Summer Streets 2024 line-up announced, including headliners Field Music and Tom A Smith

Homegrown talent will headline this year’s Summer Streets as the festival marks a decade of music, dancing and arts.

The annual event returns to Cliffe Park in Seaburn on Saturday, July 6 and Sunday, July 7 with a strong line-up of music and culture.

To mark the popular festival’s first decade, Sunderland indie rock band Field Music will headline the first day, while rising singer songwriter Tom A. Smith will headline the Sunday.

Summer Streets will once again have three performance stages, featuring an eclectic mix of musical genres and plenty of activities and workshops for families to enjoy.

Festival organiser Ross Millard, guitarist and vocalist with The Futureheads, said: “It is Field Music’s first show for two years so we’re privileged they’ve chosen Summer Streets as their comeback show.

“We’re also thrilled that Tom A Smith will take to our main stage on our second day. He’s had such a busy and successful year – supporting Elton John at Hyde Park, performing at Glastonbury, Barn on the Farm, the British F1 Grand Prix and opening Leeds Festival.

“But we’re also delighted that for our tenth anniversary many of the performers we’ve featured over the last decade will be returning. The Saturday will include performances from Royal Northern Sinfonia and Martha, while on the Sunday we’ll be welcoming back The Lake Poets, Big Red & The Grinners, Sunderland Symphony Orchestra and Dilutey Juice.

“But as we’ve always done, we’ll also be introducing acts who’ve not featured at Summer Streets before. Each of the days will have a different feel, with Sunday having more of a chilled-out vibe than the Saturday.”

Alternative rock band Dead Wet Things, rapper Reali-T and pop band Amateur Ornithologist will all perform on the Saturday; while folk artist Frankie Archer, torch-song inspired band Lovely Assistant and emerging singer songwriters Ruby Kelly and Isabel Maria are among the Sunday’s acts.

Ross continued: “As well as a brilliant programme of music, we have some great outdoor arts. 2Faced Dance will perform Last Orders, which is about the vulnerability behind male bravado on the Saturday and Mind The Gap, a group of actors with learning disabilities, will perform Birdie, a show about climate change on the Sunday.

“Meanwhile, we’ll have music workshops from Sunderland Music Hub and performances from Sunderland Empire musical theatre students on the Saturday.”

Summer Streets Festival was one of the first events programmed by The Cultural Spring, an Arts Council England-funded programme working to improve arts engagement across Sunderland and South Tyneside.

On Sunday, July 7, The Cultural Spring - which also celebrates its tenth anniversary this year – will programme The Cultural Spring Community Tent.

This will incorporate a range of performances that have featured during The Cultural Spring’s first ten years, including the GUB Club, performances from We Make Culture and Unfolding Theatre from last year’s bitesize theatre shows and a performance from the Keel Line Singers.

The tent will also host a range of arts workshops and activities, including a theatre workshop and a textile workshop.

Both Summer Street days will feature kids crafts – while young music fans will also be able to enjoy a Little Pops Early Years Music session on the Saturday and a Tiny Tweeties Music Session on the Sunday.

There will be a range of food and drink stalls, including some favourites from around the city.

Support for this year’s Summer Street Festival has come from Arts Council England, Sunderland City Council, The Cultural Spring, Sunderland Culture, Sunderland MAC Trust, Sunderland Music Hub and Print Swift.