An emotional Sam Fender left a heartfelt thank-you message to his fellow Geordies for turning out in their thousands to watch him switch on Newcastle's Christmas lights.
Sam, from North Shields, celebrated a huge year by marking the start of the festive season in Newcastle as the star chosen to switch on the Christmas lights in Blackett Street on Thursday night, in front of 10,000 people.
The Hypersonic Missiles singer, who scored a number one album and has sold-out tickets for five upcoming hometown gigs, posted on Twitter and Instagram as he prepared to leave Newcastle to go to Germany and continue his tour.
In an emotional video, Sam said: "Just want to say, thank you so much for coming out. The turnout was just mental like, it proper felt emotional, it was just like, "eh?!"
"I just love the Toon...I f****** love ya, man".
Sam will be back on home turf in December, for four sold-out shows at Newcastle Academy. In April, he will perform in front of 11,000 at Newcastle Arena. That gig is also sold-out.
Before taking to the stage, to cheers from the huge crowd, the singer-songwriter told ChronicleLive : "It's amazing; it's an honour. I miss home so much when I'm on the road, it's just nice to be here."
Speaking about his manic year, Sam said: "Like anybody, there's a level of anxiety that comes with it but I just try my best to remember that I'm human and if I need to take a break, I have to learn to say no sometimes - I learned that the hard way."
