Sam Fender, the down-to-earth lad from North Shields has both the crowd and his black and white striped Fender Stratocaster in the palm of his hand alike as he embarks on the first of two nights at Co-op Live.
Strutting out on stage with the nonchalance of a superstar, he’s done it all before. The Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, headlining festivals worldwide and playing in front of 50,000 at his beloved St James Park. Howay man!
Yet, however he does it, it almost feels like it’s just you and him in the room. His relaxed, baggy jeans and oversized t-shirt are emblematic of his laid back approach to just having fun with his mates, even on the biggest of stages.
The humble 30-year-old hit maker, who has now been touring stadiums for seven years, still treats his audience like they’re locals at the Low Lights Tavern – unblinded by the 23,500 flashbulbs in the UK’s largest indoor arena.
Fittingly supported by Wunderhorse, one of the UK’s best upcoming bands, they warm the crowd up with their own supply of rock anthems including Midas, Purple and Teal.
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Sam Fender then opens up with Dead Boys, a tune he hadn’t played so far on his 2024 People Watching Tour, and it was to some reception in front of the Manchester crowd.
Alongside his gifted guitar talent, his lyricism is generational, with Dead Boys being a cult favourite and the perfect opener to what is to be an incredible showcase.
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The first song chosen from the critically acclaimed Seventeen Going Under album, ‘Getting Started’ follows and in its namesake he’s right…
The floor to the back row are on their feet in unison as Fender and the band catapult into full swing.
In his repertoire of heartfelt classics, Sam gives the Manchester crowd the taste of many a playlist favourite with the production to match.
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‘The Boarders’ hits a tone that only builds from start to finish, with the anguish of life as a young lad from the North East playing into poetry, a personal favourite. When the guitar solo hits in the final third of the track, the light show on display gets mesmerising. The saxophone solo takes the spectacle to new levels – as they always do.
Sandwiched between two tracks from his upcoming release is one of his oldest, ‘All Is On My Side’. If there was an indie rhythm to epitomise my adolescent years it would be this one. It is a tune that describes growing up and the challenges that come with it.
Across the tour so far, it has been welcomed back into the setlist with open arms paying homage to the music that took him to where he is that features a signature Stratocaster crescendo.
As an early Christmas gift, People Watching EP dropped into our streaming services with a taste of what is to come on the 2025 full album. Wild Long Lie, which we have already sampled on full release, is paired alongside Nostalgia’s Lie and Arms Length which somewhat dissipated momentum.
Nonetheless, it clearly shows signs of something to become Fender staples in the near future.
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Amongst the chaos of the floor, it’s poignant to note the moral compass of the man on stage. Midway through one of his brand new releases, the down-to-earth Geordie pulls the plug to care for fans struggling in the heat of the pit, making a point of looking after each other during the show. Something I can only think he would have resonated with during his youthful yesteryears as a gig-goer on the other side of the barrier. Class act!
‘We Will Talk?’ kickstarts proceedings off again, showering the crowd with another archetypal hit to get the Co-op Live firmly on their feet.
When you know a song is about to blow the roof off the place, as a proud songwriter he only had to say one word. Spice. Dating back to November 2018, ‘Spice’ came along with ‘Dead Boys’ in his debut EP and it holds cult status six years down the line. If the sheer genius of the anthem isn’t enough to keep the audience engaged, then the massive pyrotechnic display firing out the back of the stage might have!
Now, as a man who has religiously listened to Sam Fender’s collection throughout the year, a song that placed number one for me was ‘Howdon Aldi Death Queue’ – specifically the Finsbury Park live version. In its presence for the first time in the flesh, this more than lives up to expectations.
For a song that, on a surface level – describes separating a reasonable distance from the person in front of you during a global pandemic at a supermarket in Wallsend – it holds about two minutes of the greatest guitar solos you would hear this side of the Tyne Bridge.
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Shades of Springsteen, Petty and Hendrix, and that is high praise, just listen. Breathtaking. Rock. Music.
Running into the final phase of the performance, we were somewhat brought back down to earth with ‘Get You Down’ and ‘Spit of You’. The latter is always a touching tribute to his old man, performed with a backdrop of Polaroid images of children and their parents. More specifically the conversational difficulties between a father and son, but something that could pull on the heartstrings of the entire audience.
Then they arrive… the big finish, the final three. Some may have felt disheartened to miss out on the likes of ‘That Sound’, ‘Saturday’ and ‘Play God’ (me being exactly that person) but listen, he can’t play them all.
To close us out, Sam takes to the keys as the faint intro to ‘The Dying Light’ creeps across the venue. The melancholy piano feels like it could awaken the entirety of East Manchester on a crisp winter morning before creeping up into the traditional electric guitar with an explosive, confetti-worthy finish!
As an encore, ‘Seventeen Going Under’ and ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ provide the musical culmination of truly one of Britain’s (if not the world’s) greatest live acts.
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As the Geordie star and the band prepare for their swan song, the canny lad teases the crowd with waves of acapella Ohhh, Ohhh, Ohh, Ohhhhhh’s, pre-empting the grand finale.
Fireworks, fog machines and confetti pair with an overwhelming chorus of applause to conclude what was undoubtedly one of 2024 best live acts – and he fancies doing it all over again tonight.
Sam Fender setlist
Dead Boys (Tour Debut)
Getting Started
The Borders
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Wild Long Lie
All Is on My Side
Nostalgia’s Lie
Arm’s Length
Will We Talk?
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People Watching
Spice
Howdon Aldi Death Queue
Get You Down
Spit of You
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The Dying Light
Seventeen Going Under
Hypersonic Missiles
Featured image: Publicity picture
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Manchester Pride 2025 line-up announced, with headline performances from Olly Alexander and Leigh-Anne
Daisy Jackson
Manchester Pride has revealed its 2025 line-up and headliners ahead of the city’s huge LGBTQ+ celebration.
