Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls (Roundhouse, 12.5.17)
It was off to the Roundhouse last night for the opening night of the inaugural "Lost Evenings" festival, featuring two stages and four headline sets from Frank Turner amongst a plethora of other events, gigs, workshops and afterparties around Camden between now and Monday. On tonight's evidence, it's going to be a grand old time.
The main stage kicked off with New Pagans, who were playing their third gig. I thought they showed some promise with some guitar riffs that reminded me of "Futures" era Jimmy Eat World. But I'll admit that their vocalist was not to my taste. Still, it's obviously early days.
AJJ were next. My first impression was that they play acoustic rock with a sort of nerdish sensibility, not a million miles removed from something like The Barenaked Ladies. But their set moved into different and darker areas as it progressed, culminating in something of an epic sounding finale. I'd be interested in investigating further.
I've seen Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls so many times that I find it difficult to write about them. They consistently put on brilliant live shows honed from a decade of hard touring and tonight's was no exception. With three more gigs to come, this was a more varied set that one would usually expect from the band. Starting with "I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous" whose lyrics give this festival its name, the band rattled through some hits early doors including love letter to rock n roll "I Still Believe" and the poignant "Long Live The Queen". "The Next Storm" meanwhile once again demonstrates Turner's ability to wrap a simple but strong sentiment around a sizable tune.
Later on we get some enjoyable curveballs, like "The Fisher King Blues", a slow burner of a song that I haven't heard before which builds to a pleasing crescendo. It's followed by the bleak, depressing, jet black "Redemption", one of my absolute favourite songs of his and probably the best I've seen it performed. There are a couple of lulls. The pace of "Tell Tale Signs" is a little ponderous for a live set, whilst everything about the tennis themed adversity of "Love Forty Down" will continue to baffle me. But I'm pretty much nitpicking for the sake of it.
One thing Turner has always been excellent at is judging the line between schmaltz and sincerity. He closes tonight with "Four Simple Words", a five minute homage to dancing, touring and putting two fingers up to pretentiousness, as he crowdsurfs across the front few rows of the Roundhouse. It's cheesy and it shouldn't work. But it does, because of him and his band's commitment to putting on a great show and having a great time, casting off your inhibitions in the process. Turner's shows provide a temporary tonic for the blues, which is why I'll keep going back.
The main stage kicked off with New Pagans, who were playing their third gig. I thought they showed some promise with some guitar riffs that reminded me of "Futures" era Jimmy Eat World. But I'll admit that their vocalist was not to my taste. Still, it's obviously early days.
AJJ were next. My first impression was that they play acoustic rock with a sort of nerdish sensibility, not a million miles removed from something like The Barenaked Ladies. But their set moved into different and darker areas as it progressed, culminating in something of an epic sounding finale. I'd be interested in investigating further.
I've seen Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls so many times that I find it difficult to write about them. They consistently put on brilliant live shows honed from a decade of hard touring and tonight's was no exception. With three more gigs to come, this was a more varied set that one would usually expect from the band. Starting with "I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous" whose lyrics give this festival its name, the band rattled through some hits early doors including love letter to rock n roll "I Still Believe" and the poignant "Long Live The Queen". "The Next Storm" meanwhile once again demonstrates Turner's ability to wrap a simple but strong sentiment around a sizable tune.
Later on we get some enjoyable curveballs, like "The Fisher King Blues", a slow burner of a song that I haven't heard before which builds to a pleasing crescendo. It's followed by the bleak, depressing, jet black "Redemption", one of my absolute favourite songs of his and probably the best I've seen it performed. There are a couple of lulls. The pace of "Tell Tale Signs" is a little ponderous for a live set, whilst everything about the tennis themed adversity of "Love Forty Down" will continue to baffle me. But I'm pretty much nitpicking for the sake of it.
One thing Turner has always been excellent at is judging the line between schmaltz and sincerity. He closes tonight with "Four Simple Words", a five minute homage to dancing, touring and putting two fingers up to pretentiousness, as he crowdsurfs across the front few rows of the Roundhouse. It's cheesy and it shouldn't work. But it does, because of him and his band's commitment to putting on a great show and having a great time, casting off your inhibitions in the process. Turner's shows provide a temporary tonic for the blues, which is why I'll keep going back.
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