Frank Turner - Plymouth University Great Hall - Saturday October 24th 2009
Support: Fake Problems


After a complicated journey to the venue involving a mix up with taxis and stumbling around a completely redeveloped university campu, I finally make it inside and find a decent spot to witness the music soon to begin. The stage goes dark momentarily; the darkness is replaced by blinding lights set in the deep recesses of the stage. Think football stadium floodlights, and then imagine a whole group of them in a very small venue, harsh and uncomfortable to look at is the only way to describe it. Fake Problems stroll onto the bright stage and immediately launch into their upbeat energetic songs.

Their song ‘Diamond Rings’ is a deep down dirty affair, lead vocalist Chris Farren yelps the unforgettable lyric, “I don’t know what I want, and I doubt I ever will”, this bluesy number often verges into show tune territory but only in a classy way. The band display so much energy and commitment to their performance, the only negatives to their show would be that there didn’t seem to be much of a connection between band members and almost no banter with the crowd. It felt as if we were just witnessing a very polished practice time for the band complete with blinding lights.

‘Born and Raised’ shows the gutsy, punky, jangly depth which this band are capable of. It is a sure fire crowd pleaser even to the uninitiated, tonight it doesn’t fail to disappoint and the capacity crowd finally start to sway. Other stand out tracks from their set included, ‘Don’t worry baby, ‘ the epic stadium filler ‘There are times’ and finally the weirdly jaunty song ‘Dream Team.’ A band certainly in the ascendancy, check them out on a cold winter day to bring a bit of sunshine into your life.

After a lengthy break Frank Turner takes to the stage, he receives a hero’s welcome from the Plymouth crowd. He is joined onstage by a full band made up from time to time of members of Fake Problems, its hard to tell with the lights exactly who is on the stage at any one time.

After a brief chat to the crowd thanking them and informing them that the show is a sell out and that the last ticket was sold at midday. After this he launches straight into his trade mark folky rock groove. He plays his current single to the delight of the crowd, however he plays it at breakneck speed, it seems as though he could already be bored of it. Frank doesn’t wait for applause he just launches into the next song. Already, the blinding lights which seem to be more powerful than they were for the support band are annoying and distracting. Frank can barely be seen at times all the crowd can do is stand and stare at light listening to the genius that is Mr Turner.

Stand out tracks from his set include ‘Long Live The Queen,’ the track which emotionally binds the crowd together in remembering lost loves ones, ‘To Take You Home,’ and ‘Love Ire & Song’ a perfect lilting folk song. Putting the odd political rant aside, Frank Turner puts on a good show and unites the crowd; there were hundreds of smiling faces spilling out of the venue after the encore. Just one word of advice, ditch the lights and the full band and return to the one man show, the songs are powerful enough to not need gimmicks.


Review be Tessa Appleby


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