Sam Fender, Edinburgh review: ‘working his way towards generational greatness’

SAM FENDER ★★★★

ROYAL HIGHLAND SHOWGROUND, EDINBURGH

Rugged Tyneside rocker Sam Fender often starts his concerts with the plaintive, bittersweet Angel in Lothian, warming up from a solo electric strum to a full band canter, but it felt like he was making an extra special effort for the thousands-strong home crowd by playing it here.

After all, the 31-year-old happily declared special affiliation with Scotland. “It's nice to be back in the best country in the British isles,” he smiled before the romantic, melodic pop-rock of Arm’s Length. Later on he went into more depth, explaining how Scotland feels like his second home, with his mother and brother here for something close to a homecoming gig.

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In a month where Oasis and AC/DC’s uproarious Edinburgh gigs suggested that success with a guitar only comes for artists with a nostalgic edge, it was great to see Fender’s young crowd roaring every word of the anthemic Will We Talk’s chorus back at him. The same thing happened for Getting Started, a song which owned the Bruce Springsteen comparisons with Fender’s yelped “one, two, three, four!” intro and the saxophone line which shredded through the song.

Fender’s a singular artist who emerged with a particular musical maturity, but this concert demonstrated how he’s now building a catalogue worthy of longevity. The infectiously bouncy ‘80s guitar-pop of the new album People Watching’s title track and the frankly glorious recent single Rein Me In – here featuring support act Olivia Dean’s dusky, pining voice – sat perfectly alongside the pace-changing punk thrash of Howden Aldi Death Queue and the evergreen Seventeen Going Under.

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There were occasional dips in interest, for example the Living Years-like Crumbling Empire and Alright, but many more anthems too, like Spit of You, dedicated to “my wonderful friend Lewis Capaldi… I love that man more than sharks love blood”. A set where almost every song deservedly hit home with a crowd this size suggests its creator is working his way towards generational greatness.

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