Sam Fender brought a superfan called Bryon up to perform ‘The Borders’ at Boardmasters 2024. – check it out below.
Fender wasn’t long into his Saturday night headlining slot (August 10) at the Newquay festival when he saw the fan holding up a sign that read “I CAN PLAY THE BORDERS”.
Bryon then was brought on stage, with a security guard helping him over the barrier, where he joined in for ‘The Borders’ on acoustic guitar. Check it out here.
Earlier in the festival, a crowd surge “left a small number of attendees injured”, with the festival later confirming that seven attendees were taken to hospital. As a result, a DJ set was cancelled.
Several attendees have spoken out about their injuries. One teen told Sky News that he was pushed to the floor by the surge: “When loads of people came in, I was pushed and fell on my back, with my leg twisted.
“It was hyperextended. It was incredibly painful, and I couldn’t get up. There were people on top of me, and I was on top of other people.”
One 16-year-old told BBC that the festival “should be 10 times smaller”, particularly given Boardmasters got permission to increase its capacity by thousands this year, bringing the attendance to an estimated 58,000 people. He said the large crowd around him “fell like dominos”.
Before the festival, Fender played an intimate warm up show at Plymouth Pavilions, where he debuted two new songs, ‘People Watching’ and ‘Nostalgia’s Lie’. Fender said the two would appear on his upcoming third album.
It will be Fender’s first new music since January’s soulful ‘Iris‘, taken from the Jackdaw soundtrack, and his Noah Kahan collaboration ‘Homesick‘. He has also teased new music with The War On Drugs frontman Adam Granduciel.
Following his intimate Plymouth show, Fender has teased more dates to come, writing in response to his sold-out Boardmasters show: “Wow, that was rapid. More dates coming soon x.”