‘Pretty insane’ - Jarrow teenager reacts to performing on the main stage at Summer Streets in Sunderland
A Jarrow teenager has taken to the main stage at a popular Sunderland music festival.
A 14-year-old has spoken of the “pretty insane” experience at taking to the main stage at Sunderland’s Summer Streets Festival.
Ben Richardson, from Jarrow, performed in front of crowds on Saturday, July 4, at the festival, which was held at Cliffe Park, in Seaburn.
The Year 9 Boldon School got the opportunity to play the festival after he played with Tom A. Smith at school.
‘Pretty insane’
Ben has described the experience of “pretty insane” given that it was a totally different experience to what he has been used to.
He said: “I played here [Boldon School] with Tom A. Smith and I’d already applied to play the Summer Streets Festival ages before that.
“It was actually Tom’s dad who got in touch with Ross Millard, who organises the festival, and I received an email a couple of weeks later confirming that I would be playing on the main stage - which was pretty insane.
“I started off having no nerves but as it got closer to the time of me playing, the nerves kicked in.
“I’m so used to playing in front of little crowds or restaurants and then suddenly it was a massive field full of hundreds of people.
“It was really good.”
Inspired by Oasis
The Summer Streets performance came days before Ben was due to travel down to London to take part in the final stage of a national music competition as one of 12 finalists.
Ahead of the competition’s final, Ben revealed to Iconic Media that he was inspired to write and perform music live after seeing Oasis in Edinburgh during their 2025 reunion tour.
He added: “I started wanting to play guitar when I was younger but I didn’t really get lessons until I was in Year 4.
“Then I stopped playing for ages but I picked it back up again within the last year.
“I started a TikTok account and I was posting videos of myself playing piano but I’ve always wanted to sing and play guitar on stage.
“Then I went to see Oasis last year - seeing them made me want to play live so I went from there.”