Concert Review: Sam Fender - The People Watching Tour

I began listening to Sam Fender after watching a Louis Tomlinson interview in 2022, where he mentioned how much he loved Fender's music. I spent that summer listening to Fender’s 2021 album, “Seventeen Going Under,” and fell in love with his voice and masterful lyricism.

With the release of his third album, “People Watching,” this past February (read my review of the album here), Fender announced “The People Watching Tour.” My friends and I have been fans forever and immediately knew we had to see him. We attended the show at the Marquee Theater in Tempe, Arizona, on April 21, and our dreams of seeing him finally came true.

This was Fender’s first-ever show in Arizona. Whenever I’ve been to a show where the artist is not accustomed to our desert air, they preface their set with a warning that their voice may not be as strong due to the dry heat. Fender offered this warning, yet his voice was strong and clear through the entire 90-minute set.

Sam Fender The People Watchin Tour Marquee Theater Tempe Arizona

He began his set with “Dead Boys,” a song from his debut album, “Hypersonic Missiles.” Written about the stigma around men’s mental health and the high suicide rates in the UK, this song is haunting and powerful. Fender has never been one to shy away from difficult subjects, and he is always able to do justice to any topic he writes about. This song has always been one of my favorites from him, but hearing it live gave it a whole new feeling for me.

Despite being a tour to promote the “People Watching” album, the setlist was primarily comprised of songs from Fender’s first two albums and early EPs. This was a special treat for me, as so many of my favorite songs from Fender’s discography are from early in his career. However, I was extra excited when I heard the opening notes to “Arms Length” from the “People Watching” record. This album has been on repeat since its release, and getting to hear some of the songs from it live was a joy I’d been waiting months for. He played a few songs from this album before transitioning back to some of my favorite older songs.

“Will We Talk?” is one of my favorite songs of all time, and I’ve been dreaming of hearing it live since I first listened to it three years ago. This song is an upbeat earworm that makes listeners just want to spin around and find a friend or a stranger to dance with. While I loved it before, hearing this song in a concert setting breathed new life into it and gave me a priceless memory to associate it with.

Soon after, he played “Howdon Aldi Death Queue.” Written in response to the chaos that the COVID-19 Pandemic unleashed upon the world, this song is a fast, punk-inspired track that was released as a B-side to “Seventeen Going Under” in 2021. Rainbow-colored lights flashed during the breakdown as the band gave it their all. Throughout the entire show, Fender’s band poured out their passion onstage and never let up for a second. Their energy was awe-inspiring and made the show even better.

There was a brief detour from the normal setlist as a fan got Fender’s attention during the show. While he normally plays “A Little Bit Closer,” a track chronicling his internal battle with religion, this fan requested that he play “All Is On My Side,” a single left off his debut album that longtime fans have rallied around. I had never heard this song before, and Fender admitted that he hadn’t played it live since its release. At first, he was hesitant to try, worried he would forget the words, but he and his band executed it beautifully.

Soon, the band briefly exited the stage before returning for the encore. They played an unreleased song from Fender’s upcoming “Me and the Dog” EP, “I’m Always On Stage,” before finishing with one of his most popular songs, “Hypersonic Missiles.”

The only lowlights of the night were the lack of energy from the audience and the fact that another crowd-pleaser, “Saturday,” was missing from the set. I have seen many shows at the Marquee Theater, and while it is a smaller venue, it’s easy to move around in and there is plenty of room to dance. While my friend and I (along with a group of two other guys near us) were taking the opportunity to move around, much of the other crowd was stoically looking ahead.

Even for Fender’s more upbeat songs, where you would expect to see people dancing, the audience was mostly still. It was a bit disappointing to see, and I had expected more from his fans. Before the set even started, some of the people we were standing behind let us go in front of them because they were “probably weren’t going to be dancing, anyway.” While it was nice of them to give us a better spot, it would have been more fun to see people let loose and embrace the full concert experience.

Overall, this was a great concert, and I plan to see Fender live again. His vocals are even better than they are in the studio, and the energy on stage more than made up for the lack of energy in the room. I hope to see Sam Fender in a festival setting one day so I can see him shine even brighter.

Written By Tessa Brainard