A Blackburn musician said he experienced “one of the best days of his life” at the weekend after performing to thousands of people.
Jacob Reddy, 18, performed to more than 5,000 people on Friday, September 15, as part of off-pitch entertainment at the Betfred Super League match between Challenge Cup holders Leigh Leopards and now-relegated Wakefield Trinity, at Leigh Sports Village.
Jacob and his band, which includes Theo Brockbank on bass, Liam Riley on drums and Liam Farrell on lead guitar, played before the match and at half time and the Blackburn teen says it was the biggest crowd he has ever performed for.
He said: “Playing at Leigh Leopards with my band was hands down one of the best days of my life!
“I was absolutely terrified before performing in front of more than 5,000 people, so it was definitely the biggest crowd I've ever played in front of by some distance, but it turned out to be very good fun.”
Jacob and his band played a mixture of covers and originals 50 minutes before the match, including the club anthem Hi Ho Silver Lining.
They also performed two songs at half time, including Jacob’s original song Happy, which he says “got the crowds singing along”.
He even got a picture next to the famous Challenge Cup trophy, which Leigh Leopards won this year for the first time since 1971 and just the third time in their 145 year history.
The Leopards clinched the famous old trophy at Wembley 17-16, with Lachlan Lam kicking the match winning drop goal in golden point extra-time.
Jacob’s sister Lydia also got to perform a a song with her brother. They performed a cover of The White Stripes song Seven Nation Army.
Jacob said: “I want to give a massive thank you to everyone at Leigh for being so welcoming, to the crowd for being so supportive and especially to Derek Beaumont (owner of Leigh Leopards) for inviting us to play on the AB Sundecks stage - it truly was a dream kind of gig!”
Derek said: "It was great to have Jacob return and play with his band. I love people in life that back themselves and he is certainly someone who is doing that in what is a very competitive and difficult environment to get traction.
"Having played ahead of our women’s home fixture game to prove what he could offer on the AB Sundecks stage in the Leopards den we were delighted to immediately invite him with his full band to return and he didn’t disappoint setting off a fantastic night playing in front of more than 5000 people who enjoyed his own style of music as well as his covers. We look forward to welcoming Jacob back next season as we continue our event theme around our super league games”
Jacob and his band has had a busy month, playing a headline show at Sunbird Records in Darwen at the start of September.
The group were part of the Confessional Festival line-up in Blackburn at The Exchange last weekend.
Jacob recently filmed a video for a new single which is set to be released in November. More details about this will be release closer to the time.
He also performed at Glastonbury Festival, which took place in July.
Jacob follows Scouting for Girls, T'Pau, and 90s band Dodgy as playing at Leigh Leopards games this season, the club's first back in Super League since 2021.
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