Thursday August 28th 2025
Sam Fender and fan, Cara MacLean, on stage performing The Borders
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
During his long-awaited Edinburgh concert, Geordie superstar Sam Fender made a fan’s dream come true by inviting her up on stage to sing his hit song ‘The Borders’ with him and his band.
Cara MacLean, 18, grabbed band member’s Dean Thompson and Brooke Bentham’s attention after posting covers of Fender’s songs online. Leading to being invited up on stage to sing and dance with the band in a moment Cara explained as ‘really special’.
Travelling from her home in Stirling on the day of the concert, Cara set off on her own to the gig at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Showground at 4am, arriving at 7am in the hope to make it to the front of the stage. Arriving early with a makeshift sign to grab Sam Fender’s attention, she asked to play ‘The Borders’. She had also been making social media posts asking the band if she could play. Her dream came true six songs in when Sam Fender pointed to her in the crowd.
Cara explained, “I wasn’t really expecting any of it to happen but I had been posting covers for a couple months almost every day and Brooke and Dean who are part of the band had been watching them and I think obviously sent them to Sam.”
“There were a lot of people in the audience with signs asking to play The Borders so I was like oh well you know, I’ll enjoy it regardless if it happens or not. I think it was during Arm’s Length [another hit song], which was the song he played before The Borders, I saw Dean go over to Sam and whisper something to him and then after the song finished, Sam pointed at me and said up you come.”
Performing ‘The Borders’ which is a deep reflection into Fender’s up bringing in the Scottish Borders, made it more special for Cara, despite Fender often bringing audience members up on stage to perform the song, she explained that she was drawn to Sam Fender’s music due to his ‘raw mental health kind of lyrics’ which she ‘really respects’.
Sam Fender’s Edinburgh concert on Friday the 22nd of August was his largest Edinburgh gig, being his second return to the country he announced to the crowd as ‘the best country in the British Isles’. Attracting around 30,000 fans to his second time playing in the capital, Fender’s gig at the Royal Highland Showground in Ingleston was a must-go for fans across the country.
Just leaving school, Cara has taken a gap year where she has become an avid concert goer. With plans of studying film at university, her recent experiences with live music and playing on Sam Fender’s stage infront of 30,000 people has made her question if she wants to study music instead.
“None of my family is musical, my dad randomly had guitars. Back in 2023 I’d been to a gig in London and I saw the guitarist there and I just thought that’s what I want to do and then I went home and saw a video of Sam Fender online. I don’t remember what he was playing but I saw him playing the guitar and I just thought, I need to get my dad to get the guitar from the loft and start playing.”
Prior to the Edinburgh concert, Fender’s band mate Dean commented on one of Cara’s covers on Instagram telling her to get that sign high in the air, making the experience nerve racking before she was even asked to come up on stage.
Cara playing on stage with Sam Fender and his band
“I don’t think I’ve ever even played infront of my family so when I went up I surprisingly wasn’t nervous about the crowd, it was more scary if I mess up infront of the guitarist but I was surprisingly very calm, it was more then I came off and you look out into the crowd.”
Cara explained that going onto the stage was surprisingly calm with Sam Fender being very welcoming and explaining that if she messes up not to worry and to just follow what the bands doing.
With superstar Olivia Dean supporting Fender, her opening act added to the significance of Sam Fender’s return to Edinburgh. Drawing in a larger crowd and adding to Cara’s nerves.
“I just remember being in so much shock and Olivia was standing there that I just looked at her and I absolutely blanked her and I processed after a minute and I was like I’ve just blanked Olivia Dean.’
Being a huge fan of both Sam Fender and live music, this moment for Cara was special. Allowing her to play alongside one of her icons and get a taste for live music which may have swayed her future aspirations.
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