That Frank Turner’s a bit bleedin’ crazy
at times, you know… Frank, a fixture of course of mine and Logan’s gig calendars
since our admittedly late (2014) discovery of his celebratory and inclusive
folk/punk anthems of punk-spirited empowerment and self-validation, announced
plans to mark the release of his 10th (!) solo album, “Undefeated”
by playing 15 gigs in 15 different UK towns and cities… in the space of 24
hours! All gigs organised by local independent record stores, Frank planned to start
Saturday lunchtime in Liverpool, going through the night from town to town by
e-taxi and ending up with a Sunday lunchtime gig in Southampton, which would
represent a New World Record of 15 shows in 24 hours, smashing the Flaming Lips’
former mark of 10. I found about this crazy scheme on a 40-minute old facebook
post by the man himself, and immediately jumped on tix for the nearest show to
the ‘Don, namely 10.30 a.m. in Frank’s hometown of Winchester. However that had
unsurprisingly sold out in a shot, so we settled for the final, Sunday midday
show in Southampton instead, which would actually afford us the opportunity to
welcome him across the finish line, as it were…
I therefore needed to rouse Logan from his Sunday morning slumber to get up and go to a gig! We set off at ¼ to 10 for a sunny drive down the M4/ A34, running into Ben Sydes and Evie at Sutton Scotney services, then also at the venue itself, after we’d parked up a local side street and entered the already-rammed venue at 11.15 a.m. Enjoyed some rock chat and got introduced to Ben’s mate, a Southsea guy I’m pretty sure we’ve seen at plenty of Frank/ Gaz/ Ben gigs before, and who had been to the previous 2 shows earlier this morning. This of course gave light to a debate as to whether there had been folks mad enough to go to all 15 – the answer subsequently being yes, Frank pointing out said utter headcases during the set…!
Frank’s support team (who’d been travelling with him throughout) set up a couple of guitars on the stage, then at 12 prompt, the man took the stage himself to a disproportionately loud ovation, arms outstretched in triumph, basking in the adulation of the crowd and feeding off its’ energy to augment his own reserves for one final push to the summit. Bolting on one of the equally road-weary acoustics, he deadpanned, “my name’s Frank Turner; welcome to my midlife crisis! I’ve got 29 minutes on my timer, so let’s get on with it…” before launching into a biliously angry, punk rock “No Thank You For The Music”, the hook already roared back by the crowd, then a galloping “Girl From The Record Shop”, bringing back Freshies Manchester Virgin Megastore memories to this old new waver. He looked frankly knackered, red of face and with eyes like pissholes in the snow, but this evident tiredness didn’t seem to carry through to his voice, which was as overt and passionate a roar as ever. Leaving it all onstage on this last show, indeed!
Frank shared a story of a teenage punk pen pal who’d (very) recently gotten back in touch before the melancholy newie “Letters”; then the stream-of-consciousness gabbling verse of “Never Mind The Back Problems” (about, “being punk at 42!” Try 58, mate…!) was preceded by a story of his first ever gig – a punk show at the excellent Southampton Joiners in 1995! “Undefeated” again saw him pouring heart and soul into the performance, before a couple of well-chosen and raucously sung along oldies in “Recovery” and “I Still Believe”, Frank, understandably taking a couple of opportunities to rest the voice and let the crowd carry the hook on this latter number.
But this of course wasn’t about Frank’s performance itself, more about the achievement; we were witness to a New World Record for “live” performances, and crazy idea notwithstanding (Frank constantly making reference to that, and his t-shirt which read “Whose Stupid Idea Was This Anyway?”), said record couldn’t have fallen to a more hard-working and deserving musician and individual. Particularly given that, before set closer “Do One”, Frank highlighted the point that all 15 shows in the last 24 hours had been put on by independent record stores, delivering a sermon to, “keep small indie venues alive,” before one final singalong and a deafening roar at its’ conclusion. Frank then took a deserved bow and announced, “I’m now going home to sleep!” Fair enough really…
Bade farewell to Ben and Evie before slow egress out of the packed venue still got us home for 2 p.m. Felt weird coming home from a gig in the early afternoon, but no worries… Congrats Frank, you crazy guy!
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