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On Thursday (July 3), Sam Fender headlined the British Grand Prix opening concert at Silverstone. It was the first of four massive gigs at the iconic racing circuit over Grand Prix weekend, with RAYE, Fatboy Slim and Becky Hill headlining on subsequent nights. Also on the four-day bill? Pop alchemist JADE, R&B queen Mabel and a DJ set from Idris Elba.
With around 480,000 motorsport and music fans expected to attend the four-day event, there was a real festival vibe to opening night with loads of food trucks and thumping DJ sets between live performances. Some punters wore Newcastle United shirts as a nod to Fender’s beloved football club, while many more wore McLaren, Ferrari and Alpine baseball caps.
Fender’s hour-long headline set definitely got the crowd revved up, but here’s everything else that happened on a balmy summer night at Silverstone.
@silverstoneuk Mega-incognito 🕵️ Sam Fender was on fire last night 🔥 @Sam Fender #BritishGP #F1 #SamFender
Taylor Swift got a couple of shout-outs
Before support act Blossoms came on at 8pm, the main stage welcomed two British F1 hotshots: McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ George Russell. The former revealed that he wouldn’t mind a role in a Marvel movie, while the latter confirmed something that fans will already know: he’s a card-carrying Swiftie. Norris told the crowd he sings along to Swift in the car, though on this occasion, he couldn’t be coaxed into giving an impromptu rendition of one of her hits. Maybe next time, Lando?
Norris, who’s currently second in the drivers’ world championship behind his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, also joked that he hoped loud cheers from British F1 fans might distract his rivals at the grand prix on Sunday. He’s very much in it to win it.
Blossoms delivered a storming support slot
The Stockport crew delivered a typically stylish set featuring cool retro visuals. Their stage design incorporated a neon sign spelling out ‘Nightclub’ – the title of a recent album track – and an old-school reel-to-reel cassette player. Highlights included crowd-pleasing renditions of fan favourites ‘Charlemagne’ and ‘There’s a Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)’, plus newer tunes from last year’s chart-topping ‘Gary’ album. The wry, wiry ‘What Can I Say After I’m Sorry?’ felt particularly atmospheric as the light was beginning to dim.
Frontman Tom Ogden also slipped in a location-appropriate motoring pun. “Come on, I know you’ve got a little more in the tank,” he told the crowd as he challenged them to cheer even louder for headliner Sam Fender. They didn’t need to be asked twice.
Sam Fender charmed Silverstone from the start
Having recently completed a UK stadium tour including three hometown shows at Newcastle’s St James’ Park, the 31-year-old really knows how to work a crowd. After his opening number, the sax-flecked stomper ‘Getting Started’, Fender said it was an “honour” to be performing at “such a prestigious racing circuit”. He also aligned himself with the many petrolheads in the crowd by saying: “You like cars – class. We like cars too.”
And though he quipped that he wouldn’t be walking down the main stage’s extended catwalk – because his guitar lead “won’t stretch that far” – he gave it a pretty good go later on.
@f1ems Sam Fender speaking f1 fans language 😂 #f1 #silverstone #samfender
He made the main stage feel impressively intimate
At this point, three chart-topping albums into his career, Fender has real range. He introduced the fast and furious ‘Howdon Aldi Death Queue’ as a “stupid punk song”, but tugged at the heartstrings a couple of songs later with ‘Crumbling Empire’. He described the latter as “a song about my hometown, this country and my family”, highlighting his flair for blending the deeply personal with universal sentiments.
No less affecting was ‘Spit Of You’, a song about his struggle to open up emotionally to his father. When he sang “I can talk to anyone, I can talk to anyone, I can’t talk to you”, thousands of fans roared along with him.
He bowed out with his biggest ever tunes
Like his hero Bruce Springsteen, Fender has a gift for writing stadium-slaying anthems that don’t skimp on heart and soul. He ended with two of his most galvanising: ‘Seventeen Going Under’, an unsentimental account of his teenage struggles, and ‘Hypersonic Missiles’, a song about holding onto love in an increasingly chaotic world. Both became mass singalongs.
He left the Silverstone crowd feeling seriously hyped up for the grand prix weekend – many were camping nearby so they could enjoy the full four-day programme of music and motorsport. If Glastonbury is looking for a home-grown headliner when it returns in 2027, Fender just powered his way into pole position.
The four-day British Grand Prix event highlights the crossover between live music, entertainment and F1. With viagogo now an official team partner of BWT Alpine F1 Team, fans can plan their own cultural and F1 crossovers this summer with tickets to all the major Grand Prix now available