If you'll cast your mind back to last week, you might remember that musician Sam Fender made headlines across the world when he played the first socially-distanced gig in the UK last week.

The set-up at Newcastle's Gosforth Park differed from the likes of drive-in gigs happening around the world, as it involved 2,500 people being place in 'pens' which held 5 people each.

It divided fans, some of which baulked at the idea of watching a gig in such sterile conditions. Many others said that they'd jump at the chance to experience live music in any way.

Now, Fender himself has given his own perspective on the gigs (he played two nights) in a new interview with Variety.

He admitted that he was initially 'skeptical' about the set-up, saying "It was like playing in front of the biggest human cattle market. But it was fantastic. Of course it’s not going to have the same vibe as a gig where there’s a mosh pit and then people having to go to the emergency room. There weren’t as many pints flying around and flags and crazy stuff. But when we went on stage, there were two and a half thousand people singing the songs back to us. The drinks were flowing. The classic British weather came in with a nice rain. It was fantastic. It was a show. And that’s what we need."

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He added that he was concerned that the noise levels - or lack thereof - might stunt the atmosphere, but that the audiences were exorcising the 'pent-up frustrations of lockdown'. "Them two and a half thousand people might as well have been 20,000, the way they were screaming," he said.

Fender also addressed the fact that he opened the second gig by saying "F**k Piers Morgan". Morgan had been critical of the gig on Good Morning Britain. "I just felt, for Christ’s sake, man, for somebody who’s been preaching social distancing and staying safe, I thought he would be behind it," said Fender. "So it just annoyed me that somebody who’s been so vocal about this pandemic and so vocal about people remaining safe and remaining distanced, to then be negative about it — it just wound me up."

Read the whole interview here.