Frank Turner and Chris T-T at the Tower Arts Centre, Winchester – 30/10/08

November 21, 2008, 03:31 PM

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On arriving at the venue, I was very excited, mainly because Frank was doing his soundcheck, but also because the venue was very small! Bring on the up close and personal music love. I then went to do my interviews with Frank and Chris, who are both wonderfully nice men, and got even more excited about the music love. Met up with my mates and then went back into the main room to find a room full of people sat on the floor! I was told this happens a lot at the Tower Arts Centre – but you can’t rock sitting down people! So we marched our way to the front which meant one half of the room had to stand up. Heh.

Chris T-T and his band The Hoodrats rocked out with mainly songs from his newest album, Capital – which is ace – and yet the second half of the room remained seated. Chris did try to entice them to stand, but received no stony faced joy. I think my favourite part of his set was when he called them all ‘a bunch of hippies’ and came and played to us standing folk instead. The stand out tracks were definitely 4am (The Day the Earth Stood Still Part 2), and the epic new single (We Are) The King of England, a song which gives Chris and the band about a minute at the end just to jam, have fun and go a bit crazy. Considering the lack-lustre performance of the audience, I thought Chris T-T and The Hoodrats played with tremendous energy, were loads of fun and rocked me ready for Frank.

Everyone did however, manage to get to their feet on arrival of Frank. He opened on his own, with the anthemic ‘The Ballard of me and my Friends’, and then straight into the second track with ‘Reasons not to be an Idiot’, where the band kicked in, and I started dancing. And I don’t think I stopped until the end. I wish I could have said the same for the audience though. When I saw how small the venue was, I immediately assumed everyone there would be diehard Frank fans and would go crazy, but sadly this was not the case! I was surrounded by some quite rigid people, who I’m afraid may have been casualties of my flailing arms.

It was great to see Frank in Winchester, as it’s his home town, and as a result his mum and sister were there! There was an endearing moment during ‘Substitute’, as there is a line that reads ‘Well I’ve had many different girls inside my bed’, which he stumbled and laughed on, as I think it’s not the sort of thing you want to profess with your mum in the room! It was absolutely wonderful to hear him perform ‘Long Live the Queen’, and a real sense of comradery was felt across the room as everyone sang along. It really is a magical song.

For his encore Frank got everyone back on stage - opening act Emily Barker on banjo and Chris T-T on keyboard, and they finished with ‘Photosynthesis’. This was definitely the highlight for me as you could see how much fun everyone had playing this song together which made it so enjoyable to watch. And for the last chorus, Frank freed himself from the restraints of playing the acoustic guitar, took the mic firmly by both hands and rocked the fuck around the stage. It was fucking great.

So in conclusion, if you ever have the opportunity to see Chris T-T or Frank Turner, or even better both together, do it do it do it do it, it’ll be the best decision you’ve made all year. Do I sound bias? I don’t care – they’re brilliant.

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