Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls – FZW, Dortmund; September 5th 2013
A night of dancing, great music and friendly people lies behind me as I just returned from seeing Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls. Knowing only a few albums I had no idea what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised all around. Not only did Frank Turner play an entertaining show, he also managed to spread positive vibes and mutual respect among his audience. This was well worth seeing.
Months ago I had asked for a photopass for this one, but after the initial contact I had the impression it wasn’t going to happen and mentally crossed the concert off my list. Imagine my surprise when I read my mails unusually late this Thursday night (read: 30 minutes after concert start time) and found out the promoter was trying to make this possible for me. My first reaction was “Damn, it’s too late now!”, but then I found out there was a support act, grabbed my camera and decided to give it a shot. About 50 minutes later I arrived at the FZW, drenched in sweat and out of breath. Turns out I didn’t have a photopass, but the door guard as really nice and let me in anyway (without my camera, but I would at least see the concert).
The band played in the bigger hall, not the small club I had expected. And there I was thinking Frank Turner is only known by a few insiders. 😉 Anyway, the place was sold out, packed and they had not started playing yet. I grabbed a drink and found a spot near the mixing desk. Perfect!
There was constant movement in the crowd, even before it started, people going closer to the front or coming back to get another beer. When the lights went out at 9:45 great cheers rose and with the music people started dancing and jumping. It was impossible to stand still and who would have wanted to anyway? The first song, ‘Four Simple Words’ made it clear from the beginning: “Tonight I’m going to play it straight, I’m going to take my chance, I want to dance.” By this time a huge silly smile had already spread on my face and did not leave me for the rest of the night.
Frank told us that he could not play guitar, because he hurt his back and the doctor had advised him not to tour at all. Since he wanted to do it anyway, he showed us how they “Made me look like a cast member from the Rocky Horror Show” (with a white cast/bandage thing around his body). he said most of it in German too and ended with “My back is broken. Also my German is broken.” and demonstrated some more of the sentences he had learned at German class like “Die Katze ist der Hund” (the cat is the dog). All this caused much laughter and set the mood for the night: We are all here to have fun!
The audience was amazing, happy, respectful, hanging on to Frank’s every word and clearly enjoying themselves. There was not much cueing needed for people to clap or sing along and when he commanded us “Everybody jump!” during ‘Glory Hallelujah’, everybody did. Any sing-along went well too. The band looked like they were enjoying themselves and Frank pointed out several times how much he loved playing in Germany.
During the course of the night he told us what the songs are about, pointed out guitarist Dan, who learned 20 songs in one week to go on tour with him, made us “do the Hamplemann” and sing along at the same time, joked around and told us to take care of each other. I had my personal moment of feeling ashamed when I yelled at the guys next to me for wanting to light a cigarette (in a non-smoking club). He was all nice and friendly and even went out to have a smoke. I apologized for yelling at him when he returned. Rarely have I encountered such an overall friendly audience. I can only conclude that the general friendliness of the performer reflects back on everyone.
Before ‘Dan’s Song’ Frank told us he usually could not perform that live because he could not play guitar and harmonica at the same time, ‘Eulogy’ was done in German (wow) and for the last song, ‘Photosynthesis’ he asked everyone to sit down and to only jump up when he’d sing “Let’s go!”, but to be safe and mind the people around us while doing so. It worked surprisingly well. All in al it was an amazing night somewhere between singer-songwriter music and punk rock. Anyone who did not lave this concert with a smile on their faces has no heart. Frank left us with a message of music, no matter what it is called, being about bringing different people from different backgrounds together for two hours to have a good time. True words.
Setlist
Four Simple Words
If Ever I Stray
Try This at Home
Losing Days
Reasons Not to Be an Idiot
Glory Hallelujah
Long Live the Queen
The Way I Tend to Be
Wessex Boy
Dan’s Song
I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous
I Am Disappeared
Peggy Sang the Blues
Plain Sailing Weather
One Foot Before the Other
The Road
Recovery
Broken Piano
Encore:
Rock & Roll Romance
Eulogy (in German)
I Still Believe
Photosynthesis