Former Dire Straits legend Mark Knopfler honed his guitar skills playing in a famed Leeds music pub at lunchtime while plotting ways to abandon his stuttering journalistic career on the city’s evening paper.
And whilst the The Grove remains a popular venue for upcoming bands, 38 years later the new Geordie’s ‘local hero’ Sam Fender was packing-out the cavernous Leeds Arena on the opening night of the UK leg of a whistle-stop pre-Christmas tour.
But the powerful songs of this down-to-earth northern storyteller show a musician whose craft has been carefully honed on a similar path to his esteemed predecessor, and next summer’s much-anticipated run of stadium shows – including three nights at his beloved St James’s Park and a date at the London Stadium – will no doubt cement his status as the voice of a generation. A Glastonbury headline slot also surely awaits.
The 12-date People Watching arena tour had opened two nights earlier in Dublin but Fender admitted he and his accompanying seven-piece band had been off the road “far too long” which may have explained the unexpected bout of cramp that struck his fretting hand just two songs into a thrilling 90-minute set.
But with a few shakes of the hand – and plenty of expletives added to boot – Fender was ready to get back down to the business of delivering those fist-thumping anthems beautifully juxtaposed with gritty, hard-hitting lyrics of life in a northern town.
Since last performing at the Leeds’ venue in 2021, the success of second album ‘Seventeen Going Under’ has propelled the 30-year-old to superstar status – and he is now arguably Britain’s biggest contemporary act.
Opening track The Kitchen explodes beneath a mammoth video screen stretching the width of the screen that combines pre-recorded and live on stage footage with a dazzling 100mph light show.
New single Wild Long Lie is confidently slotted fourth in the 16-song set along whilst the title track of February’s eagerly awaited third long playing release received an ecstatic response from the sold-out audience.
With just two prior albums under his belt the set list contains few surprises but despite the limited repertoire at his disposal its all killer and no filler, with his adoring crowd – many sporting Newcastle United football shirts – singing their hearts out to every emotion-soaked lyric.
Fender changes his guitar for virtually every song, but may be having a quiet word with his guitar tech, as they seemed to frequently arrived on stage in need of a re-tune, but he handles the unexpected interludes naturally with self-deprecating remarks. Should Glastonbury come calling however the show would need to be slicker for the mammothy TV audience.
Throughout the show Fender is happy to let his music do the talking (and why not?), making little use of the giant stage and instead remaining central whilst the video screens and more energetic band members provide the visual distractions.
Seventeen Going Under brings the main set to a close with a mass-singalong that naturally segues into the identikit chant for the rousing Hypersonic Missiles encore. As the rosuing anthem reaches its climas the waves of hysteria are accompanied by cannons of confetti and fizzing fireworks illimunating the top of the stage.
Excellent.