The North Shields songwriter delivered a masterclass in stadium-ready indie rock to Melbourne's UK expat faithful
Sam Fender has become one of Britain’s most vital voices in guitar music, and his Melbourne show at Sidney Myer Music Bowl – framed continuously by a National Geographic-esque yellow halo – proved exactly why.
Throughout the evening, Sam Fender acknowledged the crowd’s composition, largely UK expats who had brought their hometown passion to Melbourne. He’s become known for recognising this phenomenon at his international shows, often joking about being a touring nostalgia act for homesick Brits. But there’s genuine appreciation in his voice when he thanks these crowds, understanding that his songs about Northern England somehow translate across continents.
The North Shields songwriter has carved out a unique space in contemporary indie rock, blending Bruce Springsteen’s blue-collar storytelling with the sonic ambition of War on Drugs and the political consciousness of The Clash. Since his 2019 debut Hypersonic Missiles topped the UK charts, Sam Fender has established himself as a rare artist who can fill arenas while maintaining an unflinching focus on class struggle, mental health and the realities of growing up in post-industrial Britain.
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We don’t care what his fans reckon, for us, the undisputed highlight came during the song he crowns “the dumbest song I’ve ever written” – Howdon Aldi Death Queue, a deep cut that exploded into kaleidoscopic visuals and a dramatic tempo shift.
The song, named after the queue outside a discount supermarket in his hometown, transforms mundane British life into something psychedelic and profound. The sudden acceleration midway through the track caught even longtime fans off guard, as the stage erupted in strobing colours and Sam Fender’s band locked into a furious groove.
It’s symptomatic of the technical depth that hides behind the singalong ‘la la las’ that cascade through virtually every other song.
Fender is a classically trained guitarist with a background in jazz, and that musicianship bleeds through in his work. His songs often build from delicate fingerpicking into walls of reverb-drenched guitars, while his voice shifts from vulnerable falsetto to throat-shredding howls. The arrangements are deceptively complex, layering synths and saxophones beneath the guitar-driven foundation – credit here to saxophonist and harmonica extraordinaire, Johnny ‘Blue Hat’ Davis at the rear, hidden behind sunnies and a bucket hat.
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Another highlight was The Borders, where Fender drew an amateur guitarist out of the crowd due to her sign claiming she knew the chords. She certainly did – and was near-suspciously comfortable on stage in front of 12,000 people!
The setlist drew heavily from his two studio albums, opening with Angel in Lothian before diving into fan favourites like Will We Talk? and Getting Started. Seventeen Going Under, the title track from his second album, remains – at least for most fans – his most emotionally devastating moment. Written about his teenage years and the trauma of watching his father struggle with mental illness, the song builds from sparse verses into a cathartic chorus that has become a generational anthem. The track’s production is deliberately raw, with Sam Fender’s voice cracking at crucial moments, refusing to smooth over the emotion for commercial appeal.
People Watching showcased another side of his songwriting, a tender observation of human connection that strips away the bombast for something more vulnerable. The song’s gentle guitar work and whispered vocals demonstrated his dynamic range, proving he doesn’t need volume to command attention.
Meanwhile, Hypersonic Missiles, his breakthrough single, tackles anxiety in the digital age with a driving rhythm and soaring chorus. It was an anthemic endpoint for a set that, while ostensibly affected by Fender’s continual claims that he was “so fucking jet-lagged”, was ultimately one of the most rapturously received shows we’ve seen this year.
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