Sam Fender @Newcastle St James’s Park, June 9 2023
Ah me lads, ye shudda seen us gannin’,
We pass’d the foaks alang the road just as they wor stannin’;
Thor wis lots o’ lads an’ lassies there, aal wi’ smiling faces,
Gannin’ alang the Barrack Road, to see the North Shields aces.
Sam Fender could probably write it better.
But is it finally time to hijack the ‘ninth of Joon’ and repurpose the most famous of all Geordie anthems?
Since 1862 the proud folk of Newcastle have sung of Balmbra’s and the Mechanics Hall.
Why not the Low Lights Tavern and the City Hall?
Swap ‘Airmstrang’s factory’ for Howdon’s Aldi. Coffy Johnny for Johhny Blue Hat…
More than 160 years down the line it would surely be no sleight on Geordie Ridley to tinker with his iconic work.
Because this was a ninth of Joon like no other.
Sam thing special
It had started oh so typically ‘2023’ with mystery QR codes and social media teasing.
What on earth would they have thought of that propping up the bar at Balmbra’s?
But by the time the retro-soaked Star Wars-styled credits rolled (Mark Hamill on lighting, really?), the local hero had brought it back to the timeless staples of tradition, pride and that instinctive sense of community.
Ridley’s spirit manifested in a shy bairn from Shields.
With typically endearing honesty, the bashful 29-year-old admitted he was nervous to the point of not knowing whether he could pull off the biggest show of his career, the biggest gig of them all.
Who could blame him?
Just six years ago, just a stone’s throw from St James’s Park, Sam was sat in an office with trusty team-mate Dean Thompson and manager Owain Davies listening to the first play of Play God on BBC Radio One.
Even then the joke that they’d one day straddle a mighty stage at St James’s Park was just that…a laddish jest wrapped up in a dream that nobody really dared to believe.
But when the Brit-Award winning singer songwriter, schooled at John Spence Community High and Whitley Bay High School, stared out across 50,000 fans ahead of set opener Will We Talk? it was no joke.
This was the biting reality of a fairytale rise to the very peak of his profession. The glorious realisation of that once whimsical dream.
Fender’s Alright
And almost, just about, bar the odd teary wobble, Sam somehow held it together.
In the face of that constant wall of empathetic noise, the flickering sea of phone torches lighting up Newcastle United’s magnificent stadium and the painfully frustrating gremlins that forced a brief mid-set reset.
In truth, Sam has credit in the bank when it comes to his hometown crowd.
Nobody really cared that Howdon Aldi Death Queue was plagued by the ghosts of pandemic-crazed shoppers from the past…
…it gave the heaving throng time to take stock, take a breath and ready themselves for the emotional rollercoaster to come.
And, as the main man cheekily pointed out, it meant more of the big hits played under dark skies and beneath the bright lights.
Geordie inspires next generation
The poetic heft of Alright and The Dying Light underlined Sam’s burgeoning reputation as one of the world’s most dialled-in masters of the songwriting craft.
His insistence that those fellow local musicians peppering a capacity crowd could follow in his lauded footsteps (opening act and fellow Shieldsmen Hector Gannet are well on the way to proving the point) was a heartfelt, chest-beating call-to-arms from an artist keen to lead a wider charge.
And through it all there was a feeling that none of this was taken for granted or in any way deserved.
For some, the first of two sold-out shows at St James’s Park would lead to a galling sense of cocksure self-gratitude.
If your name’s Sam Fender, these are the nights that keep your feet firmly planted on familiar ground.
And he did.
Local hero’s perfect match
On ground that will soon host the return of Champions League football.
On ground synonymous with celebrating everything that’s unapologetically parochial about a proud community rising again.
On ground laid for local heroes like Milburn, Beardsley, Shearer and more.
Anyone who witnessed Friday’s furiously passionate four-song encore will have long since added Fender to that storied list.
Sam belongs at St James’s Park.
For Blaydon Races read Hypersonic Missiles. For Geordie Ridley, the Geordie Springsteen.
The ninth of Joon never sounded so good.
Images courtesy of Adam Kennedy