Frank Turner, dear readers, is amazing. I saw him at the same venue back in January of this year, and the vibe has certainly changed in over the course of a few months. The musician I saw perform at the beginning of 2009 was a humble, beautiful and creative man whose brilliant music was significantly under-appreciated.
Friday evening saw that same humble, beautiful and creative man recognised; by a sold-out room full of people, to be specific. On top of the fact it was a sell-out crowd, I feel I can say without any exaggeration that every person in the 850-capacity venue knew every lyric to every song – even the early EPs from back in the Million Dead days. The feel of this gig was astounding – from the marginally rowdy croud to the historical introductions to songs from brilliant man himself.
The evening began with crowd-pleasing supports slots from Beans On Toast and Fake Problems, the latter being an American rock band with a lot of angst, and the former being an electro-acoustic troubadour with an apt and hilarious way of lyricising how shit everything is. Frank himself spoke highly of both, and his comments were well founded.
Frank took to the stage, on time as one would expect from this overtly polite and tantalising character, and broke into an instant rendition of ‘Live Fast, Die Old’, the opening anthem to third album ‘Poetry Of The Deed’. Throughout the evening, it was clear that everybody in the room would have done absolutely another Mr. Turner told them to. Both old and young have been captured by Frank’s coy brilliance, and seeing the man himself live is absolutely anything but a disappointment.
The now mainstream appeal of Frank Turner comes not from a sellout decision to write music that appeals to the mainstream, but a result of signing with Epitaph Records and hitting the United States large for the first time in Frank’s solo career. The most refreshing thing about this performance was the fact that he is still the same down-to-earth and intelligent guy he was before 850 were singing his own words at him at an esteemed Cambridge venue.
‘Reasons Not To Be An Idiot’, ‘I Knew Prufrock Before He Was Famous’ and ‘Nashville Tennesse’ were among the best of Frank’s offerings on Friday evening, especially ‘Nashville Tennesse’, which he declared an audience member had claimed he would never play in a forum the week before!
By far the best part of the evening was the final song of Frank’s spectacular encore ‘Photosynthesis’. The song went on seven or eight minutes, with Frank inviting both support acts on stage to join in the fun, and concluding by jumping into the audience and letting everyone have a good old feel of him before returning to the stage to sing the last line.
Frank Turner is one of the best musicians and the best performers in the music industry today, and it’s fantastic to see this being recognised without losing the humble and down-to-earth persona that so defines Frank.
