Before I get into the bones of this review. This is a spoiler alert. Where the hell has Frank Turner live been all my life. How have I not seen him live before? What a show, what a set, what a band, what a night !!! In a year that has been one incredible show after another I get to attend this !!!
I have never seen so many people sardined into the iconic Gershwin Room at The Espy in St. Kilda, Melbourne …. Never (well with some serious thought, maybe just one was squishier and that was Horsehead some three decades ago) !!!!
With two support bands hand-picked by Mr. Turner tonight was set to be a series of new experiences live for me. Both of tonight’s support bands were from New South Wales. Great Job! from Sydney and Little Quirks from the NSW Central Coast. Both unknown to me.
Great Job! brought their power, pop punk feel good tunes to the stage first and I have to admit that within the first two songs they had really caught my attention. This powerful quartet steam rolled through a short but powerfully infectious thirty-minute set that had the building crowd eating out of the palm of their hands. Lyrically they are tongue in cheek, with a depth to their messages and musical musings. What this band brings to the stage is so much fun. Tight, powerful and visually exciting Great Job! Certainly set the tone for tonight. It’s no wonder they are selling out shows everywhere in Sydney. Frontman Charlie Holland is distinctly Australian in the way he annunciates and musically I would say they are comparable to The Smith Street Band and Luca Brassi. These guys are ones to watch.
Great Job! Gallery
Next up were Little Quirks, who are an interesting band visually and musically. If I was to pick a style based on Great Job! and Frank Turner, what I was anticipating from this five-piece band was something very different.
Visually I saw elements of a young Heart or Fleetwood Mac, add a dash of seventies glam flair and you have what I saw. The key members of this band are the three girls sisters Abbey Toole (guitar, vocals) and Mia Toole (drums, vocals), their cousin Jaymi Toole (mandolin, vocals). Rounding out the band are Alex Toole (Jaymi’s older brother) (bass guitar) and Jordan Rouse (guitar).
Musically I heard what after picking my brain relentlessly I can only describe as if Kasey Chambers joined The John Butler Trio and wrote with the Dixie Chicks. A female Mumford & Sons if you will. I hope that makes sense a little bit folky, a little bit country with a dash of pop rock for good measure.
Hailing from Gosford on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia, Little Quirks are a family affair with 4/5 of the band being related. I will say their harmonies were lush and musically they were super tight. Their energetic and well-rehearsed stage presence was captivating and they certainly left everything on the stage. By the end of their set they had captured the hearts and ears of many in the Gershwin room.
With 36k monthly listeners on Spotify and songs that are in the millions of streams Little Quirks are an exciting young band with a bright future ahead of them.
Little Quirks Gallery
Frank Turner …. Now where do I begin? Oh my god, live Turner and his band The Sleeping Souls are raw, dynamic power and energy. What you hear on his albums is just a taste of what you get live.
I think I spent the entire first song, ‘No Thank You For The Music, with my jaw on the floor. The energy, the engagement and the uniting of voices in full flight as Turner spat his lyrics into the microphone had me in awe. By the time ‘Girl From The Record Store’ started the hairs had finally settled on my arms. The crowd was surging and moving and the sing along continued. The pure energy from the stage was a feeling I hadn’t experience is many, many years. This was a punk rock gig in a bar, a room that is meant to have a capacity of 550 people but I swear there were more here tonight. Turning around to see just how many were here, tonight I couldn’t tell and it wasn’t until later that I realised that we weren’t crammed in at the front of the room.
‘1933’ was up next, by now everyone around me was fully immersed in this show, connected, singing, bouncing and having the time of our lives.
Turner paused to address us all and thank us for coming out and selling out the first show of this tour.
While telling us tonight’s show was show 2981 for the band. He proceeded to tell us there were two rules at a Frank Turner show.
- “It’s a punk rock show so have fun, if there is a little something going on in the middle I don’t mind, I actually love it but if someone goes down, pick them up and look after each other”
- “If you know the words sing along”.
‘Recovery’ kicks off and the sound of the crowd singing every line with Turner again has given me goosebumps. Electric energy being fuelled by an electric performance. Each feeding off the other.
