Roll up, roll up Sam Fender fans, it's new album day on Friday. It's not a record full of new music yet, rather a live version of his landmark show at Finsbury Park - but there's still plenty to be excited about.
Recordings from the 16 tracks the North Shields star and his band played at the headline London show to over 40,000 people are being put into fans' hands on streaming services and with special vinyls.
The album also includes two new studio tracks. The first 'Wild Grey Ocean', was released earlier this year, and the second 'Little Bull of Blithe' drops on Friday.
The show this summer in the Big Smoke was Fender's biggest-ever headline slot to date and a real landmark moment in his ever-impressive career - two nights at St. James' Park next summer will of course eclipse that number of spectators and become his biggest to date.
The live album is a celebration of Seventeen Going Under in all its success, and a chance to relive the classics from debut album Hypersonic Missiles in all their glory again.
We get an early listen and the live album and, since we couldn't make the trip to London to catch the show, get to relive it through our eardrums. Check out the gallery below for a track-by-track listen with us.
1. Will We Talk
Well, it didn’t take long to bring back all the FOMO I felt in the summer. ‘Will We Talk’ is such a great opener, I can’t even imagine the hype around Finsbury Park when Fender and the boys opened on this.
2. Getting Started
This was an early favourite for me on Seventeen Going Under, and I still love it now. It’s a pretty upbeat track, but I can’t be the only one who finds it a bit emotional with its tale of perseverance? Especially with Fender’s live vocals.
3. Dead Boys
Oof. “This one is about our hometown North Shields, and our friends who aren’t with us anymore,” Fender tells Finsbury Park. The silence around the park on the recording shows even the London crowd clearly get the significance of this one.
4. Mantra
Fender opens this one saying he’s always wanted to play it in front of a setting sun. I can just picture it, a smiling Fender, his biggest ever crowd and a beautiful sunset. Mega.