17 September 2025, 12:00 | Updated: 17 September 2025, 12:15
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Four electric trucks transported stage sets and equipment between cities on the singer-songwriter’s People Watching tour
Sam Fender has become the first artist to complete a set of live dates with all electric transport on his People Watching tour.
As reported by NME, the final run of the Geordie singer-songwriter’s tour from Manchester to Edinburgh and Belfast to Stradbally in Ireland, saw the use of four fully electric vehicles in partnership with Mercedes-Benz Trucks, covering over 900 miles in total.
Of the achievement the Seventeen Going Under singer said: “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.”
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Meanwhile Sam Fender’s People Watching album has made the 2025 Mercury Prize Album Of The Year shortlist.
The prestigious awards, which celebrates the best UK and Irish records of the last year, has also named studio efforts from the likes of Pulp, Wolf Alice, Fontaines D.C. and CMAT among its nominees.
Jarvis Cocker and co have returned to the shortlist for for More – their first studio album in 24 years.
Fontaines D.C and Wolf Alice have both received a nod for their fourth studio albums, with the Dublin rockers’ Romance and the London quartet’s recent release The Clearing also making the shortlist.
See the full Mercury Prize 2025 shortlist here.
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People Watching might be in the spotlight, but Sam Fender has already revealed he wants to “sort (his) s***” out and make a new album next year.
While playing a headline set at Manchester’s Wythenshawe Park on Saturday 16th August, he told the crowd: “I’m gonna go away and sort my s*** out and get my voice as good as possible and we’re gonna make another album and I’ve got a f*** load of new tunes. And aye… I’m just gonna get all that stuff out when I come back next year, and I want it to be the greatest time ever.”
The Rein Me In singer added: “I can’t wait to see yous when I come back, OK?”
Watch his speech in a video shared by a fan account below:
Fender has had another milestone year, releasing his third studio album People Watching in February 2025 and scoring his third consecutive UK number one, after 2019’s Hypersonic Missiles and 2021’s Seventeen Going Under.
Following a milestone gig at London Stadium this summer, the Play God singer also went on to pay three sold-out homecoming shows at St James’ Park, boosting the economy by millions in the region.
This month sees Sam Fender head to North America for a string of dates this autumn, before heading to Australia in November.
Visit samfender.com to see his full dates and to buy tickets.
Sam Fender – Will We Talk LIVE for Radio X
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