Sam Fender has kicked off his winter 2024 ‘People Watching’ tour in the UK and Ireland – with his first date in Dublin. See the setlist and footage from the night below.

The singer-songwriter performed at the 3Arena last night (December 3) ahead of his upcoming album ‘People Watching’, the follow-up to 2021’s ‘Seventeen Going Under’ set for release on February 21, 2025 via Polydor. You can pre-order the LP here.

Fender’s setlist for the night saw him debut two songs from the album, with ‘Arm’s Length’  yet to be officially released, and the third, ‘Wild Long Lie’, issued on streaming platforms yesterday. ‘Nostalgia’s Lie’, which is still unreleased, was debuted live in August at his sold-out Plymouth show.

Songs from his hit 2021 album, along with his 2019 debut ‘Hypersonic Missiles’, were also performed, along with debut EP cut ‘Spice’ and lone single ‘All Is On My Side’. See fan footage below.

[embed]https://youtube.com/watch?v=K6aV5P8Cku8&feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1[/embed]

[embed]https://youtube.com/watch?v=yVtIdhPsQ2U&feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1[/embed]

[embed]https://youtube.com/watch?v=95cI2L98qk8&feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1[/embed]

The setlist for Sam Fender’s 2024 ‘People Watching’ show in Dublin is:

‘The Kitchen’
‘Getting Started’
‘The Borders’
‘Wild Long Lie’ (Live Debut)
‘All Is on My Side’
‘Nostalgia’s Lie’ (Unreleased)
‘Arm’s Length’ (Live debut; Unreleased)
‘Will We Talk?’
‘People Watching’
‘Spice’
‘Howdon Aldi Death Queue’
‘Get You Down’
‘Spit of You’
‘Seventeen Going Under’

Encore:
‘Hypersonic Missiles’

Last month, Fender announced details of three huge UK stadium shows for next summer.

Kicking off with his biggest ever headline show at London Stadium on June 6, Fender will also play Newcastle’s St. James’ Park on June 12, 14 and 15. He previously played homecoming gigs at the 52,000-capacity venue in 2023 and these new dates will see Fender break the record for most headline shows at St James’ Park, an honour previously held by The Rolling Stones.

CMAT will support Fender at all three dates and The War On Drugs will perform June 6, 14 and 15. Tickets are on sale for the shows here.

Before that, he’s embarking bark on a UK and Ireland tour that continues tomorrow (December 4) in Leeds’ First Direct Arena, which includes two nights at The O2 in London. £1 from every ticket sold for these dates will be donated to Music Venue Trust in support of grassroots venues. Find any remaining tickets here.

The UK dates will be followed by nine in European in March 2025 – find a full list below.

Sam Fender’s ‘People Watching’ tour dates are:

DECEMBER 2024:
4 – First Direct Arena, Leeds
6 – Co-Op Live, Manchester
7 – Co-Op Live, Manchester
10 – The O2, London
12 – The O2, London
13 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham
16 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
17 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
20 – Utilita Arena, Newcastle

MARCH 2025:
4 – Olympia, Paris
5 – 013 Poppodium, Tilburg
8 – Halle 622, Zurich
10 – Palladium, Cologne
12 – Zenith, Munich
13 – ChorusLife Arena, Bergamo
16 – Uber Eats Music Hall, Berlin
18 – Afas Live, Amsterdam
19 – Forest National, Brussels

JUNE 2025
6 – London Stadium, London
12 – St. James’ Park, Newcastle
14 – St. James’ Park, Newcastle
15 – St. James’ Park, Newcastle (JUST ADDED)

‘People Watching’ is set to arrive three years after the release of his second album ‘Seventeen Going Under‘ – which took the top spot on NME’s Albums Of The Year list in 2021.

So far, Fender has already shared the album’s lead single and title track. In a four-star review of the song, NME shared: “By sticking to what he’s best at, the musician has avoided falling into any such traps – and ended up with a song grand enough to get a whole stadium going without compromising on the heart and power that we’ve come to expect from him. If the rest of ‘People Watching’ follows suit, Fender’s third album should be another world-beater.”

He first debuted ‘People Watching’ live, along with another unreleased song, ‘Nostalgia’s Lie’ in August, with both set to appear on his long-awaited third album. In November, he also revealed details surrounding the record, including its tracklisting. It was produced by Fender alongside his bandmates Dean Thompson, Joe Atkinson, producer Markus Dravs, and The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel.

Fender’s last album, ‘Seventeen Going Under’, was named Best Album In The World and Best Album By A UK Artist at the BandLab NME Awards 2022. NME gave it four stars, calling it a “bruising” second album and saying: “If ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ was the sound of a young boy kicking out at the world, ‘Seventeen Going Under’ sees Fender realise that it can kick back a lot harder, and he counts every blow and bruise. But he seems to have found that time passes and that most wounds – even the deepest – will eventually heal, if he can allow them to.”

Fender spoke to NME about his new record back in 2022. “If I try and force myself to write stadium songs, we could end up fucking it I think,” he said at the time. “Instead, I want to write about the stories that I have and the place that I’m mentally at in my life at this point. And I’ve had a lot to write about.”

The post Here’s what Sam Fender played as he kicked off his winter 2024 ‘People Watching’ UK and Ireland tour in Dublin appeared first on NME.