Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls @ The Gov, Adelaide 9/12/2018
Everything about Frank Turner is first class! Hi music, his energy, his intensity and his unwavering punk rock spirit. The opening song Out Of Breathe was a ripper with the great man saying “let’s get the show on the fucking road”. Photosynthesis kept that good time vibe going followed by Frank saying to the crowd that this is a punk rock show with two rules, the first, don’t be an arsehole and the second requires plenty of participation, singing and dancing. The crowd responded as he charged his way in to 1993.
It is quite a feat to clock up one hundred and sixty three shows this year across nineteen countries with the tour winding up in Adelaide for the year. There was definitely an element of letting their hair down one last time this year before going home. This show was packed full of energy and even if you weren’t a fan by the end you no doubt would be. Frank Turner has plenty of charm and really does endear himself to his fans and despite the lengthy amount of time on the road this for one minute does not detract from his showmanship one iota. Anyone would think that the way he moves around the stage that it was the first show of the tour.
Blackout is really beat and has a great groove to it complete with Frank Turner jumping about on stage. Turner is well researched joking about some Adelaide facts including Harry The Camel and is puzzled by the timezone asking how we cope with spoiler alerts. Polaroid Picture was about taking stock of people and places that mean a lot. Brave Face was introduced as a new and Turner spoke about needing to tour with a choir which is insanely expensive and that’s where the Adelaide comes in to out. With a bit of coaching Turner wondered if Adelaide is just a six out of ten crowd which fired them up no end. Glory Hallelujah was just superb! Turner again asked the crowd to bring out their best dance moves on Little Changes even the less energetic one.
Turner did take a moment to reflect and apologised that it had been three and a half years since the last Australian tour and that he genuinely missed us. He went on to say that the new songs were written when the world had collectively gone fucking mad then playing Don’t Worry. The solo acoustic section was a real highlight with Wessex Boy (a song about towns that don’t get songs written about them), Dan’s Song and The Ballad Of Me And My Friends. What a sing-a-long and what a moment for young Ruby, who was at her first concert ever, getting to join Turner on stage playing harmonica. No doubt a moment she will never forget.
With the band returning to the stage and the turbo chargers switched on there was that feeling that the set was building to the end with I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous, Try This At Home and I Still Believe. It was also quite admirable for the amount of time he took to thank the supports, his band and crew who play a massive role in keeping the wheels turning.
Returning for an encore Turner said that they rocked so hard they blew up their backline. Turner went solo again playing Be Your Kind then bringing it on home with the band on The Way I Tend To Be, Get Better and Four Simple Words. Fantastic show, let’s hope a return visit is planned for much sooner.
Live Review By Rob Lyon