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF) kicked off last night with 70s music from Hot Chocolate, Gwen Dickey the voice behind Rose Royce and the Atlantic Soul Messengers.
Tonight, a host of bands will take to the stage for a free afternoon and evening of Kerrang Live.
The weekend will climax with Stockton TFM Live tomorrow when Pop Idol Will Young tops the bill.
Street theatre takes centre stage from next Thursday to Sunday, August 1. A specially commissioned performance of Nutkhut's The Maharajah's Banquet, where Bollywood meets Town Hall bureaucracy in a comedy of cultural confusion, can be seen.
No Fit State Circus, an award winning troupe, will set up camp in Trinity Gardens with their futuristic spaceship-like tent.
The Community Carnival and Parade takes to the High Street next Saturday, when thousands are expected to line the streets to watch this year's Crinolines in the Jungle themed event.
The curtain comes down on the SIRF 2004, at 10pm, on Sunday, August 1, with a come dancing party and a fireworks display.
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