Music Writer Atshiga Bonvin reviews Sam Fender’s Birmingham show as part of his People Watching tour
Preceding his next album coming out on 21st February 2025, Sam Fender’s People Watching tour came to the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on 13th December 2024.
The opening act, Wunderhorse, prepped the audience for the mosh pits to come. The arena was filled with a vibrant, neon-green fog which consumed the crowd like poisonous gas. This, alongside their flashing visuals and grunge/indie sounds, created a boiler-room-esque, apocalyptic experience.
Visuals of flashing eyes marked Fender’s appearance: we were being watched. Small tokens of spectatorship dotted the arena. Spotlights were used to single out people in the crowd, a beacon of light heralding the chosen fan.
Fender is excellent at creating a movement of energy through the night.
The set began with the poignant and heartbreaking track ‘Dead Boys.’ Emotions heightened when Fender appeared, guitar-clad and heart open for this song on masculinity and mental health.
A feature of the ‘People Watching’ tour is that, at each gig, Fender invites a crowd member to perform with him on stage. Getting up at the Birmingham show was the talented 18-year-old, Toby. Once handed a guitar, Toby joined Sam Fender and the band in their performance of ‘The Borders’ for a very fitting and touching song.
Fender is excellent at creating a movement of energy through the night. The tracks ‘Spice’ and ‘Howdon Aldi Death Queue’ were lively and chaotic, with the standing crowds creating multiple mosh pits to the electric sounds. The rave-like energy then seamlessly dissipated as the acoustic and melancholic songs ‘Spit of You’ and ‘The Dying Light’ played, and the fans exchanged energetic dancing for slow swaying and illuminating the venue with the soft glow of phone torches.
A spectacle of sparkles, vivid colours, and ecstatic energy, the ‘People Watching’ tour contained a multitude of experiences for all fans of this incredible indie artist to enjoy.
The show was a good preview for the upcoming album. Fender played three of the soon-to-be-released tracks, and whilst the crowd seemed to lack enthusiasm at these points, it was hopefully a sign of quiet admiration and anticipation.
Nevertheless, Sam Fender knew what the audience wanted, and even treated us to a cover of ‘London Calling’ by the Clash which was initially exclusively for the London audience (thank you, Sam). The show seemed to end with the beautiful track ‘Seventeen Going Under,’ before Sam rushed back on stage for an encore where he played the song that “got him into this mess,” the indelible and infamous ‘Hypersonic Missiles.’
Confetti and smoke were launched into the arena as a final celebration to end a very successful show, and just when you thought the gig could not be topped, he pulled one last trick out of the bag: fireworks. The arena was illuminated with a dozen fireworks as the ending notes of ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ played; how fitting. A spectacle of sparkles, vivid colours, and ecstatic energy, the ‘People Watching’ tour contained a multitude of experiences for all fans of this incredible indie artist to enjoy.
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