A Sam Fender superfan is set to travel home from South Korea to see his idol rock St James' Park on June 9.
The North Shields singer songwriter is putting on two massive shows at St James' Park on June 9 and 10 which have been sold out for months. And one fan is making a journey of more than 5,000 miles just to be there.
Andy Curry, is midway through a two-year stint working for a Norwegian company in South Korea. Originally from Flint Hill in County Durham, he swapped the North East for Chungju in the Korean countryside after 12 years as a battery manufacturer on Nissan's electric car, the Leaf.
The 39-year-old will reunite with friends Paul, Derek, Nick, Lorna and Ken; and wife Victoria, with whom he is celebrating a belated wedding reception at Hardwick Hall on June 17 after theirs was cancelled three times during the coronavirus pandemic. But it was seeing his favourite musician at the hometown of his football club Andy based his trip home around.
Andy told ChronicleLive: "I think St James' Park is the pinnacle isn't it. I love Sam Fender's music, the words are quite relatable for a lot of people from the North East with regards to their upbringing.
"It will be nice to experience that live in St James' Park because obviously I'm a Newcastle United fan and you've got Sam Fender who's a local lad and it's on June 9, the day of the Blaydon Races. You can't really plan a better day!"
Though there's an eight-hour time difference between the UK and Korea, Andy hasn't missed any of Newcastle United's run to the Champions League. He continued: "It seems that Newcastle is buzzing at the minute and I'm gutted I've missed the majority of the matches at the stadium.
"I've been watching them all at 4am when I start work at 7am and I think it's going to be a great summer with Newcastle doing really well and the Sam Fender gigs."
Andy was even hoping that his and Victoria's first dance would be a Sam Fender number at their wedding reception a week later, but his wife has chosen a Lady Gaga song instead.
Andy continued: "I have had a fantasy about indirectly telling Sam Fender to come to Hardwick Park on June 17 and do a couple of songs, that would be epic. But I think he's a busy lad so I don't think it'll happen, shy bairns get nowt though!"
The rest of Andy's time at home will be filled with seeing friends and catching up with his family. He has found being in South Korea without Victoria and two children Kian, 13, and Leia, 10, and stepson Jenson, 10, challenging at times.
He said: "It's a little bit isolated, there's very little English so it's really difficult at times. I've got translators to support me though and there's a pub called Grannies and I've had them play Sam Fender on the big screen for me and I've made some friends there."
Three of Andy's new friends from Korea will get an experience of North East England beyond the video for Seventeen Going Under as they have been invited to the wedding, which he says will be a really multinational day. Andy finished: "Korea is very different to Dipton but I can't wait to introduce some old friends from Nissan and new friends from over here - it'll be great!"
What's the furthest you would travel to see your favourite artist? Let us know!
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