FORMER Seahorses lead singer Chris Helme will be at the helm of a festival of live music on Monday that looks set to turn York Theatre Royal into the hottest place on the city's music scene - for one day, at least.

The Num Num Club event will bring back memories of the day in 1995 when York's Bonding Warehouse hosted the first Num Num Club - a 12-hour musical marathon with bands and DJs playing all day simultaneously across three rooms.

This time all three of the spaces at the Theatre Royal - the auditorium, the studio and the foyer - will be pressed into action.

Chris, right, will lead his latest band The Yards on stage at the end of the event. His new band is a seven-piece which features Chris on vocals, Shed 7's Paul Banks on guitar, Stuart Fletcher of the Seahorses and Happy Mondays on bass, James Lindsay on cello, Matt McGaughey on viola, John Hargreaves on keyboards and backing vocals and John Miller on drums.

But there will be plenty more besides, including two fine home-grown bands, The Shanx and Colours Of Fire, in the auditorium and Music Live favourites Hazzard County plus a rare gig by the irresistible Hectic and the talents of DJs Beaumont Hannant, Mossey and Dan James in the foyer.

The Studio, meanwhile, will be used as a 'gaming room'. "It will be filled with the latest video game consoles with a host of new games to try," says event organiser Chris Johnson. "One of the games will be projected onto the wall so two players can battle it out on a giant screen. The DJs will be performing in this space as well."

The audience will be free to wander around all three theatre spaces at will, Chris says. "It will be a chance to see the city's most exciting acts in its finest venue on the same night. And to have a great time," he adds.

Bands in the main auditorium will be playing in the middle of the theatre's stunning set for its production of Piaf. "It's the best place I've ever played," Chris Helme says.

He describes The Yards sound as 'chilled out'. "We all got fed up trying to write music for record company people, who basically want a certain kind of music for a certain time of month," he says. "We just binned all that and started writing music we wanted. It makes for a lot more fun and it's a lot better."

The Num Num Club is being revived because Chris believes there's "not much going on" in the York music scene. "Everybody is complaining so we thought we would do something about it."

But why the Theatre Royal? Chris Johnson takes up the story. He is no stranger to organising music festivals having, as part of the first BBC Music Live festival in York in 2000, organised a concert at the Theatre Royal for Chris Helme, Mostly Autumn and Lo Beams.

"This was a great success and the theatre was keen to try other events to again use the available spaces creatively and encourage younger audiences into the building," he says.

"The next event we organised was called The Green Room and took place in the theatre's foyer. The space was dressed to look dramatically different and a performance space was set up in the window for contemporary dance musicians and DJs to entertain the crowd.

"It was a sell-out and so we started to think of what to do next. The first Num Num Club was in the Bonding Warehouse in 1995 - a 12-hour event with bands and DJs playing all day simultaneously across three rooms. We decided to take this as a template for an evening in the theatre."

Chris is excited at the prospect of using the theatre for a live gig. "Its acoustics are unbeatable, it is designed for optimum viewing from each seat, it's comfortable and it's beautiful."

Oh, and the bar will be open until 1am - so expect a party.

The Num Num Club, York Theatre Royal, Monday, 7.30pm to 1am, last admission 10.30pm. Tickets, £8.50, from the Theatre Royal box office on 01904 623568.

Updated: 12:53 Friday, June 14, 2002