Sam Fender has revealed that he once turned down the opportunity to perform alongside Joni Mitchell.
He shared the news during a new backstage interview at Coachella with KROQ – recalling how he was once offered the chance to perform with the legendary singer-songwriter as part of her Joni Jams, but ended up turning it down due to nerves.
The Joni Jams arose after the iconic musician suffered a stroke in 2015 and it seemed that she would never be able to perform live again. She did make a comeback in 2022 though, playing a huge set at the Newport Folk Festival that same year. She would later go on to hold intimate shows for friends and family behind closed doors called the ‘Joni Jams’, where she teamed up with famous faces including Brandi Carlile and Marcus Mumford.
These later got momentum, and led to Mitchell bringing the collaborative shows to the live stage. According to Fender, it was as part of the shows at her home that he was invited to come and perform with the ‘California’ singer, but ultimately rejected the offer due to nerves.
“Can I tell you something mental? I got offered to go to a Joni Jam. You know how people were going to Joni’s house, and I didn’t go,” he told the outlet.
“Honestly, it was nerves. I was like, ‘There’s no way I can sit next to Joni Mitchell and be like do you want to listen to this?’” he added. “I was like, ‘Does she even want these people around?’ Obviously, she did, but yeah, I got offered the chance to go, and I bottled it. I completely bottled it.”
He concluded: “It’s one of my great regrets, it really plays on my mind.”
Joni Mitchell made headlines earlier this year when she took to the stage for another rare live appearance, held as part of the LA FireAid benefit show. The performance saw her joined by Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, Lucius, Taylor MacKall, Blake Mills, and Abe Rounds, and followed on from a moving set at the 2024 Grammy Awards ceremony.
As for Fender, the singer, songwriter and guitarist recently shared his third album, ‘People Watching’, and landed the biggest UK opening week for a British act since Harry Styles‘ ‘Harry’s House‘.
It also marked Fender’s biggest-ever opening week, selling more units than 2019’s debut ‘Hypersonic Missiles‘ and 2021’s ‘Seventeen Going Under‘ combined, and was named the best-selling vinyl album of 2025 so far.
In a four-star review of the album, NME wrote: “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.”
Looking forward to new music, Fender has recently teased another new album, saying that he is “desperate” to lean into more of a punk-inspired sound going forward, and used his BRITs speech last month to celebrate the people of Newcastle.
