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Sam Fender’s London Stadium Show Launches U.K.’s Summer of Music: 5 Best Moments

Sam Fender's 82,500-capacity show at London Stadium fired the starting gun on a superb slate of live music across Britain this summer.

Packed to the brim with fans of all ages (but a large contingent wearing the homestrip of his beloved Newcastle United Football Club), it was a moment to celebrate just how far he’d come since his 2017 arrival, a hard-won British success story when they feel worryingly scant. The song reflects on Fender’s upbringing in a macho environment, but also trying to support his mother as she suffered at the cruel hands of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) who withheld vital benefits. Before playing his final track “Hypersonic Missiles,” which references the “kids in Gaza” being “bombed,” Fender spoke directly to the crowd, saying, “It breaks my heart that it’s more relevant now than it was then,” when he released the song in 2019.

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