“I love him. He’s like the British Bruce Springsteen,” my wife tells me as I’m getting ready to head down to DC to witness Sam Fender rock a packed house at The Anthem. And the more I think of it, it’s a little more than apropos. The singer from North Shields, England, not only can craft anthemic songs that paint vivid scenes of the ups and downs in life, but he has a down-to-earth way of connecting to an audience much like The Boss.
Fender’s music is informed, like all great art, from personal experience, and I think that grounds it to something very human. It’s a sound and a feel that’s immediately recognizable. Songs like “Angel in Lothian” with that last verse, “I wish an angel fell somewhere in Lothian / She could have fixed all the problems I cannot fix / But one day I might have kids myself / And hope I don’t fuck ‘em up myself” hitting like a ton of concrete.
Never having seen Sam Fender perform before this night on Sept. 23, there were high expectations for me, personally. Seventeen Going Under and the follow up, People Watching, are so engaging that I have to admit I was eager to see these tunes performed especially to a huge crowd. But as I was soon to see, those expectations would be so far exceeded.
Opening the evening was Chicago band, Young Jesus, led by a charismatic John Rossiter, with an intensity that was hard to pull away from.
Taking the stage, Sam Fender and his band hit the ground running with Seventeen Going Under’s “Angel in Lothian.” I found myself thinking how so many artists have some songs that are stronger than others, but as Fender went through the set list I couldn’t think of a song that wasn’t strong.
“It feels quite formal tonight,” Fender mused, taking a short break in between songs. “A very respectful audience… reminds me of Japan.” But that relative calm didn’t last amid the capacity crowd.
As he has throughout this tour, Sam Fender has allowed a fan to come up to play acoustic guitar on stage with the band during the song, “Borders,” and Tuesday night was no different. “Can I play ‘The Borders’ por pavor?,” Fender read from a sign a fan had been waiving. “Yes, you can,” he said, ushering up Devin who did a pretty great job at the tune.
Sam Fender’s band, a massive seven-piece made up by Dean Thompson on guitar, Tom Ungerer on bass, Joe Atkinson on keys and guitar, Drew Michael on drums, Johnny “Blue Hat” Davis on sax, Mark Webb on trumpet, and Brooke Bentham on guitar/keys/backing vocals, was incredibly tight for such an ensemble.
Regaling the crowd with tales from the road, Fender told a story about an early tour in the US where things weren’t as smooth as they are today. “There was a tour we were doing in America when I started… We couldn’t get a tour bus because it was after Covid and I think Wet Leg got the last tour bus.” Touring “in a fuckin’ Winebego” the band was often air borne most of the time due to rough rides.
As Fender and his band went into “Crumbling Empire,” I was thoroughly impressed at the skill Fender was on the guitar as he laid down a particularly explosive guitar solo.
When Sam Fender started playing “People Watching,” the lead single from the new album of the same name, the whole place began singing along. The tune has a driving, distinctive 1980’s feel that takes me back to those times I and my friends felt invulnerable, our whole lives stretching out beyond the horizon.
Announcing that he had so much material recorded for People Watching that he will be putting out a deluxe version with more material, including the song “Talk To You” which he performed this night.
Watch the official music video for “People Watching” by Sam Fender on YouTube:
Highlights included an incredible, seemingly left-field performance of what Fender called “the stupidest song I ever wrote,” “Howdon Aldi Death Queue,” a “folk song about going to the supermarket on Halloween in the middle of the pandemic.” Announcing, “Get on the dancefloor NOW!,” Sam Fender and his band exploded with this short, punk thrash-about replete with distorted buzz saw guitars and horns blaring.
In possibly the most perfect ending of his regular set, Sam Fender played “Seventeen Going Under,” which by itself would have been enough but as he ended the set the whole audience kept singing the refrain over and over until he returned to the stage.
The encore started off with “The Dying Light,” which he clearly had planned but after a fan yelled for an older song, “Spice,” he agreed to play the unrehearsed song if the fan stayed put (which, of course, he did). And we were all glad for it as that performance was truly a barn-burner. Fender and his band ended the night with the incredible “Hypersonic Missiles.”
Sam Fender, I can say with all sincerity, is one of the greatest songwriters of his generation and that night at The Anthem firmly cemented that feeling for me.
The setlist included:
Angel in Lothian
Will We Talk?
Getting Started
Arm’s Length
Wild Long Lie
The Borders (With a fan on acoustic guitar)
Crumbling Empire
People Watching
Talk to You
Howdon Aldi Death Queue
Tyrants
Spit of You
Seventeen Going Under
Encore:
The Dying Light
Spice (Audience request)
Hypersonic Missiles
Ohio (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song)
Here are more photos of Sam Fender performing at The Anthem on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. All photos copyright and courtesy of David LaMason:
And here are photos of Young Jesus opening for Sam Fender at The Anthem:
