Live Review: Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls - O2 Apollo, Manchester, 21/8/2021
Singer-songwriter Frank Turner returns to Manchester’s Apollo for a night that feels as much like a celebration of life as it does a gig.
When I left Manchester’s Albert Hall on February 12th 2020, there was no way in a million years I expected it to be 18 months before I entered a venue of that size again. Then we know what happened. The world turned upside down and the music industry ground to a halt, with the live side of things suffering particularly badly.
It feels fitting then, that the first gig back (at least of this size), should fall to Frank Turner at Manchester’s Apollo. Fitting because as a musician, Turner has soundtracked my life for almost 15 years now, but perhaps most importantly, because he’s also spent the last 18 months tirelessly supporting grassroots venues and artists through various live-streams, and his work with the Music Venues Trust.
Anyone who has seen Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls before knows that words like “unifying”, and “life-affirming” aren’t far off the mark. But from the moment Turner bounds onto the stage, it’s clear that tonight is going to be something special, even by his standards.
His first full band show of this run, there’s a palpable sense of energy from the get-go, and kicking things off with a raucous rendition of ‘Get Better’ only adds to the evening’s poignancy. It might be a personal song reflecting on Frank’s own mental health, but tonight it transcends that, relating to everyone in the room, the music industry, or even society on a much broader scale.
From here on out the set veers from established classics such as ‘The Road’, ‘Photosynthesis’, and ‘I Am Disappeared’, to semi-recent set inclusions (‘Out of Breath’) to a never-before-heard track in the form of ‘Non Serviam’. It’s a testament to both the band, and indeed the crowd, that not once does the pace, or the euphoria, of the evening drop.
Even when Turner’s band exit the stage for him to air some of his more tender tracks, the likes of ‘Be More Kind’ are juxtaposed against a rousing version of ‘I Knew Prufrock Before He Was Famous’, enabling Turner to strike a deft balance between tender and bombastic. It’s something he manages in a single track with ‘Long Live the Queen’, a touching tribute to one of Turner’s late friends that concludes this section of the evening.
Joined once again by The Sleeping Souls for a four-song encore, the band waste little time heading into ‘The Ballad of Me and My Friends’, before a rousing version of ‘Recovery’ sees the noise, and the temperature, in the venue soar. ‘I Still Believe’ sees the band joined on stage by a pirouetting harmonica player which we can only assume is Turner’s wife, given that he bounds over and plants a kiss on her head in a genuine show of affection.
It’s a small detail that’s over in a split second, yet it seems to summarise the evening perfectly. With nothing but love and affection felt throughout the whole venue. Of course, that’s a fixture of Turner’s gigs, and always has been. And as a crowd we’re regularly reminded to look out for each other and to have fun doing it. Tonight, of all nights however it feels especially pertinent, and by the time the obligatory closing number of ‘Four Little Words’ has rang out and the house lights go up, it’s impossible not to feel elated and uplifted.
Who’d have thought that after all, something as simple and rock ‘n’ roll would save us all?
Words by Dave Beech
Photography by Amelia Jones