Album of the Week: Sam Fender’s ‘Live At Finsbury Park’ is a triumph
The last 18 months have seen Sam Fender‘s stock rise in extraordinary style thanks to his much-celebrated second album, Seventeen Going Under. The record has taken him to the Pyramid Stage of Glastonbury Festival and London’s Finsbury Park for the biggest solo show of his career, a performance which has now been released as a live album.
With Fender’s brand of anthemic, uplifting rock, he was always destined for large venues. The line-up for his show in North London on July 16th also included Fontaines D.C., Declan McKenna, Beabadoobee, and Goat Girl, which reflects the modern homegrown indie music scene. Fender’s stature as the headliner is deserved, and he proved so with a triumphant set.
Fender began his show with ‘Will We Talk’, a throwback from his debut album, Hypersonic Missiles. As a curtain raiser, the song perfectly lifts the atmosphere, and the crowd is ready to lose themselves in the experience, as I’ve witnessed first-hand on the Seventeen Going Under tour.
Surprisingly, no gimmicks or guests were wheeled out for the special occasion. Although this is expected when an artist plays the biggest show of their career, it also proves how much faith Fender and his band have in their material, which doesn’t rely upon bells or whistles.
‘Dead Boys’, which Fender dedicated to all our friends who are no longer here, was a particularly poignant moment in the set. Those feelings of melancholy were continued over the next collection of songs which featured Seventeen Going Under cuts ‘Mantra’ and ‘Better Of Me’ before he rolled it back to his debut with ‘The Borders’.
Shortly after, Fender decided to turn up the heat by playing his two most aggressive B-sides, ‘Spice’ and ‘Howdon Aldi Death Queue’, which never fails to send the crowd into chaos. However, Fender temporarily paused the concert when it looked as though a crowd member was hurt during the show, which shows where his priorities lie.
It can sometimes be hard to taste the atmosphere from a live album, but not for Sam Fender, who takes the listener on an emotional journey. Still, despite not being able to see the crowd, hearing 40,000 people sing along to every word of the closing tracks ‘Seventeen Going Under’ and ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ is a goosebump-inducing experience.
With Live At Finsbury Park, Fender has successfully bottled up the feeling of jubilation that I’ve felt every time I’ve departed one of his shows. While his studio albums have rightly been lauded and made Fender the star of his generation, he’s an artist who thrives when he plays live and has thousands of adoring fans operating as his choir.
Next summer, Fender is continuing his meteoric rise with two sold-out hometown shows at St James’ Park in Newcastle, which hopefully features some brand-new music as Live At Finsbury Park is a fitting way to draw a line under his journey from the Low Lights Tavern to superstardom.
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