The last time I saw Frank Turner live was just before the Pandemic hit proper – standing two meters apart from my fellow gig goers, I still remember his final song. Polaroid Pictures has never felt so poignant, and my gig shirt proclaiming Not Dead Yet came to mean far more than was initially intended.
A lot has happened since, and we’re both back doing what we love as Turner takes to the stage of Cardiff’s Tramshed to introduce a plethora of musical delights.
First up was Sierra Leone’s Mash P. The Freetown afrobeat artist got the crowd going with a high-energy performance. It didn’t take him long to get everyone singing and clapping, which is always an impressive feat from an opening act, even more so when it’s a single performer with a backing track. Turner, and fellow support act, Truckstop Honeymoon joined P for the last couple of songs.
Before playing the title track from his debut album, Mr President, Mash P addressed the slowly gathering crowd: “Frank saved my life. I spent 12 years on the street. I was nobody, You might not believe it, but music can save your life.”
Next up was the sensational country duo Truckstop Honeymoon.
The married couple referred to their act as ‘hollering at strangers’, something they’ve been doing for 20 years.
Completely at ease on the stage, muti instrumentalists Katie and Mike West were delightful. Opening their set with a song about a coal captain, Mike said: ” it is the only job they drug test you to make sure you’re not sober.”
The affable pair used to live in New Orleans but found themselves homeless Hurricane Katrina wiped out a portion of the city bigger than most Welsh towns. Luckily, they were on tour at the time with their kids and only found out when they saw their house on the cover of the New York times.
The performance Mike called ‘more of a lecture than a gig’ encouraged students to partake of advanced education at the bar stating: “nothing lubricates the mind like beer”.
Mike then dedicated Your mother is a sociopath to the mums in the crowd, and his wife, Katie, who has raised four kids on the road.
It’s always great when a band accepts requests, but Mike warned there’s only a 20 per cent chance they know it. Tonight though, we got lucky as everyone got to hear the sublime balladry of ‘Magnolia Tree’
The pair bowed out of a barnstorming set with their ode to true love, Johnny and June.
Next up were Pet Needs, the melodic punks from Colchester that are bound to be headlining festivals sooner rather than later.
It’s clear they are having a blast as they bounce onto the stage before breaking into the riotous Lost Again.
Pet Needs high-octane performance didn’t let up, as they went straight into the superb tale of jealous anxiety, Tracy Emin’s Bed.
Lead singer Johnny Marriott is a natural showman and did a superb job of further preparing the audience for Frank and the Sleeping Souls. Marriott seems like the kind of frontman that’s more than happy to dive into the pit when the mood takes him, and I get the feeling if the security weren’t keeping an eye on him, he would have.
Pet Needs set was punctuated by tales of life on the road with The Sleeping Souls, the inspiration for a song about a washing machine repairman, and the malaise of lockdown, which led to the release of their debut album, Fractured Party Music, and in January to quitting their stable day jobs.
Triumphantly Johnny proclaimed that they were now a band full-time to cheers from the crowd. He quipped: ” I wish you guys were there to back us up. You took it a lot better than our parents did.”
Though in my mind, the band’s most impressive feat was freezing stock-still until the crowd cheered enough during Overcompensating.
Although it was Pet Needs’ first time in Wales, they’re back in December, and if you can still get tickets, I would check them out. I get the feeling they’ll be another of those I remember when bands old bastards like me boast about when they’re inevitably selling out stadiums.
Finally, it was time for Winchester’s favourite son, Frank Turner and the incredible Sleeping Souls.
Show 2701, the band’s first at the Tramshed, opened with a statement of intent as Frank declared: “I want to dance,” during the anthemic – ‘Four Simple Words’ before pirouetting across the stage.
They didn’t miss a beat as they launched straight into I haven’t been doing so well. This is a sentiment that I think many in the crowd could relate to, considering the last few years.
Turner’s gigs are community affairs and have two simple rules: Don’t be a dickhead, and if you know the words, sing along.
He was in the right place for rule two, as the Welsh love to sing – and they’re bloody good at it too.
Frank then Apologised for being away for so long, remarking: “Well, I can account for two years”.
While getting a circle pit going during Punches, Frank encouraged the crowd by jibing: “That’s ok for an English pit” after the inevitable boos, the circle pit doubled in size.
The monster two-hour set mixed what you would call ‘the hits’ with the best tracks from his latest record FTHC (The HC stands for Human Centipede – I am as surprised as you are)
There was the uplifting Miranda, a joyous song about Frank reconciling with his father, who came out as trans five years ago, after having what Frank described as a broken-down relationship for 35 years.
The Work, a lovely folk song he wrote for his wife – that he then snuck into the studio and added angry drums and squealing guitars to, which resulted in his wife asking: “What did you do to my beautiful song, you dickhead.”
Then there was A Wave Across a Bay. Turner’s moving tribute to his friend Scott Hutchinson, the lead singer of the incredible Frightened Rabbit. Who sadly took his own life four years ago ‘and broke everybody’s hearts.’ You can tell how much this song means to Frank. He was welling up on stage while singing this beautiful track, and so was most of the audience.
“I would prefer to remember the way he lived his life instead of the way he chose to leave it,” Frank said. He then emplored anyone in the crowd that was struggling and needed to talk to someone to do it because they would be surprised how many people will listen (he’s right, you know.)
There were rapturous cheers as he broke out an old favourite – Thatcher Fucked The Kids, not surprising, considering how that hag’s poisonous ideology trashed Wales (and eventually, the rest of Britain).
Joking before Be More Kind, Frank said: “I wrote this in 2016 and thought things would calm down, but it seems to me a lot of things have got a lot fucking worse. It’s bad news for our country, but good for my career because I called it. Then a month ago, it got a lot fucking worse with the latest lot of dickheads no one voted for, and the sooner they are gone, the better.”
Frank then took us back to his Million Dead days with the heaviest song in his repertoire Non Servium. The intimate venue was then swallowed by a circle pit fit for the Welsh. ( That’s much bigger than one of those tiny English ones)
Finishing off the main set before an overwhelming compulsion forced the band to stand in the corridor for 30 seconds, Frank introduced Get Better by stating: “I would like to finish the show in the spirit we started it. I want to see everyone jump.”
Frank and the Sleeping souls then returned for a four-song encore featuring I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous and Recovery – that included a fabulous fake-out at the end. As people started to sense the end of the gig was nigh and began to shuffle towards the door, Frank sang: “One day this will all be over… But not quite yet.”
The band then launched straight into Try This at Home before bowing out with the brilliant ‘I Still Believe’ and one last sing-along.
Thus ended another stunning performance by one of Britain’s best singer-songwriters and one of the best gigs of the year.
The Neverending Tour of Everywhere has a few more dates in 2022 and is back for another set of shows in 2023. I wonder if they will eventually make it to The Valleys.