‘It’s great to celebrate something for Lisburn’ says Joe

X FACTOR winner Joe McElderry said he was delighted to be in Lisburn as he helped celebrate the Mayor’s Carnival Parade and Concert last Saturday in Wallace Park.

Joe was joined by fellow X Factor stars Jedward as they performed at a free concert for 15,000 fans

It’s hard to believe Joe is still only 19-years-old, but he had fans singing and dancing along as they enjoyed the star-studded show and the young star proved why he triumphed in the X Factor with a superb vocal performance and energetic display in his hour-long set.

Speaking to The Star ahead of the concert, Joe said he was “excited” to be in Lisburn.

“I flew over this morning and I was dying to get here” he said. “The weather’s amazing and there’s going to be a huge crowd, so it’s going to be fantastic.

“It’s always loads more fun when it’s an outdoor crowd and it’s during the day, because everybody seems more up for it for some reason.”

Joe, who had a number one hit with his debut single ‘The Climb’ after triumphing in the hit show in 2009, said it was “crazy” that 15,000 people had queued to get wristbands when they were issued recently.

“I love Northern Ireland,” he said. “I’ve played a gig in Belfast before and we came here on the X Factor tour. They’re always an amazing crowd so it’s great to be back here and it’s great to be celebrating something for the City of Lisburn; it’s going to be fun.”

Looking ahead to the future, Joe said that he will be soon announcing more dates across Ireland.

“I’ll definitely be back throughout the summer; I love it here,” he said.

The South Shields star also revealed he has some “fun projects” lined-up, details of which are still under wraps.

“We’ve got two really exciting projects coming up that I can’t talk about too much yet, but people will find out soon. That’s going to be going on through the summer, which is going to be lots of fun, and other than that there are lots of show across the country.”

Joe also spoke of his delight after his song ‘There’s A Place For Us’ was included in the recent Disney movie The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

“I was approached by Fox and they asked if I wanted to be a part of it and I was like, ‘yeah, I’d love to’. To be asked to be part of such a massive blockbuster hit was incredible, we released my song, ‘Someone Wake Me Up’ and then also the B side to the single, which was the end credit song. It was great,

“I sang at the premiere and sang for the Queen, which was brilliant, I never thought I’d meet the Queen, so I was very excited.”

Joe was clearly thrilled to visit the city last weekend, tweeting fans before the show that Wallace Park was “massive” and writing afterwards ‘Wow!!! I’m buzzing!!!! Such an amazing show!!!!!! I love you all!!’.

Joe took to the stage for an hour long performance, where he sang songs from his debut album ‘Wide Awake’, as well as hit song ‘The Climb’ and songs from his X Factor days including ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ and a beautiful rendition of ‘Open Arms’, displaying the remarkable vocal ability for which he won X Factor, and showing that he deserves to have a long, successful career in the music industry.

Sending a message to local fans, Joe said. “Thank you so much for coming down. Thank you for queuing for the wristbands and I hope everybody enjoys it. I’m going to have lots of fun and work hard to make sure everybody has a brilliant day.”