The latest gig on our A to Z Musical Tour was ……
Undefeated is the name of the 10th solo album by Frank Turner.
Undefeated is the strapline for the current tour.
And, after last night, Frank Turner and his band The Sleeping Souls remain the Undefeated champions of Folk Punk.
700 fans descended on The Garage in Glasgow for the latest stopover with the livewire musician creating a frenzied atmosphere from the opening lines of No Thank You For The Music until the lights came up after Four Simple Words.
In a ninety-minute set, he packed in 25 tracks that covered his journey from debut album Campfire Punkrock in 2006 until the recent Undefeated. Looking around the venue, it’s a journey many of the audience have also shared with him as choruses were belted out, arms waved in the air and, as expected, bouncing and dancing became the norm throughout the night.
Frank Turner may not have seriously threatened the music charts, yet there is no doubt he is a first-class storyteller, using personal experiences as in Ceasefire and Letters to write songs we can all relate to. They’re songs that bring the narrator and audience together as one.
Playing in Scotland, he was generous in his appreciation of his much-missed Frightened Rabbit friend and soulmate Scott Hutchinson, playing both A Wave Across The Bay and The Modern Leper in tribute to him.
The wordsmith though is more than ably backed up by The Sleeping Souls, Ben Lloyd on guitar, Tarrant Anderson on bass, Matt Nasir on keyboards and Callum Green on drums. They are a formidable tight outfit of musicians who give all the songs, Frank’s solos apart, a life of their own in the live setting. Sleeping Souls? I doubt whether anyone would be falling asleep in the vicinity of this group.
The Garage proved the ideal venue for the band. Big enough to make it feel like an event, intimate enough to feel part of the show itself.
As Frank Turner declared at the outset, it’s been a while since he’s been in the city. On last night’s performance we have to hope it won’t be long until we’re practicing those Four Simple Words again.
Support Acts
If Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls were the Advanced Drivers on the night, The Meffs were definitely in the ‘P’ category of just having passed their driving test and now out and about in the world to showcase their talents.
And, on last night’s showing, they have a lot to offer with their punk attitude and dynamic song delivery.
Definitely not shy, Lilly on guitar and vocals and Lewis on drums, led us through a whirlwind of songs which was reminiscent of the dawn of the short lived punk era when attitude was to the fore.
Musically though, this is a duo on the right track and, with a debut album to come later this summer, it won’t be long until they will be hitting that road again as headliners in their own right.
File this under watch this space.
Staying with the driving analogy, the first act of the night was Ben ‘Blue’ Brown. Definitely in the ‘L’ category, with a number of fine songs and a vocal range that suited the acoustic delivery.
Whether it was nervousness singing to a Glasgow crowd, we might never know, however Ben might want to sharpen up on his in-between song banter. With the backing of Frank Turner he’s likely to learn a lot about stage craft and time will tell if he’s able to throw away the ‘L’ plates.
Mittens, a personal favourite, was added to the set list for The Garage and what a crowd pleaser it turned out to be.
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