If you spent your teenage years with pop-punk and post-hardcore on repeat, the Emo Festival is in Sunderland this evening. The show takes place on Friday 30 October at The Point on Holmeside, starting at 6:00pm. It's the Sunderland date on the UK-wide EmoFest tour, a tribute night built around emo, nu-metal and pop-punk from the 2000s. It's a standing event, so bring comfortable shoes.
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The night leans on the songs that filled 2000s playlists and bedroom walls. A live band performs alongside DJs who spin emo anthems by My Chemical Romance, Paramore, Green Day, Blink-182 and Linkin Park, among others. Live performers are also part of the bill, and the organisers have added confetti and balloon drops, so the atmosphere is as much a part of the evening as the music. Because it's a tribute format, the sets are built around the songs rather than the original bands, which is worth keeping in mind if you're hoping to see those artists themselves.
The Point is a multi-use events and performing arts venue in the centre of Sunderland, with a capacity of 1,000. You'll find it at Holmeside, Sunderland, SR1 3HY, and the venue can be reached on 0191 565 5755. The event is 14+, and anyone under 18 has to be accompanied by an adult. Tickets are available through the EmoFest website, which also has details about the wider tour. The festival is visiting more than 21 cities across the UK and Europe, so the Sunderland date is one of many on the route.
Emo grew out of punk, and its mix of confessional lyrics and a more emotional, sometimes aggressive sound shaped a whole scene in the 2000s. Pop-punk and post-hardcore bands of that era built large followings, and their records still come up at house parties and on road trips. A night devoted to those songs gives the crowd a chance to sing along together, and the mix of live performance and DJ sets means the programme moves between different moods over the evening. For anyone who grew up with that sound, the Sunderland date is a straightforward way to revisit it in one room with a crowd that knows the words.
Published Date
30 October 2026
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