English folk/punk singer/songwriter Frank Turner is huge at home in Britain and across Europe but as of 2010 had yet to do a proper headlining North American tour. In late April, he embarked on his first, sans backing band. I guess he’s made a good impression on this side of the pond already- as early as mid-March most of the dates on this 2-week tour were already sold out and at the time of this writing, all the dates are now completely sold out, Turner saying to me that he’d been offered “crazy things” by people desperate to get into the Red Palace show in DC Friday night. Definitely a hot ticket.
The support act was Justin Jones, a local singer/songwriter with a similar folk/punk bent to Turner’s. He was joined on stage by upright bass player Tracy Epperson, a former bandmate. Jones has the distinction of being the first act to be signed to 9:30 Records, the new label created by yup, you guessed it, the folks that run the iconic 9:30 Club that looms so large on the Washington music scene. Compared to Turner’s songs and singing style, Jones is decidedly darker. This may be attributed to his addiction to heroin several years ago that temporarily wrecked his life but after rehab, translated into the kind of songs he performs today.
His tunes Friday night ran from heartfelt (a song for his wife called “Keep a Shelter”; another one called “The Little Fox” about watching his daughter play in the front yard of their house) to deep, dark, and dangerous (a murder ballad called “55 Songs”). The man has a powerful voice but it can grate when he’s shouting his heart out. In between songs he entertained the appreciative audience with crass stories, many of which I won’t type out here because they won’t make a lot of sense unless you’ve actually lived in DC (in which case, talking about neighborhoods bounded by particular streets and their relative safety, or lack thereof, is common source of jokes).
In Britain, it’s every man for himself when Frank Turner tickets go on sale. What is it that makes him so popular? Well, in that part of the world, it’s been my impression that many people feel oppressed by the status quo, and in the UK, a lot of that has to do with class inequality and the have-nots struggling to survive and make ends meet. And this man speaks their language. While you don’t have to be a completely down-trodden commoner to enjoy Turner’s music, my guess is that the people who attended the Royal Wedding the same day Frank Turner came to play in DC aren’t among his fans. His lyrics can be vitriolic, which is not all surprising, since he first started playing in a punk band and admitted to us that he was once a young, angry university student in London. But he can also write with emotional love songs, like “The Fastest Way Back Home,” the chorus beautiful with the lyrics, “weather wears down the mountains into the sea / so I will stand in the rain until I am clean / rivers carve the country, a landscape shaped by a stream / so I will swim in the river as long as you need.” Gorgeous.
Most impressive was nearly everyone in the crowd singing along to Turner’s every word, even the new single that just came out on iTunes days ago, “Peggy Sings the Blues.” The tune is the first single from Turner’s upcoming album England Keep My Bones due out in early June, following closely on from his Rock & Roll EP released last year. For me, the highlights were some of his best-known numbers (“I Knew Prufrock Before He Became Famous,” “Try This at Home”) and the more raucous ones such as “I Still Believe” that require manic audience participation in the form of shouting “I still believe!” at the top of your lungs back at Turner.
That said, I get the distinct feeling that not everyone will feel at home at one of Turner’s gigs. Red Palace is pretty small to begin with (200-person capacity) and it’s a little weird standing among burly men yelling with drinks in hand (I guess I have not been to enough gigs in Britain). But if that sounds to you like a good night out, I heartily recommend catching him live. And don’t fret if you didn’t get tickets for this tour. There’s a rumor Turner will return to the U.S. with a full band this fall, so if you didn’t catch him on this go-around, you’ll likely have another chance before the end of the year.
Tour Dates
May 02 – Beat Kitchen / Chicago
May 04 – Bottom of the Hill / San Francisco
May 05 – Hotel Cafe / Los Angeles (two shows)
Frank Turner: website | myspace | Rock & Roll EP review
Justin Jones: website | myspace
