NEWCASTLE'S largest and most ambitious inner-city festival of emerging music kicks off in earnest tonight with thousands of revellers expected to descend on Tyneside.

Hit the North, taking place on Friday across 15 venues and featuring over 80 bands, will be preceded by the eagerly anticipated launch party Meet The North tonight, where some of the hottest local acts of the moment will start the party in style.

At a time when North-East British music is firmly in the spotlight, Hit the North is expected to be a welcome start to the summer's festival programme and represents a major coup for the city.

It has been compared to other celebrated city centre events such as Brighton's Great Escape and Liverpool's Sound City and, after months of meticulous preparation, it's finally here.

The Meet the North launch event tonight will see some heavyweight headlining spots take place across some of Newcastle's finest independent venues with the likes of Tyneside's much loved sprightly indie popsters Little Comets and Yorkshire's explosive five-piece outfit Avalanche Party all taking centre stage.

Meet The North will then be followed by the main event, Hit the North, tomorrow night and will feature some of the UK's most pulsating emerging bands including Radio 1 favourites Slaves, the enigmatic rapper Lethal Bizzle and rockers VANT.

Speaking ahead of this weekend' showdown, Steve Davis, of SSD Concerts, said: “The moment has finally arrived and, with the event on course for a sell-out, everything's in place for a memorable party of great music right here in Newcastle City Centre.

“We're extremely proud to have been able to pull off a festival of this calibre and its the perfect way to launch the festival season right here in the North-East."

More information can be found via Twitter at @hitthenorthfest.