Set to take place, a usual, over the August bank holiday weekend, this year’s live entertainment features headline slots for Olly Alexander, Leigh-Anne, and Billy Porter.
The line-up is packed with LGBTQ+ icons and allies once again as summer’s event calendar heats up.
This year’s Manchester Pride festival will take place between Friday 22 and Monday 25 August, culminating in the candlelit vigil at Sackville Gardens.
Topping the bill this year is Brit Award winner and Years and Years frontman Olly Alexander, along with multi-platinum pop star Leigh-Anne, of Little Mix fame, and Hollywood superstar Billy Porter.
Also announced by Manchester Pride today are special guests including Tulisa, Big Freedia, Sonique and Louisa Johnson, Jodie Harsh, and multi-award winning cabaret artist, Danny Beard with The Danny Beard Show.
Manchester Pride has also worked with community collectives to commission a number of immersive shows, including House of MCR, which will bring together dance, singing, lip-syncing and fashion.
Kulture Cabaret will be a celebration of queer South Asian and Middle Eastern performers, and Queenz: Drag me to the disco will feature during the bank holiday celebrations.
Bongo’s Bingo will kick off the Manchester Pride celebrations each day.
This is all part of the first-ever line-up for the brand new Mardi Gras event, which will take place on the Saturday and Sunday and has an ambition to better represent marginalised communities such as trans, non-binary, and queer local talent.
The Gay Village Party will be back in Manchester Pride’s spiritual home from Friday 22 to Monday 25 August, featuring Samantha Mumba, B*Witched and Sister Sledge featuring Kathy Sledge – with more still to be announced.
These performances will be across two stages, the Alan Turing stage and the Indoor Arena, alongside a funfair, market stalls, and pop-up food vendors, plus Ginny Lemon’s Dog Show.
Mark Fletcher, CEO at Manchester Pride, said: “Manchester Pride is the city’s celebration of LGBTQ+ life and culture and each year we’re challenged to respond to the diverse needs of our communities.
“Working closely with LGBTQ+ groups and collectives from Greater Manchester we’ve been able to respond to the needs of our communities in presenting a queer focussed, intentional line up of performers who will elevate and lend their support to the rich bed of LGBTQ+ performers that this city has to offer.
“With the introduction of the new Mardi Gras event we needed to make sure that we stayed true to what Pride is about in this city.
“Our communities were clear that they wanted to see LGBTQ+ performers front and centre and we’re thrilled to announce a line up which serves.
“With so many stages available across the two live music based events we’re confident that there’s something for everyone; whether that be multi platinum selling pop artists, drag queen royalty or ballroom fierceness that you can expect to see at the special House of MCR Show.”
Manchester Pride 2025 line-up
Friday 22 August
Gay Village Party
Samantha Mumba
Saturday 23 August
Mardi Gras
Leigh-Anne // Billy Porter
Special Guest: Big Freedia
Gok Wan // Sonique // Booty Luv // Joshua James // Bestley
The Danny Beard Show // Dean Mccullough’s Pop Machine // Bongo’s Bingo
Queenz: Drag Me To The Disco // Black Pride Mcr // Runway X Banksie
Peaky Blinders creator set to produce a documentary of the upcoming Oasis reunion tour
Danny Jones
If you had any doubt that the upcoming Oasis reunion shows weren’t going to be heavily documented, you’re an absolute fool. However, we’ll admit we weren’t expecting to hear the creator of Peaky Blinders‘ name connected to the tour.
Yeah, as in the Brummies with the flat caps on the telly – them ones.
That’s right, the same man who brought Tommy Shelby and Birmingham’s most infamous gang to our screens is apparently overseeing a major documentary project which will chronicle the return of the Gallagher brothers and put the best bits on film.
As announced by the band themselves this week, Steven Knight has been confirmed as the creator and producer of the Oasis ‘Live ’25’ world tour documentary movie.
The brain behind Peaky Blinders is creating the second Oasis doc after 2016’s Supersonic. (Credit: Taylor Rooke/BBC/IMDb)
It’s worth noting to begin with that besides the BBC’s blockbuster gangster series, which is soon to be followed up with the franchise’s first feature film on Netflix, Knight does have some background in music-related media.
The 65-year-old created the six-part BBC drama, This Town, which revolves around the rise of ska and the ‘two-tone’ revival movement in the Midlands during the 1970s; he also wrote the script for the 2024 opera biopic, Maria, starring Angelina Jolie.
Other names involved in the Peaky Blinders boss’ Oasis documentary are joint directors Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, who made the LCD Soundsystem film, Shut Up And Play The Hits, which covers frontman James Murphy’s final gig as part of the band at Madison Square Gardens.
Although we are obviously yet to get a release window at this early stage – they’ve got to get through all 41 dates first (touch wood) – more details are expected soon.
Who’s managed to grab tickets? (Credit: Press Image)
The bedlam around ‘Live ’25’ becoming a reality may have died down a little as now just have to play the waiting game and gear up for those first gigs in July, but there have still been plenty of exciting announcements since then.
As well as Richard Ashcroft and Cast being confirmed as the two support acts for the tour, the full reunion band has also reportedly been revealed, with another member of the original 1991 lineup set to make his own comeback.
We’re still way too far away from seeing leaks of the setlist and what they’ve been playing in rehearsals etc., but we
After all, as much as love debating the best Oasis songs of all time, we’ll just be glad to hear any of them being played by the Burnage boys, together again in the flesh, for the first time in 15 years.