Frank Turner is the perfect person to take over the role of Ambassador for Independent Venue Week 2015 from Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood. Not only does he support independent venues, and credit them for when he started out, touring by train with just an acoustic guitar and a backpack, he’s also one of the most hardworking musicians around, with the 28/01/15 at the Manchester Night & Day Cafe being gig 1631!
After 3 fantastic and incredibly individualistic support acts, Turner took to the stage alone with his guitar, opening with ‘If Ever I Stray’. Though Turner admitted to having no set list and making the show up as he went along, it was a crowd pleasing set featuring tracks from each area of Turner’s discography, as well as a couple of new tracks, also inclusive of what Turner believes to be one of the best songs written, Smudge track ‘The Outdoor Type’. The encore even saw Turner master an acoustic version of Tom Jones classic ‘Delilah’. How could anybody not enjoy that?
Turner’s enthusiasm for what he does, his rapport with the crowd, and his passion for independent venue week created the perfect atmosphere for such an intimate gig – exactly why we need to ensure that independent venues stick around! Last track ‘The Ballad Of Me And My Friends’, which Turner once had a hiatus from, was crowd led as Turner went without a microphone, placing himself and his guitar higher on the stage, almost in the crowd.
Usually there’s highlights of live performances, specific songs which go down well with the crowd (for example, the crowd going crazy during the instantly recognisable opening chords of ‘The Way I Tend To Be’), but it was almost as if every song was a hit, and Turner performed them all spectacularly, as did the crowd!
Turner’s currently working on a new album so luckily for us it won’t be long before he’s on the road again.
By Laura Dean – @modestlaura
