A year ago Sam Fender played the moderate Rock City Basement in front of a hundred or so people, last night he played the main stage to 2000 Fender fans who moshed and sang to his 14 track set-list.

Between that he’s won the Critic’s Choice Award at this years BRIT’s, released his debut album Hypersonic Missiles, and he’s not looked back since.

Fender opened his set with Will We Talk, fast paced and with heavy electric guitar it got the audience moving from the get go. It was swiftly followed by Millennial which picked up the pace even more, Fender was enjoying himself watching the crowd jump to his songs while he performed – he couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

Start Again showed off Fender’s vocal range, and it was followed by Greasy Spoon which got one of the biggest reactions of the night. While it’s not his most upbeat song, it’s evidently a crowd favourite.

He performed a track called All Is On My Side, and said it didn’t make the record but hinted that it could be released in the near future. It’s got a bit more oomph of a ballad but the lyrics are beautiful.

The mosh pit made it’s appearance again for the next track, and his favourite from the album: The Borders. You could tell he really enjoyed performing it and so did the other musicians on stage, two of which he grew up with back in his hometown of Newcastle.

Two men stood behind me during the gig and one of them said: “Oh this song is so depressing but it’s such a banger” – and I think that pretty much sums up the next track Dead Boys. Fender has made a hard topic (male suicide) not only approachable, but a tune that everyone sings along to word for word – with the odd mosh thrown in.

He does the same with the next track Spice, a song about drugs he created a track with a unique tempo that’s pretty damn catchy. It’s also a track both the young and the old can connect with it whether that be through the lyrics or beat.

Play God, one of the songs that helped propel him to success came next and got the biggest reaction of the night. He wrote it in his garden shed back in South Shields and while it slowed down the pace, it also gave the audience a chance for a sing song and to prepare themselves for the next mosh pit which came in the form of Hypersonic Missiles.

Most encores only last a couple of songs, but not Fender’s. He came back on stage solo and giving me goosebumps with a beautiful rendition of Leave Fast. One of the men stood behind me said when he’d finished the track: “He’s got the voice of an angel” and the fact everyone stood watching was transfixed on him while he sang couldn’t make it any more true.

Since I last saw him a year ago his voice control has got so much better and he can go from sounding powerful and angry in one moment, to vulnerable in the next.

To say it was only the third time live they played Saturday, it sounded pretty damn good to me. It was followed by That Sound, moody and with some insanely good riffs it would have made a great final number.

Closing the hour long set Fender did a cover of Dancing In The Dark by Bruce Springsteen, one of his music idols. It was a really great version and he put his own little Fender twist on the classic number. It does seem a bit odd that he chose to add it to the end of his set list and not close with one of his own tracks (I feel like it should have been further up the set list), but it was beautiful none the less. Songs I would have loved to have heard? White Privilege would have sounded amazing live as well as Poundshop Kardashians and Friday Fighting (but hey can’t have it all!).

Fender seems a lot older than 25, not just in the subjects he writes about, but how he writes his songs. He does a great job at shining a light on subjects that can often seem taboo or not approachable, and it’s because it’s not only coming from someone young, but also it’s not been generated out of the media.

He’s certainly shown just why he won the BRIT’s Critic’s Choice Award and I don’t think it’ll be long before he’s up for Best Male. Even though he’s performing to bigger venues, the enjoyment radiating from him as he performs is evident. Fender said himself he feels like he’s got imposter syndrome and when he walks off stage the main act will walk on after – he doesn’t need to worry, from the reaction he got from the crowd he’s here for the long run.