Sam Fender has announced he will play a gig at Newcastle United’s St James’ Park in June next year.
The Magpies fan from North Shields said it would fulfil a “childhood dream” having “always joked” about playing at the stadium.
The 28-year-old had teased fans about a “big announcement”, with many speculating it would be a concert in Newcastle.
The gig will be on 9 June with tickets on sale from 9 September.
Newcastle United said the gig would be one of “summer 2023’s hottest tickets” and the multi-award winning singer-songwriter was the “first Geordie musician to headline the iconic stadium”.
Fender said: “Ever since I started this band, I always used to joke with the boys that one day we might play St James’ Park in Newcastle.
“It’s a childhood dream come true, and we’re actually gonna play it.
“This is literally [going to] be the biggest show we’ve ever done – our first stadium show, which is so weird to say.
“I can’t wait, it’s gonna be absolutely lush and I hope to see yas all there.”
He will be supported by Inhaler, fronted by the son of U2’s Bono, and Holly Humberstone.
Previous acts to have played St James’ Park include Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones.
Almost 50,000 people attended Ed Sheeran’s gig there in 2018.
Fender has won two Brit awards, the critics’ choice rising star in 2019 and best rock/alternative singer in 2022, both of which have been turned into beer hand pulls at the Low Lights Tavern in North Shields, where he worked and was discovered at the age of 18.
Both his albums, 2019’s Hypersonic Missiles and 2021’s Seventeen Going Under topped the UK charts, and he had supported the likes of The Killers and The Rolling Stones before headlining a sell-out 45,000 crowd in London’s Finsbury Park in June this year.
He has also raised tens of thousands of pounds for North East Homeless, a charity he is patron of. (BBC)