‘THE adrenaline was pumping’ is what a young musician from Bovey Tracey had to say about his experience performing with Sam Fender at St James’ Park.

At just nineteen-years-old, Joseph Simon was plucked from the crowd at the Newcastle venue to perform Fender’s song ‘The Borders’ alongside the man himself.

‘It was incredible, totally surreal’, said Joseph.

‘The adrenaline was pumping!’, he added.

And it was all down to a make-shift sign, fashioned from a pillow case that saw the young musician perform to 50,000 people at Saturday’s concert [June 14].

‘In the last few shows Sam has done in the UK, a fan has had a sign saying “Can I play The Borders?”’, Joseph said.

‘And this kept happening, it happened at the London gig a week before’ Joesph added.

Sam would spot a sign and invite the person to perform acoustic guitar on The Borders.

‘I love Sam Fender, I play the guitar, I know the chords, I am a massive Newcastle United fan, my dad is a Geordie, my grandparents are Geordie - I just thought “I’ll give it a go”’ Joseph said.

‘As soon as he walked out, I held it up - in between the first few songs, I held it up, and even during some of the songs’ Joseph said.

‘I have not played to that many people before, as a musician myself I think, when I go to big gigs, what a view it must be for the artist.

Guitarist for the four piece rock and roll band, the Vive, Joseph is currently working on his first EP as a solo artist, with three songs out on Spotify under his own name already.

Outside of Sam Fender, who the budding musician cited as having had a ‘massive’ influence on him, Joseph identified such bands as The Beatles, Oasis, Dire Straits, Arctic Monkeys and Wunderhorse as being key influences.