Gigs

Gig Review: Frank Turner

[Venue: Railway Inn, Winchester]
[Date: 24 April 2008]

Returning home to Winchester after a relentless tour that took in around thirty four shows in thirty three days, it comes as no surprise to see Frank Turner and his supporting band looking more than a bit weary and haggard. But despite the rough nature of touring all over the country in support of ‘Love, Ire and Song’, at no point at tonight’s show do you feel Turner is phoning this one in.

The Railway Inn is an interesting venue, its intimacy perfectly suited to Turner’s unity of band and fan, and you can tell the sentimentality of returning home has had quite an effect on him tonight, constantly telling the crammed venue how lucky he feels to be in this position. It’s a charming message, but as the night wears on Turner does have a tendency to lay it on a bit thick, and the whole “I’m not worthy” attitude does wear thin, especially considering that it’s his own hard work that has seen him release two great albums and play an incredible amount of shows.

But the music remains the focus of Turner’s show and with the backing of his fantastic touring band, featuring members of Dive Dive, opener ‘I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous’ instantly inspires everyone to start jumping about, it’s catchy chorus now known by the majority of the turnout to enable a good singalong. This is the true strength of Turner – throughout the set this sense of camaraderie is consistently maintained, from the “laa’ing” at the end of ‘Fathers Day’ to the laid back banter in between songs, with one reveller getting his wishes fulfilled after yelling for an impromptu performance of some Led Zeppelin, causing the band to immediately bust into the intro riff of ‘Immigrant Song’, wild “aah’ing” and all.

Turner’s set covered all the bases, playing a fair share of new and old. In fact I was quite surprised at how well the new material came across live – ‘Imperfect Tense’ was brilliantly punctuated by Nigel Powell’s furious drumming and ‘A Love Worth Keeping’ came out a lot more emotional than the somewhat plain rendition on ‘Love, Ire & Song’.

But Turner knows what the crowd expects from him, and doesn’t disappoint when favourites such as ‘Nashville Tennessee’, having a somewhat more poignant meaning tonight given the lyrical themes of being stuck in boring middle England, and ‘The Real Damage’ which is made even more delightful when support act Chris T-T joins in the fun on the keyboard.

It is tradition for Turner to close all of his shows on ‘The Ballad of Me and My Friends’, another touching reminder of how much his audience mean to him. Everyone leaves the gig with a smile on their faces, and Frank walks around talking to everyone as if they were his closest friends, receiving handshakes, hugs and even a request for a French kiss from one particularly drunk reveller. It takes a lot to shrug off the idea of an ego, especially in music, but it would seem Frank is one who is totally against the idea and whilst he’s still playing great, intimate shows like this it’s an attitude that is sure to benefit him greatly. But living a life like this can be tiring, and one question constantly remains on the tip of my tongue – can he possibly keep it up?

For fans of: Billy Bragg, Jonah Matranga, Chris T-T
Band links = Frank Turner

Tags: live, gig, Frank Turner, Railway Inn, review, winchester, billy bragg, folk, rock

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