Now, to my shame, Sam Fender is completely new to me. My daughter, Laura, persuaded me to buy tickets for this concert. Coming off the back end of a series of big shows around the country this was another, and very welcome, large open-air concert experience. The tickets sold out in minutes when they went on sale many months ago and local hero Sam quickly added a second night when tickets started to sell for up to £1000 on the black market.
St James Park proudly announced the concert thus: “Sam Fender has announced details of his first stadium headline show – and one of summer 2023’s hottest tickets – at St. James’ Park. Fender headlines at the home of Newcastle United on the 9th June 2023, following in the footsteps of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, and becomes the first Geordie musician to headline the iconic stadium. Over the past few months, Fender has solidified himself as one of the most celebrated and successful British artists of his generation, pulling a huge crowd on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury ahead of his own 45,000 sell-out show at London’s Finsbury Park. It’s been a huge 2022 so far for the North Shields hero, picking up a slew of BRIT, NME, and Ivor Novello Awards, and a first nomination for the prestigious Mercury Prize next week, for his second album, the critically acclaimed number one album, Seventeen Going Under.
Ahead of a series of shows alongside Florence & The Machine in the US, and his first Australian shows since 2019, this latest announcement suggests 2023 will be his biggest year yet. Sam Fender said: “Ever since I started this band, I always used to joke with the boys that one day we might play St. James’ Park in Newcastle.
“It’s a childhood dream come true, and we’re actually gonna play it on the 9th June. This is literally gonna be the biggest show we’ve ever done – our first stadium show, which is so weird to say! I can’t wait, it’s gonna be absolutely lush and I hope to see yas all there.””
Laura was with her partner Dale and they were sitting in a different part of the stadium to my carer Jan and me. We were in the wheelchair area towards the back of the pitch, on a raised area located within the rear stand. The ground was absolutely packed and the atmosphere was, to use an old phrase, simply electric. To say Sam Fender is a local hero, is an understatement. The guy is simply massive in the north-east. He hails from North Shields and is a big Newcastle United fan. This was obvious when we saw the crowd, everyone turned out proudly in their black-and-white shirts.
The atmosphere was like I imagine it must be on a big match day, everyone in party mood, singing and chanting along and that was before Sam took to the stage. Sam’s allegiances were clear. His programme is black-and-white and the T-shirts on sale at the merchandise stand gave a choice between one with the Newcastle Brown Ale symbol emblazoned with “Sam Fender” and another with “Greetings from St James Park, Newcastle upon Tyne” obviously modelled upon Bruce Springsteen’s album cover “Greetings from Asbury Park New Jersey”. Sam is a massive Springsteen fan.
We arrived just in time to catch the last song of support band Inhaler who are a relatively new rock band from Dublin, Ireland. From the little we saw and heard, they seemed good and the crowd certainly seemed to have enjoyed them. The music played across the sound system prior to Sam’s set gave a hint towards his influences: “Born to Run” by Springsteen, “Under Pressure” by Queen, “Fog on the Tyne” by Lindisfarne (the first band I saw at Saint James Park supporting Santana and Bob Dylan in 1984) , “Blaydon Races”: both massive singalongs and finally “Hey Jude” by the Beatles: another massive singalong.
But everyone was clearly waiting for Sam to take the stage which he did shortly after 9 PM to a rapturous reception. This was a celebration of a local lad done good and a massive singalong, everyone knowing the words of every song. Sam stood proudly out front, with a rock band and brass section behind him belting out songs which have clearly become anthems for the Newcastle fans. Sam Fender was obviously overwhelmed by the whole thing; this was a young man living his dream.
I didn’t know any of the songs, other than Springsteen classic “I’m On Fire” but that didn’t matter. You couldn’t help but get swept away by the atmosphere. Black-and-white flags waving aloft, everyone singing along and so many Newcastle United strips. This was like a cup final day. The show was pretty spectacular. Great screens and visuals. Fireworks, flames and masses of confetti falling from the sky and blowing about everywhere: I was covered in it! I was hoping he would play “Winter Song” the Lindisfarne classic which I saw him perform on a television programme about the band and its leader the sadly missed Alan Hull.
But the fact that he didn’t play that particular song did not detract from my enjoyment of a great concert. Just read that AC/DC star front man and fellow Geordie Brian Johnson took the stage with Sam on the second of the two concerts. I wish I had seen that! Still, I was elsewhere witnessing a great performance by Steve Earle, which you can read about soon.
Thanks to Jan for taking the photos. The picture of St James Park stadium is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Setlist: Going Home: theme from Local Hero; UEFA Champions League Anthem; Will We Talk?; Getting Started; Dead Boys; Mantra; I’m on Fire; The Borders; Spice; Howdon Aldi Death Queue; Get You Down; Spit of You; Alright; Play God; The Dying Light.
Encore: Wild Grey Ocean; Saturday; Seventeen Going Under; Hypersonic Missiles
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