Sam Fender back at St James' for more
Such was the correctly anticipated demand for Sam Fender’s December gig at the Utilita Arena in his native Newcastle, a ticket ballot was put in place.
Even then, an outpouring of social media sadness transpired as thousands who had convinced themselves that winning a place in the ballot almost guaranteed them a spot in the arena realised they still had nowt to do on the evening of December 21.
Fans ‘demanded’ - as they are prone to doing these days, according to news stories designed to whip things up - a second date in the Toon.
And while none seemed to be forthcoming, Sam did promise there was something exciting in the offing.
He wasn’t joking.
He’s only gone and booked two out of his three UK 2025 stadium gigs at his beloved St James Park - the place where the dreams he didn’t dare to dream came true in 2023 thanks to a pair of historic gigs played to two ecstatic, sold out crowds.
AC/DC’s Brian Johnson even joined in on stage for one of them.
Next year, June 12 and 141 will see the XX-year-old from North Shields return to Newcastle United’s home turf - and break the Rolling Stones’ record for playing St James’ on three previous occasions.
The Newcastle gigs will come after a date at the 75,000 capacity London Stadium on June 6, which will be Sam’s biggest headline show to date and his first stadium date outside of Tyneside.
Fans who pre-order his upcoming album People Watching from Sam’s website by 10am on Monday (November 25) - or who have already pre-ordered the record via his website, will receive early access to tickets from 9.30am on Tuesday (November 26).
All remaining tickets will go on general sale from 9.30am on Friday (November 29 via www.samfender.com
£1 from every ticket sold will be donated back into select cultural organisations such as Youth Music and Sunday For Sammy to support the arts in the North East.
We can’t help noticing there’s a free day in between the two confirmed dates… just saying.