Sam Fender brings stadium tour to Cardiff

If you have been following Sam Fender's rise from North Shields, the next step is an obvious one. The Northumbrian singer-songwriter, born in 1996 and discovered by Ben Howard's manager, is taking his Proper Massive Stadium Tour to Cardiff, and the scale of it is hard to overstate. He plays the Principality Stadium on Thursday 10 June and Saturday 12 June 2027, both doors at 17:00. The second date was added after the first sold out, which tells you everything you need to know about the demand.

General sale opens at 9:30am GMT on Friday 30 October, with tickets going through samfender.com. Hospitality packages come live at the same time, and there is a register-your-interest option if you want to be first in line for them. The tour itself is a summer-long run of twelve shows across the UK and Ireland, opening with two nights at Newcastle's St James' Park on 3 and 5 June before heading to London's Wembley Stadium, Edinburgh's Scottish Gas Murrayfield, Manchester's Etihad and Dublin's Marlay Park. Fender also lands his first European festival headline slot at Rock Werchter in Belgium on 3 July, and the whole run closes back in London on 2 September.

For anyone who has not caught him live, the trajectory is worth knowing. His 2017 single Play God landed him on the BBC Sound of 2018 list, and since then he has moved from the Dead Boys EP in 2018 to the albums Hypersonic Missiles in 2019 and Seventeen Going Under in 2021. He played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in 2022 and headlined Finsbury Park for 45,000 people, and in 2023 he became the first Geordie musician to headline St James' Park. The Cardiff dates sit right in the middle of that progression.

He is not alone on the bill. The support act is Wunderhorse, a British alt-rock band fronted by Jacob Slater, whose debut Cub came out in 2022 and whose second album, Midas, was recorded at Minnesota's Pachyderm Studio with producer Craig Silvey. They are a genuine draw in their own right, so arrive early enough to catch them.

As for the venue, the Principality Stadium on Westgate Street is the spiritual home of Welsh sport, and it is built for this kind of night. It has AV facilities, WiFi, disabled access, six large lounges and 113 hospitality suites. Getting there is straightforward: Cardiff Central is the nearest station, Cardiff Queen Street is a 15-minute walk to the east, and Cardiff Central Bus Station is five minutes away. If you are driving in from the M4, take the A48 towards the city centre; there is no dedicated spectator parking at the stadium on match days, but plenty in the city centre, with Park and Ride running from Pentwyn and Leckwith on event days. Cardiff Airport is within half an hour, and Bristol Airport about 45 minutes.

A few house rules are worth knowing before you go. No alcohol, drink containers, recording or photography equipment, airhorns or anything that could be used as a weapon or projectile, and no smoking anywhere in the stadium. Personal food and drink are not permitted, though there is fast food and licensed bars inside. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, and will-call tickets can be collected on the day at the WRU Store on Westgate Street, next to Gate 3. It is a big night at a big venue, so the earlier you sort your tickets, the better.