Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls made their return to Cardiff Motorpoint arena as part of the UK leg of the “Be More Kind” world tour.
Despite being at this very venue in both 2014 and 2017, with the latter date being support for Blink-182, a lot has changed in such a short space of time for Frank both personally and professionally. Most notably, 2018 welcomed the release of his 7th studio album “Be More Kind” which saw Turner head in a different direction musically with his most diverse and varied album to date. Whilst this may have put some of the old “hardcore” fans off, it’s clear to see from the audience in attendance tonight that there is still a huge, passionate fan base that cling onto every word he sings.
Opening the show with “Out Of Breath” set the mood for the concert as Frank and the Sleeping Souls bounced onto the stage and kicked things off franticly to rapturous applause. The opening trio of songs certainly didn’t let go by following up with firm fan-favourite “Photosynthesis” and “1933”, the first track from “Be More Kind” to feature in the show and had Frank swapping his trusty acoustic for an electric guitar.
“Recovery” from 2013’s “Tape Deck Heart” followed which saw the energy of the crowd hit the rough with the masses of the arena bouncing up and down which continued into the “If Ever I Stray”.
The next cut from the new album was “Blackout” which saw Frank bust out some dance moves, put down the guitar and jump down to the barrier to interact with the dedicated fans down at the front. The track is the first example of the different sounds Frank experimented with on “Be More Kind” with it being more of a “dance” number than usual but it fitted nicely into the set.
Back on stage, Frank introduced “Polaroid Picture” and spoke about living in the moment and the crowd sang with such passion that you could tell that the song’s lyrics resonated with a lot of those in attendance tonight. Two contrasting love songs featured next with the duo of “Brave Face” and “Mittens”. Before the former Frank commented on how he had managed to get a gospel choir onto the track but later found out of the cost of taking the choir on a world tour, instead he enlisted the help of the audience in the vein of “Cardiff Gospel Choir” with thousands of voices gleefully singing along with him.
Frank has always tried to make his concerts special for the city he’s performing in and tonight was no exception as he translated his epic track “Eulogy” into Welsh, albeit admitting that the language was pretty complicated so he required his guitar tech Cahir O’Doherty to join the stage and hold the lyrics up for him.
The spectacle of the live show was increased for this arena tour with pyrotechnics and confetti aplenty, there was also an impressive screen backdrop behind the band with different visuals matching certain tracks, one of the most notable being “Little Changes” where the track’s official video featured behind whilst Frank recreated some of the infamous dance moves on the stage for the audience tonight.
“The Road”, “I Am Disappeared” and “Don’t Worry” ended the first section of the show as The Sleeping Souls briefly retired from the stage and Frank performed solo acoustically. The first track was a request from a fan prior to the show and was for “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The One of Me” which Frank stated he’d only played about once in ten years and was released at a time he felt a bit more comfortable singing the high notes. However, it was performed with as much passion as the rest of the set. Next up was a special acoustic airing of “Glorious You” and then one of the biggest singalongs of the night came with “The Ballad of Me and My Friends”.
The Sleeping Souls returned to the stage and the set was “finished” up with massive tracks “I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous”, “The Next Storm”, “Try This At Home” and finale “I Still Believe” with the backdrop screen displaying the lyrics such as “Come Ye” and “Hear Ye” but there was little help need to encourage the singalong.
Frank and the band briefly left the stage before returning for the 4 song encore of the night. “Be More Kind” kicked things off and the theme of the track, about being more kind in a society that’s on the brink of chaos (search Brexit for more details on this current reality), which echoed Frank’s earlier words during the opening of the show with one of his rules for the show about “not being an arsehole”.
“The Way I Tend To Be” and “Get Better” followed before the true finale of the night came in the form of “Four Simple Words”. Ending the show memorably the song featured Frank getting down into the arena crowd to dance with his fans before pink confetti canons fired off and the message on the screen leaving the words “Frank Turner And The Sleeping Souls Show Number 2308”.
Not many musicians play the amount of gigs that Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls have in their entire career and despite this being show 2308 the showmanship and energy from all the musicians on the stage tonight is nothing short of spectacular. Throughout the entire show every single person on the stage gave it their all and special mention needs to go the incredible backing band, The Sleeping souls. The show saw excellent solos from Ben Lloyd on guitar and mandolin, the incredible bass moves of Tarrant Anderson, Matt Nasir on Keys and Nigel Powell holding everything together on drums. Each one of them adds something to the show and the connection between them all is apparent with frequent banter between Frank and The Sleeping Souls.
Despite going from small bars to arenas, Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls gigs always manage to feel intimate with the crowd being not just spectators to the show but active participants. It’s a truly special type of gig and it’s clear to see from a show like tonight why Frank has such a spirited community of fans.
All photos by CJS Media – Full set of photos available here
