Music
Review: Frank Turner plays stunning first night for Lost Evenings festival
England’s favourite troubadour and folk-punk rocker Frank Turner kicked off his very own festival at The Roundhouse.
With a little over 2000 shows under his belt, Frank Turner has turned London’s iconic Roundhouse into his home for a four-day festival. He’s teamed up with Onefest to celebrate live music, each night hosting a different theme. In addition to the evening performances, there are various industry panels held over the weekend to give young people a chance to learn more about the music industry.
We check out the opening night on Friday with New Pagans and AJJ supporting and Frank’s Greatest Hits set Last Minutes & Lost Evenings.
As Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls take to the stage to kick off their four-day run of shows, the room is instantly lit up with a spark. The audience is filled with dedicated Frank Turner fans, aka The Frank Turner Army, from all over the world, and of all ages. There’s a community feel in the air, one of the things that make Frank Turner shows so special.
The first strike of chords of I Knew Prufrock Before He was Famous from 2008’s Love Ire & Song record has the crowd rallying up to sing every word. It’s an ode to Frank Turner’s early beginnings. The all-time favourite lyrics resonate tonight more than ever. “Life is about love, last minutes and lost evenings”.
The promised greatest hits set is truly that. Tunes like I Still Believe, Wessex Boy and Glory Hallelujah remain the crowd pleasers they’ve been for years, never growing tired. Turner adds favourites into the set that rarely make the cut such as Faithful Son, Redemption and the goosebump-inducing Fisher King Blues.
Stories are a-plenty, whether about Frank’s trips to London for punk gigs, the 80+ songs he would sing over the weekend or his endearing tale of how he met support band AJJ which strongly reminded us of Hollywood-blockbuster Titanic.
To round things up, the encore ensues with a solo rendition of Angel Islington and the life-affirming party that is Get Better. And just when you think the evening is as epic as it can get, Frank Turner stage dives while singing Four Simple Words, carried all the way to the end of the crowd and back.
Once again, Frank Turner proves why his live shows are something not to be missed, wether it’s your first or your fifteenth. His sense of community, gratitude and lyrical talent make all 1,700 souls at the Roundhouse feel like family.
And don’t forget he’s supporting Blink-182 on their UK tour this summer with tickets still available via Ticketmaster.co.uk.
