Hurrah! I have returned from the writing wilderness, and am spamming the good readers of ever-lovely South scene site mintsouth with reviews etc.
First published on mintsouth.com in Feb 2009
Words - Suzy Sims
Editor - Rob Ball
(c) mintsouth
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM / FRANK TURNER @ WEDGEWOOD ROOMS, 07/02/2009
The weather has been playing havoc with gigs across the UK, with many snowed off. This one was delayed because The Gaslight Anthem were forced to halt their transatlantic flight in Glasgow when they should have been several hundred miles further south, playing to a sold out Wedgewood Rooms. The band has forgiven everyone though because apparently we don’t know how to handle snow: “I wouldn’t know what to do if it was something that had never happened before,” the singer announces. “Like if I got a fire on my face. I wouldn’t know how to put it out. But I wouldn’t close an airport.”
Polar Bear Club were due to play tonight but have double-booked themselves, meaning we get an hour-long Frank Turner set to open. It looks like most of the crowd here is more than familiar with his songs, judging from the number who join in with lines such as “The only thing left to do is get another round in at the bar” and “We’re definitely going to hell, but we’ll have all the best stories to tell.” Not to mention the latecomers shuffling in, loudly whispering what an unexpected surprise it is to see him play.
The way he connects with the audience and their warmth towards him reminds me of Morrissey, but in a less scary way. For while Morrissey deals with self-pity and the feeling that you’re on the brink - alone – Frank Turner has a much more typically British sense of optimism and real life self-deprecation. It’s not ‘No-one has ever loved me’, it’s the whole ‘Mustn’t grumble’ aspect. As in, ‘We wished we loved each other enough, but we didn’t, so we accepted it and got on with life, same as you did… now is anyone for a pint?’ It’s refreshing and cheerful, but not forced.
Songs tonight include a rousing chorus of ‘Who The F**king Hell Are Slipknot?’, ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The One Of Me’, ‘Substitute’, ‘The Real Damage’ and ‘The Ballad Of Me And My Friends.’ To be honest, Frank Turner is probably worth the ticket price alone.
In 2008, Kerrang! labelled the Gaslight Anthem as the best new band you’d hear in 2008. Without sounding rude, that was last year. The band, whilst playing enjoyable rock, don’t seem to have any special stand out qualities that make the mosh-pit rise as one, or make your spine shiver, or make you instantly Twitter them to all and sundry.
The Gaslight Anthem have a harsher rock sound, yet convey a strangely familiar sense of comfort in the darkness. It all sounds slightly much of a muchness, but the band is hard to dislike because of singer Brian Fallon’s charisma and easy-going charm, dismissing hecklers with “If you’ve got a better story to tell, let’s all hear it,” and promising to shovel the snow next time we suffer any. “We’re a working class band. We know how to work.”
Normally in circumstances such as this, when the music is background to my daydreams instead of taking my full attention, I begin commenting in a very mature way about what onstage garb the bands have inexplicably chosen to wear. Sadly this plan was also thwarted. The singer had a sort of golfing flat cap on. I know this because I could see the top of his head behind the tall people who had sprung up out of nowhere into my line of vision. The rest of the band were hidden from my sight; the view of a small person.
Songs tonight include ‘Blue Jeans And White T Shirts,’ ‘Old White Lincoln’ and ‘I’da Called You Woody, Joe.’ The guy next to me absolutely loves their controlled, professional punk passion, and is singing away as loudly as he can. There’s a lot of band chat about Bruce Springsteen, about Rod Stewart’s hair, and the occasional lapse into Bon Jovi songs, but I’m just not feeling it. Perhaps you need to have heard the album to fully appreciate the live show.
To summarise, Frank Turner is a diamond and the Gaslight Anthem are All Right. The moral of that story is that different music speaks to different people. And I know what speaks to me.
http://www.myspace.com/frankturner
http://www.myspace.com/thegaslightanthem
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