How a cardboard sign beat safety rules: 12-year-old drummer plays with idols

For most music lovers, rocking out with your favourite bands from the mosh pit and headbanging to the rhythm is memorable enough.

But for this self-taught drummer from NSW's Far South Coast, there's something extra special when you get the unique opportunity to feel like you're part of the band at an incredible gig.

Fresh off his viral appearance at Pambula's Wanderer Festival, Noah has delivered a high-octane encore, trading his spot in the sweaty Summernats crowd for a seat behind the kit with The Screaming Jets.

"It was quite scary, but it was very, very fun," Noah told ACM's Bega District News.

On one side of his painted cardboard sign was the question "Can I drum with you, please?" and on the other side was "Yeah, The Screaming Jets!".

After being lifted onto someone's shoulders, the 12-year-old was spotted by the iconic Australian rock band.

"When they saw the sign, they were like, 'I see you kid, but occupational health and safety rules probably won't let us'," the Mogo resident recalled.

However, the audience had other thoughts, and a wave of chants towards The Screaming Jets began to develop, persuading the band to "let him drum".

The passionate pleas from the festival crowd must have charmed the hearts of the Australian hard rock group, because within moments Noah was lifted up onto the stage and introduced to everyone by lead singer Dave Gleeson.

"I can't remember the name of the song, but I didn't know it. I just followed along with the guitarists and the awesome bassist. I was really quite lucky," Noah said.

The song was Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World, although the song has been performed several times by other artists, with notable iconic live performances by Pearl Jam, and acclaimed covers by artists like The Alarm, Suzi Quatro, Larkin Poe, and Krokus.

Lettie, Noah's mother, said she tried to film the performance but "everyone was just pushing so much".

"At one stage a guy just grabbed my phone, turned it around and screamed into it," Lettie said.

"Noah politely says it was 'high energy', but it was truly crazy.

"The heat was above 30 degrees and it was just fuelling everything and there was a lot of dust from the Summernats cars doing drifts.

"But, to the festival organisers' credit, they were handing out frozen Zooper Dooper ice blocks to the entire crowd, just bags and bags of them, to keep people nice and cool."