Live Review: Sam Fender and Holly Humberstone at Sidney Myer Music Bowl
14 October 2025

Sam Fender delivers an unforgettable first night of two sold-out shows at Sidney Myer Music Bowl full of sweeping emotion, explosive energy and unfiltered Northern grit. With support from the ethereal Holly Humberstone, the evening captures both the quiet poetry and the fiery rebellion that define the best of modern British music.

Holly Humberstone opens the show with her signature understated elegance. She holds the crowd with haunting renditions of her songs ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’, ‘Paint My Bedroom Black’ and ‘Dive,’ wrapping each in vulnerability and melody. There’s a fragility to Humberstone’s performance that feels both intimate and universal and her lyrics, heavy with longing and self-reflection, resonate deeply as the sun dips behind the city skyline.

A special treat for fans, Humberstone also test drives some new material including a song she just released a couple of weeks ago called ‘Die Happy’ and two unreleased tracks ‘Cruel World’ and ‘To Love Somebody’ from a forthcoming album release.

Fan-favourite ‘Scarlett’ receives the loudest singalong from the audience who can be heard almost shouting the pre-chorus in a moment of pure cathartic release. By the time her set comes to an end, she’s created the perfect calm before the storm – a tender emotional space that set the stage for Fender’s arrival.

As night falls, the lights flare bright white against the Bowl’s canopy and the roar of thousands of audience members rise up to welcome Sam Fender and his six-piece band to the stage. They launch into ‘Angel in Lothian’ serving as a slow, brooding opener that immediately sets the tone. Fender’s voice is gritty yet soulful and rings out across the open-air venue, each lyric cutting through the night air like a confession. It’s a song that builds tension, and by its close the crowd is already on their feet, waiting for the ignition point.

We don’t have to wait long. The jangling guitars of ‘Will We Talk?’ kicks in next as the Bowl erupts. Fender’s knack for combining blistering indie-rock melodies with heart-on-sleeve storytelling is unmatched, and live, it’s a whole different beast. The song’s driving rhythm and shout-along chorus has fans singing every word, a moment of pure, communal euphoria that only live music like this can deliver.

From there, the energy surges with ‘Getting Started’ which is a perfect encapsulation of Fender’s anthemic spirit. His band including a brass section of saxophone and trumpet is exceptional and adds some extra punch. It’s clear he loves performing and has a cheeky grin on his face in awe of the huge crowd before him. “We always kind of routinely end our year of touring here. It’s the best spot and we are very happy to be here even though we’re very jet lagged,” he shares.

The tone shifts with ‘The Borders’ which is one of Fender’s most personal tracks that paints a vivid picture of friendship, youth and the invisible scars of growing up in working-class England. You can feel the emotion ripple through the audience as he delivers a raw, hard-hitting chorus.

He then plays a few tracks from his latest record starting off with ‘Crumbling Empire.’ ‘People Watching’ follows starting off solo before band joins in. The anthemic track showcases his evolution as a songwriter as he weaves introspective themes with big, cinematic arrangements and carries a bittersweet sense of observation as if Fender is watching the world from a step outside of it.

Fender is about to release the deluxe edition of his third album in December with extra tracks. “It’s basically like two albums worth so we thought we’d release the best ones of what was left. There was like eight tunes that never wouldn’t have seen the light of day unless we did like an extended version,” he reveals. He then shares one of these songs called ‘Talk To You’ that features Elton John’s piano playing on the recorded version.

He prefaces the riotous ‘Howdon Aldi Death Queue’ being the “Stupidest song ever written about going to Aldi,” he jokes, before a chaotic scene breaks out on stage full of punk-rock energy and psychedelic strobe lights flickering to crashing guitars.

On a more serious and heartfelt note, a song about his dad ‘Spit Of You’ is an emotional tribute accompanied by a montage of pictures rolling on the screen behind him featuring family photos of loved ones and him and his father.

“We’re going to do that thing where we pretend to walk off stage and then we’ll obviously not actually do it. We’re trying to squeeze in as much as we can but it’s tight because of the noise curfew,” he says before diving into his ultimate anthem ‘Seventeen Going Under.’ The first chord alone draws a roar from the crowd and is followed by a thunderous, cathartic singalong. Fender’s delivery is electric and full of fury, nostalgia and release. The crowd continues to echo the “Oh Oh Oh” singalong after the song ends to show their immense love for the song and champion an encore.

After briefly leaving the stage, Fender returns solo under the spotlight for an unreleased track from the forthcoming deluxe edition of ‘People Watching’ fittingly titled ‘I’m Always On Stage’ as a sea of phone torches light up the Bowl.

He then sits at the keyboard to begin ‘The Dying Light,’ his voice echoing with haunting intensity over a sparse arrangement before building into a breathtaking crescendo as the band joins in to build momentum.

Finally, ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ brings the night to an explosive close. It’s the perfect set-ender that’s euphoric, defiant and endlessly catchy. Fender and his band play with everything they have left. As the final chorus hits, confetti cannons ignite for a big finish. The crowd is left buzzing long after the last chord fades and continues to sing the chorus as they depart into the night.

Fender reveals that these last few shows he’s playing in Australia will be the last live shows for a good stretch of time because he’s going to go away and make it another album.

Words & photos by Michael Prebeg