Mawsley musician will never forget European tour supporting Take That

Alfie Castley, 20, supported the chart-topping pop group in Germany, Denmark and Hungary before returning home earlier this month.

The biggest audience the singer had previously performed in front of was 250 – but was given the chance to shine on stage in front of up to 16,000 at the arena shows.

Alfie said: "In the first the adrenaline and excitement got me through but it was second gig that I was more nervous for.

"I suddenly looked out and realised ‘wow, that’s a lot of people’.

"It was pretty insane but a huge honour and such a great opportunity.”

The former Latimer Arts College pupil, who went to school with another local music star Mae Stephens, had to have a little patience as he waited for his big break.

His track Teenage Mona Lisa became popular on social media platform TikTok and clinched the number one spot on Spotify viral charts in the Philippines and Indonesia, as well as amassing 50 million streams worldwide.

Alfie was trying to find his way in the music scene and performed at a couple of headline shows before being given the chance to support Take That – composed of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen – through connections by his manager.

Alfie’s crew of seven people, including himself and his band, was dwarfed by Take That’s crew of about 60 people but he said the band were ‘really lovely’ to him.

He performed sets of up to 30 minutes of his ‘pop music with a twist’ to crowds in Hannover, Aalborg, Copenhagen, Berlin, Monchengladbach, Munich and Budapest.

Alfie said: "You never really know how people are going to respond when you’re on stage and how they’ll react to your music.

"Every single crowd I had I loved. They were so friendly and supportive and made it such a fantastic tour.”