Last Friday, I travelled to London to see the one and only Sam Fender perform at the sold-out Wembley Arena. The tour was to celebrate his second album ‘Seventeen Going Under’, which was released last October.
I went alone to see him as I have before when he played at Alexandra Palace last November, which had been rescheduled for 2 years due to coronavirus. I’d previously seen Sam play in Manchester and at London’s O2 Shepherds Bush Empire.
Fans Galore
When I arrived at the venue, I went and queued up along with the 100’s of fans who were waiting to run inside and get as close to the stage as humanly possible in the thought that Sam would recognise them. It was quite a slow queue, but after two hours of waiting and going through security, I managed to bag a pace in the fourth row, which I was happy with.
The crowd was a mix of teenagers and adults, mostly wearing Sam Fender merch and bucket hats, which could be bought from the merchandise stall.
Everyone was mostly in a group or with friends. I could hear all the different conversations going on, the most common was people asking if they are going to see Sam perform later this summer in Finsbury Park in London with special guests Fontaines D.C and others.
Goat Girl
After what felt like an eternity of waiting and numb feet from standing still for so long it was time for the support of the night to come on stage. Goat Girl, an English rock band from South London, was formed after the members bumped into one another at different gigs and open mic nights.
The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Lottie Cream, guitarist L.E.D, bassist Holly Hole and drummer Rosy Bones, who have been making music together since 2015. In January 2021, the group released their second album “On All Fours”.
I’d never heard of Goat Girl before and only started listening to their songs a couple of days before the show. If I had to describe them it would be Arlo Parks meets the beat of David Bowie, mixed with the lyrics and sound of Debbie Harry.
I liked it. Throughout their set, only a handful of people knew who they were and were singing to the songs whilst the rest of the crowd just stood silently, swaying along sometimes. Their music is not moshpit material. They played songs such as “The Crack”, “Badibaba” and “Sad Cowboy”.
Around 9pm the lights went down and for the second time that night, the arena broke out into an ear defining scream as Sam Fender and his band walked onto the stage, bursting into the first song of the night “Will We Talk” from his first album “Hypersonic Missiles”.
“Bloody hell Wembley I can’t believe we are here, and it’s sold out. That is madness! If you had told me all them years ago that I’d be here I would of laughed in your face” said Sam to the shrieking crowd. He then went on to introduce the band made up of his best mates from his hometown of North Shields – Dean Thompson on guitar, Joe Atkinson on keyboards, Drew Michael on drums, Johnny David on Saxophone and Tom Ungerer on bass guitar.
The night carried on with “Dead Boys”, which Sam dedicated to all the friends he has lost to suicide. “Mantra and The Borders” followed next which got the whole crowd moving about, throwing their arms into the air and waving them about in every direction possible.
Mosh Pit Gone Crazy
“Now the next 2 songs require mosh pits and I want you all to be as loud as possible can you do that?” Sam announced to the crowd as everyone started to move and create a large moshpit in the centre of the floor.
Minutes later “Spice” was playing and the mosh pit commenced, with people running around in circles into one another and jumping around. I managed to get caught up in it, but I didn’t think it was as bad compared to other moshpits I had been in until the next song came on, “Howdon Aldi Death Queue”.
Suddenly the crowd went mental, pints were being thrown around, lyrics being screamed as loud as possible. I found myself in the middle of a pit, being dragged about.
I got punched in the nose, which knocked my septum piercing back and I ended up being caught in a group of people trying to stay together and getting strangled. By the end of the song, I was a sweaty mess trying to remember how to breathe.
The night continued with “Spit of you”, “Play God”, and “The Dying Light”, where everybody in the arena had their phone lights up in the air, swaying from side to side, singing along. “Saturday” followed, which Sam sang acoustically before the band joined in. “If Saturday don’t come soon, I’m gonna lose my mind,” the audience shouted.
I Was Far Too Scared To Hit Him
Seventeen Going Under came next “when we released this song last year, we never knew it would go viral on TikTok so thank you for that I love looking at your stories,” said Sam.
Everyone cheered as the song started and Sam bounced around the stage with his band. “I was far too scared to hit him, but I would hit him in a heartbeat now” – I think every single person living in the vicinity of Wembley heard us.
The final song of the night was the one that made Sam and his band famous back in 2019 “Hypersonic Missiles”. The stage turned blue as the song started with the crowd singing the lyrics back already which made Sam laugh. When the performance was over, confetti was shot out across the stage into the audience.
I spoke to Phoebe who had travelled down from Weymouth in Dorset to see Sam with her friend as he was not playing near to where they live. It was the first time they had both seen him perform live and they were not disappointed.
On my way back to catch the tube home, the crowds of people could be heard singing “Saturday” and “Hypersonic Missiles”, a clear sign that Sam’s performance was a big hit with the fans.
All pictures were taken by Ellissa Chiles.
