Chase and Status join star studded line up for Great North Run Million Opening Ceremony

Local Hero Mark Knopfler will be joined by multi-platinum selling electronic music duo Chase and Status and Mercury Music Prize nominees The Unthanks at the North East’s most spectacular event of the year. The Great North Run Million Opening Ceremony on the Thursday 4^th of September will also feature narration from local actress Jill Halfpenny and will celebrate a momentous world first, the Bupa Great North Run becoming the first running event in the world to reach a landmark one millionth finish. Set to close the show, festival favourites, Chase and Status arelooking forward bringing their award winning, quintessentially British live show to the banks of the Tyne.  With headline spots at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds last summer, and huge headline slots at Global Gathering and London’s Lovebox this Summer, they have toured the world’s biggest and best festivals. They have produced for and collaborated with some of the music industry’s biggest names, including Rihanna and Snoop Dog. The duo released their third, chart storming, studio album in autumn 2013, followed by a sold out UK headline arena tour ending at London’s O2 Arena. They said, “It’s exciting to be part of such an ambitious project, celebrating such a big achievement. It's great to be asked to perform at an event being produced by some very creative people; it's going to be a great show.” Also contributing to the evening’s musical line up are Northumberland based folk group The Unthanks. The Mercury Music Prize nominees, who featured on Sting’s album “The Last Ship”, will be performing a new piece, specially commissioned for the event. Definable only by their restless, peerless eccentricity, The Unthanks are storytellers outside of time, forging links between folk worlds old, new and other - The Unthanks occupy a unique place in music Jill Halfpenny, who won a Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in “Legally Blond”, will be narrating acclaimed North East author David Almond’s new script that will celebrate this world-first.  Gateshead-born Jill, well-known for her previous roles in “Eastenders” and “Coronation Street”, has just completed filming Danny Boyle’s Channel 4 series “Babylon” and Kay Mellor’s next BBC drama “In The Club”, and is looking forward to her new role: Jill said, “The Bupa Great North Run is at the forefront of events that have positioned the North East as one of the most globally recognisable locations, along with the Tyne Bridge, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and the Angel of the North. I am so excited to be a part of this special celebration that will be a world first – the millionth finish – and it’s going to happen on my home territory of which I’m so very proud. ‘ An exceptional creative team, led by Artistic Director Bradley Hemmings (co-Artistic Director of the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony) and other members of the London 2012 Opening Ceremonies team, will bring the event to life along with thousands of volunteer performers forming a giant choreographed circuit around the Quayside.