The band is in fine form, tight as hell and having the time of their lives. It’s so damn hot in the room by this stage, Turner and band are already soaking wet with sweat. On stage it must have been an inferno because it was scorching where I was.
‘Never Mind The Back Problems’ is a fast paced bounce along feel good belter of a track that just took the crowd to a new stage of rowdy. This show is just nuts. ‘Photosynthesis’ calms things down a little and engagement from the crowd is a little more subdued but still active and singing along. I took this opportunity to head toward the bar and grab some water and find that sweet spot in the Gershwin where the air conditioning is actually felt. I never got to the bar, never stood a chance it was that packed. The voices sounded incredible singing along to every word. Keeping things a little more settled ‘Show People’ has everyone singing along. There is so much depth to Turner and his material, what a lyricist and again what a band. ‘Haven’t Been Doing So Well’ is the perfect power pop punk song. There is a beauty in feeling a crowds engagement, it radiates an energy that you feel even at the back of the room where I was now standing. You felt the commitment from the crowd to the band and vice versa. There is something to be said about a well crafted song and Turner has these in spades, lyrically sharp, full of hooks and memorable lines this is something that shines when you aren’t distracted by the sheer energy.
The band leave the stage and Turner takes centre stage solo and delivers two songs solo and oh my god ‘Be More Kind’ and ‘The Ballad Of Me & My Friends’ just go down a treat. Every word pretty much sung by the crowd this gave me goosebumps. The smile on Turners face is just priceless and his gratitude is just pouring from him as he thanked us all again. ‘Do One’ sees the band return and you can tell this rollercoaster of a show is about to go to the next level. The folky, punk infused ‘Try This At Home’ has voices loud and proud again and just as I predicted without even a word of encouragement every lyric is sung. I wish you could put what is going on in room into accurate words, there is so much emotion and passion here. Asking the crowd to help him pout Frank Turner asks us to sing with him and repeat ‘I Still Believe’ back to him which we do loudly. Is Turner the UK’s modern-day answer to Bruce Springsteen? I am certainly starting to become convinced of it. ‘Polaroid Pictures’ is a slice of pure delight, and shows that this side of his writing should have made him a household name.
The pace picks up as does the energy and the crowd is chanting along to ‘Get Better’. Again, I have goosebumps and have just become in awe of what I’m hearing. Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls deserve to be an arena band, the way Turner commands a crowd is god like.
Tonight’s closer ‘Four Simple Words’ has the Gershwin room bouncing screaming and singing at the tops of their voices. Just when you think a crowd can’t get any louder, they cranked the volume. Turner asks us all to dance with him and we oblige, what a sight to see a room full of people pirouette. They say dance like nobody is watching and that is what we all did. All care and caution had been thrown to the wind and all that mattered was having the time of your life. I know I certainly did.
Spending the last half of the show at the back of the room where the air wasn’t quite so thick I was able to take in the magnitude of tonight. I didn’t get to see a whole lot of the second half of the show as my view was obscured by the bouncing mass of bodies, but I felt every moment, this is the power of live music. This show was the sum of everything that I had imagined a gig could be, meaningful, poetic, incredibly powerful and most of all one hell of a good time. This was simply the best show I have had the pleasure of experiencing, the energy and performance by Frank and band was next level. The crowd gave their all the whole set. It really is near impossible to put into words. Now I’m super excited to see Frank Turners performance at Good Things and my little bit of advice is DO NOT miss his set. There is nothing that can compete with this show and knowing what I know it won’t be long until people figure it out too. My prediction is that Frank Turner will be one of the most talked about sets of the festival.
Setlist : No Thank You For The Music, Girl From The Record Shop, 1933, Recovery, Never Mind The Back Problems, Photosynthesis, Show People, Haven’t Been Doing So Well, If I Ever Stray, The Next Storm, Be More Kind, The Ballad Of Me & My Friends, Do One, Try This At Home, I Still Believe, Polaroid Picture, Get Better, Four Simple Words.
With many thanks to Dallas Does PR for the media access.
Photos by Shot By Slaidins Photography
Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls Gallery
Catch FRANK TURNER at this years Good Things Festival
