Frank Turner is one of the hardest working musicians around, I reckon. I mean, a lot of people work hard, but he is relentless. Since the split of his old band Million Dead in 2005 he has released three albums and toured non stop. And his efforts have certainly paid off. The last time I saw Frank Turner live in Norwich he was playing at a pokey little pub called The Marquee; think dark, dingy and not so clean. The Marquee has a little back room that holds about fifty people maximum, the toilets, as a rule, don’t have seats and it’s a proper little rock dive, if you know what I mean. Last time, it was just Frank, his voice and his guitar. This time around Mr Turner has a backing band, his own PA for the tour and he has pretty much sold out Norwich’s biggest venue. In comparison to the Marquee, the UEA holds 1550 people and is a bit of alright.
As well his lugging his own PA around with him, Frank also has two tour supports out with him. First up were Crazy Arm, a Devon based quartet who make noises similar to Small Brown Bike, Against Me and Above Them; so basically, punk rock with a bit of a folk twist. They were very good openers for Mr Turner, although not entirely my cup of tea – a little too samey and not entirely original or refreshing. However, their energy and showmanship warmed the crowd up as much as a Norwich crowd ever gets warmed up (we’re a hard lot to please). Chuck Ragan was Frank’s other support for the night (and the tour, I believe) and he is a man with a very powerful voice. Of a similar ilk to Crazy Arm but slightly better, slightly more mature sounding and slightly more… organised sounding. Chuck Ragan sang from the heart, put on a good show and was rather quite enjoyable.
Now, the main event. After a little wait and the little critters at the gig getting impatient and chanting, Frank Turner graced the stage and quite the string of musicians followed in the shape of a pretty extensive backing band. Frank was, as ever, charismatic and a great entertainer. He engaged with the crowd perfectly, gave it all and the rapport between him and his backing band was great to see. One observation I had was that Frank Turner makes people point. I know it is common to see people singing their little hearts out at gigs, their pinkies skywards, but the sheer amount of finger to the sky action was phenomenal. Frank really seems to install his own brand of passion in his fans and it’s quite the site, I tell you.
So, Frank’s set was pretty awesome, to be fair. A good mix of old and new and it was particularly nice to hear some of the older stuff such as ‘The Real Damage’ and even nicer to hear some of the newer stuff live for the first time. Particular highlights were his cover of ‘The District Sleeps Alone Tonight’ by The Postal Service, which was something very special, although I did get over excited at the mention of “this is a cover” thinking Frank was going to dig out his old cover of ‘Prayer to God’ by Shellac, but this was atmospheric and enthralling. The other real high point was closing song ‘The Road’ – probably Frank’s biggest success story to date, in terms of airplay. The crowd went nuts, literally. It was pretty awesome to be encaptured in the atmosphere of a big sing a long. That doesn’t happen enough.
Frank Turner has one of the biggest voices imaginable and it needs to be heard live. I personally prefer him with just his guitar, but the backing band added some extra oomph and energy and their were solo moments, so it’s all good. If you ever get the chance to see Mr Turner live, please please do.
Thanks to Anthea at Press Counsel
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