With his ‘People Watching’ shows this summer, Sam Fender became the first artist to complete a set of live dates with all electric transport.
The final run of the tour, taking the singer-songwriter from Manchester to Edinburgh and Belfast to Stradbally in Ireland, used four fully electric vehicles in partnership with Mercedes-Benz Trucks, covering over 900 miles.
Each night, four eActros 600s carried stage sets and equipment between cities and venues, charging while on the road.
The ‘Rein Me In’ singer commented on the achievement: “We’ve just finished our summer tour where we used some Mercedes-Benz electric trucks with help from KB Event. Hopefully, this will show what can be achieved on future tours, and other artists will jump on board too. Big thanks to everyone involved, and to Massive Attack for pioneering the way with more sustainable touring.”
Richard Burnett of KB Event added: “Transport is a key part of any live music tour, but we wanted to make the ‘People Watching’ tour as green and sustainable as possible. Until now, electric trucks weren’t seen as viable for big tours, but the eActros 600 has shown they can deliver the performance, the range, and the reliability.”
Meanwhile, the Music Venue Trust shared earlier this month that funds raised from his UK tour in late 2024 provided a package of over £100,000 to help support almost 48 independent music venues across England, Scotland and Wales.
Fender is currently playing shows in North America and will head to Australia in November. Find US tickets here and Australia tickets here.
A week ago, ‘People Watching’ – which came out in February – was announced to be on the Mercury Prize 2025 shortlist, alongside albums from the likes of CMAT, Fontaines D.C. and Wolf Alice.
His third album overall, it became his second to receive a Mercury Prize nomination after 2021’s ‘Seventeen Going Under’. There could be new music coming next year, too, with Fender telling the crowd at his huge Wythenshawe Park gig on August 16, “I’m gonna go away at the end of this lot of shows and sort my shit out and get my voice as good as possible and make another album and fuck loads of new tunes next year.”
And earlier this year, he appeared on Apple Music 1’s The Zane Lowe Show, and shared that he was already working on the follow-up to ‘People Watching’.
“Now I’m ready to do another one,” he said. “I just want to get back in the studio, if I’m honest. I’ve got a load of new songs already.”
NME gave ‘People Watching’ a four-star review, writing: “Reflective, analytical and vulnerable, ‘People Watching’ does exactly what the title may suggest: takes stock of the characters, friends and loved ones who have made Fender the person he is today. He approaches each track with sensitivity as he looks back on his life so far – perhaps even with an inkling of guilt – and contemplates who he may be next.”
