Sam Fender: Singer thanks Sheffield hero who saved his life after tent caught fire at Leeds Festival

The chart-topping singer-songwriter is due to headline the Reading and Leeds festivals next summer but he revealed he might not have lived to get the chance had it not been for his saviour from Sheffield. Posting on Facebook, he told his fans how a trip to Leeds Festival 10 years ago when he was a teenager nearly ended in tragedy when his tent caught fire.

“I first went to Leeds festival 10 years ago as a teenager, me and Deano spent the entire week launching hot dogs out of a gazebo pole at random crowds of lads chanting ‘Yorkshire Yorkshire’,” he wrote.

“One night I was out cold in my tent from necking a bottle of vodka at Eagles of Death Metal (and) my tent got set alight - some fine young hero from Sheffield pi**ed out the fire to save me. Thankfully because of that lad whose name I can’t remember, I didn’t perish in the flames. Little did he know he’d just saved Reading and Leeds’s 2023 headliner. See you down the front.”

Sam Fender’s fans loved the story but many were keen for the Sheffield hero to be tracked down and get his reward all these years later. One person wrote: “So pleased that lad from Sheffiled pi**ed on your tent, so you live to tell the tale and perform.” Another commented: “I wonder if the lad knew it was you who he saved. I think he should be found and get a year of hotdogs.”

Sam Fender was the Friday night headliner at Tramlines in Hillsborough Park, Sheffield, this year. He was due to play an intimate gig at The Foundry in Sheffield in December 2021, only for that gig to be postponed due to a spike in Covid-19 cases, and it has yet to be rearranged. He will headline Reading Festival on Friday and Leeds Festival on Saturday in 2023, with The Killers and Bilile Eilish the other headliners announced for the sister festivals.