Music

Live Review: Frank Turner At The Arts Club

Frank Turner is one of the good guys. His foray into folk, now over a decade ago, brought with it a tribe of fans gained from hazy summer sets as he became one of the UK’s premier festival artists. It’s a role he’s enjoyed, with he and his band The Sleeping Souls showing no signs of slowing down.

Here in 2022, he still sports the same warm smile as he makes his way around the country’s record stores following his latest release, FTHC. His Liverpool stop saw him play a special in-store set at Jacaranda Records’ venue Phase One, and when he appeared for the late show at the Arts Club, it was their t-shirt he had donned. 

A champion of independent music, Turner spent lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 appearing on Zoom chats and panels and banging the drum for the live music and record store ecosystem. It’s no surprise, therefore, that his aura was somewhat Godlike for those crammed into the venue on Wednesday night.

Joining for this acoustic set was Matt Nasir on mandolin, who plays the role of the joker expertly and provides those folky jams that Turner thrives off. He thrives off a crowd, too, and set highlights Recovery and Four Simple Words show that as he utilises that classic back and forth audience participation. “Haven’t you missed this?!” he says. Of course we have. 

Punches is the standout track played from his latest release, whilst A Wave Across A Bay misses out. The track is a tribute to Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison and is far and away the best track from FTHC.

Some of the anecdotes between songs are cliche and there’s no hiding that this is an artist that plays numerous gigs (two on this day) – he even advertised another Liverpool gig for October before during the final song, I Still Believe. But Turner is a master of his craft, he knows how to entertain his fans and they know that having come away from a Frank Turner gig they’ll have a smile on their faces. 

Lewis Ridley

Editor

Founder and Editor, Clare Deane, shares her passion for all the amazing things happening in Liverpool. With a love of the local Liverpool music scene, dining out a couple of times a week and immersing herself in to all things arts and culture she's in a pretty good place to create some Liverpool Noise.

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