Sam Fender has heaped praise on his old guitar teacher Phillip Martin, after the man he credits with being a huge help and inspiration to him, made a surprise appearance on stage at St James' Park on Saturday.
After blowing 50,000 fans away with their first gig at the stadium 24 hours earlier, Sam and his band were back at St James' the following night to wow another packed house, with a blistering performance, that including all the Fender anthems like Will We Talk, Seventeen Going Under and show closer Hypersonic Missiles.
And those inside the ground on Saturday evening, got the added treat of a cameo from AC/DC icon Brian Johnson, who arrived on stage to join Sam on duets of Back in Black and You Shook Me All Night Long. The SJP crowd went mad for Brian's guest appearance; but he wasn't the only Geordie legend on stage as, Phillip was also invited by Sam to perform at his dream gig, having had a huge hand in his burgeoning music career.
READ MORE: Sam Fender celebrates St James' gigs with his mam and gran after epic Newcastle weekend
Like Sam and Brian, Phillip looked like he was having a whale of a time on stage and, singling him out for special attention in an Instagram post he made about what he described as an 'insane' few days, Sam wrote: "I also brought out my first guitar teacher who showed the entirety of St James’ Park how it’s actually done. Phil Martin, I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this if it wasn’t for your tutelage and back when I had my first band (when we were bairns, 14 or 15) you let us rehearse in the Gasworks practice rooms for free," adding "We need more people like you in our community."
As well as having the serious claim to fame of being Sam Fender's former guitar teacher, Phillip is very well known in the North Tyneside area for being a member of massively popular rock outfit Sticky Fingers; the local band who've packed out many a pub and social club, as well as playing at a host of different festivals.
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