‘People Watching’ with SAM FENDER in Cologne.
words + photography by Nadine GoetzGeordie singer-songwriter Sam Fender played a sold-out gig in the Palladium in Cologne, Germany on March 10th, 2025 drawing in fans of all ages. The concert was part of his tour in Europe for his latest album ‘People Watching’ which was released in February this year. The setlist consisted of a lot of new songs as well as the unreleased song ‘Tyrants’ which so far is only available on the B-Side of the 7’ People Watching vinyl. The new album tells stories of loved ones and Fender does not shy away from socially critical topics which could easily drift into a dark melancholic direction but musically it is quite the opposite. The set was a good mix of new music, old songs, fan favorites, and his biggest hits such as ‘Seventeen Going Under’ and ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ which the crowd sang along to loudly.
Irish singer-songwriter CMAT opened the show with a 5-song acoustic set. Even though it was just her and her guitar, her energy made up for the lack of a band. She interacted with the crowd a lot and told the audience many stories, for example about the Dublin rental crisis or about a time when she used to work in a building looking down on the set of Coronation Street, which made her realize that all of those streets were fake. This led to her writing the song ‘Coronation Street’ which she also played during her set. Before playing her final song of the evening called ‘Stay For Something’ she mentioned that on the first day of the tour, Fender had told her that he wishes he had written that song.
When Sam and his band took the stage, the fans immediately brought all the energy that the band could feed off from. The band’s energy could be felt throughout the concert, from showing off their best dance moves, hyping up the crowd, or from Brooke Bentham (vocals/guitar) jumping and dancing in the back. It’s clear that they’re all having fun and that they love what they’re doing. Fender kicked off the show with ‘Nostalgias Lie’, a song from the latest album. Before singing ‘A Little Bit Closer’, also from his latest album, Fender let the audience know that he went to see the cathedral in Cologne earlier that day, mentioning how he is an atheist. In the song, he goes on to sing “Where is god? I haven’t found him”. Fender and his band’s performance was very energetic, constantly trying to get the audience involved and asking for fans to jump, dance, and sing along to the 15-song-setlist. Especially Joe Atkinson (keyboard/guitar) and Dean Thompson (lead guitar) tend to hype up the audience a lot and seem to interact with the crowd many times during the concert, almost more than Fender himself. During ‘Spit Of You’ the screen behind the band is projected with a picture of Fender and his dad, making the performance even more emotional than the song is already which felt like a special moment of the night.
The crowd growling “whoah-oh-oh-oh-oh” over and over again, keeping ‘Seventeen Going Under’ going, during the encore until Fender and the band came back on stage brought a sense of community to the crowd. The 4.000-capacity show almost feels like an intimate setting for Fender, who easily fills Arenas and Stadiums in the UK. Many British accents could be heard inside the venue around the night, seemingly many die-hard fans from Newcastle and all over the UK have flown over to Germany to see Fender play in a smaller, more intimate setting. The audience was also very diverse, with men and women of any age filling the venue. Sam has just won the BRIT Award for ‘Best Alternative / Rock Act’ in February. In June he will perform for 80,000 people in the sold-out London Stadium and also fill St. James’ Park for three sold-out shows in his hometown of Newcastle. Fender is often compared to Bruce Springsteen; at times he’s even called the British answer to Springsteen. Even though there can only be one Bruce Springsteen, Sam Fender definitely continues to leave a huge musical impact on the industry with powerful guitar solos, meaningful lyrics, a truly incredible voice, and amazing live performances.
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Nadine Goetz.
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