The U.K.’s summer of live music kicked off in earnest this week with a number of huge tour debuts throughout major cities, particularly in London. Over at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday (June 5), Beyoncé brought her Cowboy Carter tour to these shores for the first time, and a day later, Robbie Williams was just a stone’s throw away at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. The festival circuit also got off to a powerful start with Massive Attack in Victoria Park’s LIDO, and Charli XCX set to grace the same venue next weekend.
No gig was bigger than Sam Fender’s record-setting show at the London Stadium on Friday (June 6) night with a whopping 82,500 tickets sold for his largest-ever show (1,000 more than The Weeknd at the venue in 2023). The event arrived during a banner year for the South Shields-born rocker. His third album, People Watching, is the best-selling British album of 2025 so far, and the fastest-selling LP by a British solo act since Harry Styles in 2022. Over the course of the summer, he’ll play more huge shows in his hometown Newcastle, and headline outdoor shows in Manchester and across Europe.
Packed to the brim with fans of all ages (but a large contingent wearing the homestrip of his beloved Newcastle United Football Club), it was a moment to celebrate just how far he’d come since his 2017 arrival, a hard-won British success story when they feel worryingly scant.
These are the best moments from Fender’s headline show at London Stadium.
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Deserving Deep Cuts
Fender was undeterred by what people want him to play, staying true to the songs he feels the set deserves. To drop in two lesser-known B-sides — “Howdon Aldi Death Queue” and “Tyrants” — from his second and third albums, respectively, is hubristic but justified. The former was a wry look at the daftness of COVID-era Britain, while the latter “should have been on” People Watching he told the crowd, a reminder of the stark quality of that record that this could be left off, or a cheeky warning to label execs that he knows best.
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Team-Up With Olivia Dean
When Fender last toured the U.K. in December 2024, he gave fans the first taste of People Watching months ahead of release. Six months later, he’s still rolling out tracks from the LP and switching up the setlist with “Rein Me In” earning a live debut in the biggest of settings. Even better, the performance of this song was elevated by rising British star Olivia Dean who played on the bill earlier in the day. Her rich vocals sidled up to Fender’s, creating a sumptuous moment in an otherwise rowdy show.
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Raw Power of “Seventeen Going Under”
Rock anthems in the 21st century have been hard to come by, but 2021’s “Seventeen Going Under” is a rare exception and has embedded itself into British culture. The song reflects on Fender’s upbringing in a macho environment, but also trying to support his mother as she suffered at the cruel hands of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) who withheld vital benefits. It’s pure Springsteen, but also a story distinctly his own.
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Honoring Tradition
People Watching ends with Fender’s most tender song, “Remember My Name,” a homage to his late grandparents and the simplicity of their love and life together. The track features a brass band from the North East, a nod to the city’s mining community, and during its tour debut The Easington Colliery Brass Band joined Fender on stage for a gorgeous moment of understated grandeur and tradition. There was nary a dry eye in the house.
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Using His Voice for Change
Before playing his final track “Hypersonic Missiles,” which references the “kids in Gaza” being “bombed,” Fender spoke directly to the crowd, saying, “It breaks my heart that it’s more relevant now than it was then,” when he released the song in 2019. He called for a “free Palestine” and called for a stop to the “ethnic genocide,” encouraging fans to donate to and engage with the work of Doctors Without Borders who will join him throughout his summer tour.