Live Review: At Belfast Vital, Sam Fender proves why he’s one of rock’s most important voices

Fender’s gig was preceded by Irish hometown hero CMAT, who had plenty of reason to celebrate, considering the gig coincided with the realise of her third album, EURO-COUNTRY.

She comes out bedecked in a long, flowing Daniel O’Donnell vest and launches into the smouldering ‘Jamie Oliver Petrol Station’, from her new album. It tees the crowd up for a set mostly made up of recent songs. ‘Take A Sexy Picture of Me’ is brilliantly yearning, while the album’s title track ‘EURO-COUNTRY’ is even more hair-raising live than it is on the record. CMAT finishes with the perennial favourite, ‘I Wanna Be The Cowboy’, and the anthemic ‘Stay For Something Good’ - perhaps the best live weapon she has in her arsenal, as evidenced by the fact that most of the crowd are singing the “JUST. CAN’T. DOIT!” refrains back at her.

CMAT leaves the stage, the crowd is nicely warmed up, and dark settles in ahead of Sam Fender’s performance. He tests out the fans with his opener ‘Angel in Lothian’, a brilliantly earnest cut from the deluxe edition of Seventeen Going Under. After this comes ‘Spice’, first appearing all the way back on 2018’s Dead Boys EP; it’s a scuzzy, thumping track, which is all the better as a reminder of how Fender’s sound has developed and morphed over the years as he’s found his voice.

The wider crowd starts to get more into things during big Springsteen-esque ‘Will We Talk?’ and - appropriately - the hypnotic ‘Getting Started’, where Fender’s saxophonist Johnny ‘Blue Hat’ Davis is the real hero. He leads into ‘Arm’s Length’ after asking, “Are you with us Belfast?!” The crowd responds by swaying and singing-along to the song’s excellent and deeply emotive chorus, “You don’t have to know me, know me, inside out.”

For ‘The Borders’, Fender finds a young fan in the crowd named Holly, who requests to play acoustic on the track. She rises to the occasion and performs with gusto alongside her musical hero. Following this, Fender dedicates ‘Crumbling Empire’ - a title that needs little explanation if you know anything about the politics of his music - to his mum, dad, and stepdad (who happens to be from Newry, he says to applause). The song is a poignant one, made better with Fender’s soaring solo at the end.

The biggest crowd singalong comes during ‘People Watching’, Fender’s late-2024 hit that also documents the UK-in-a-state-of-crisis theme but from an intensely personal angle. The riff is unforgettable and the chorus is incredibly rousing, so the crowd is fully onside.

The behind-the-stage visuals take on the colours of a TV screen gone haywire as Fender leads into ‘Howdon Aldi Death Queue’, a frantic number about the frantic Covid days. The visuals then switch to childhood polaroids of the artist himself, as he leads into ‘Spit of You’.

The final song before the encore is the Fender’s best ever release, the era-defining ‘Seventeen Going Under’. He delivers it like his life depends on it, and, like half the crowd, I find myself knowing every single word, singing it back to the stage with passion.

Fender and the band step off stage for the requisite minute or two while the crowd chants ‘Seventeen Going Under’s “Ohh-Ohh-AH-Oh-Oh-Ohh”s at the stage, by way of calling him back for an encore.

He duly delivers, coming back alone to sit behind the piano and take command of the keys for ‘The Dying Light’ - the closing song from his second album. It’s a smart choice, as by the time the band returns to join him for the song’s crescendo, you feel like your heart’s about to burst.

The artist finds he has just enough time for two songs, rather than one, so tries out the new track ‘I’m Always On Stage’. A few technical difficulties and tuning problems mean it’s nearly a false starter, but he eventually gets it going and does a diligent version.

The end of the night is all about ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ - the first major hit where Fender’s politically incisive mindset and his rousing brand of music converged in alchemy. It’s a perfect closer and comes supplemented with mountains of confetti blasted from the stage, and fireworks to boot.