‘We got engaged at our favourite artist’s gig’

A couple who bonded over their love for Sam Fender on their first date have spoken about the “perfect” moment when they got engaged at one of his gigs.

Dan Hughes, 32, got down on one knee to propose to 24-year-old Sophie de Grey as Fender played Hypersonic Missiles, the final song of his concert in Manchester’s Wythenshawe Park on Saturday.

Sophie said the proposal, which she excitedly accepted, felt “like a blur”.

“Dan turns me around and I remember thinking ‘I do actually want to listen to this [song]’, but then I realised he was down on one knee,” she told the BBC. “Fireworks went off so it was literally just perfect timing.”

Sophie said she and her now fiancé travelled to Manchester from Cardiff for the gig after he bought the tickets for her birthday.

She said their big moment was filmed thanks to him enlisting the help of four people they met at the gig.

After spotting the video on TikTok, Fender commented with the word “Legends”.

“I remember everyone around us being so happy for us,” said Sophie. “There were strangers coming over to us, kissing me on the cheek.

“Everyone was just buzzing.”

Sophie said: “On our first ever date we discovered we were both really into Sam Fender – that was a big topic of conversation.”

Despite there being clues about what Dan was planning, Sophie said she was still stunned by what then happened.

She said: “He was really nervous because when you go through security they were checking every bag. The ring was in there so Dan had to go in [with] his bag open [showing] the ring box so security knew.

“Dan never really takes a manbag anywhere so I don’t know why I didn’t clock on to that!”