Newcastle welcomes tens of thousands of Sam Fender fans for homecoming gigs

Newcastle city centre has turned out in full force to welcome Sam Fender fans to his biggest set of gigs so far.

The singer-songwriter from North Shields has sold-out St James' Park, which has a capacity of 50,000, on Friday 9 June and Saturday 10 June.

Billboards outside the football ground have been personalised with Fender's lyrics, Gregg's has been taken over and turned into a bar, and fans have been queuing at the stadium since Friday morning.

In 2019, Fender told ITV News Tyne Tees it was his dream to play at his club's home ground.

Billboards with the name's of Sam Fender's albums plus a mysterious QR code have appeared outside the stadium. Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

Since winning the Critics' Choice Award at the Brits in 2019, he has also scooped a prestigious Ivor Novello award, another Brit for Best British Alternative/Rock Act and seen both of his studio albums hit number 1 in the album charts.

Some fans told ITV News Tyne Tees they have travelled from Munich in Germany to be at Saturday's gig.

Anothers said: "He's a natural authentic talent, he's never tried to be something he's not so he's genuine, and he's proud of being a Geordie.

"It's absolutely fantastic to see someone do so well."

The stage set ready to host tens of thousands of fans. Credit: ITV Tyne Tees

Carl works at Newcastle indie-bar MOJO and says he is excited to be welcoming fans into the early hours.

He said: "I think it's massive, obviously Sam Fender's a Geordie lad, he's from the town and we're all really proud of him. It's a homecoming gig, two massive nights at St James' Park so I think the whole city is buzzing really."

Roads and rail networks will be extremely busy across the weekend due to the amount of people flocking to the city for not only Sam Fender's gigs, but the Blaydon Race and Pink who is playing at Sunderland's Stadium of Light on Saturday 10 June and Sunday 11 June.

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