By Jonny Bakes
In an attempt to cure a case of the January blues I made my way on the relatively short hop to Lancaster, which I appreciate is not exactly renowned for its wild gig scene. Yet I found myself heading through to a venue that I’d not yet visited which is hidden away behind the Lancaster Theatre – Kanteena. Before I actually talk about the gig and the artist with a 2022 ÜK Number One album (and one of my top five of the year), can we just take a minute to talk about the venue?
Kanteena is a repurposed warehouse full of bohemian charm and, frankly, feels a bit like a shanty town. There’s bars and food trucks dotted around so that you’re never short of the essentials and, most impressively, the merchandise stands are located in a separate room. This means there’s plenty of space to have a good gander at what to spend the hard earned cash on and allow you and the merch guy to hear each other! It is only a 700 capacity venue as I understand it, which means that tonight’s sell out gig is going to be quite an intimate affair – and also no surprise that this show was the first to sell out on this UK ru!
But before we get to the main event, Frank has brought some close friends and collaborators as support to make sure he continues to introduce his fanbase to up and coming talent. For tonight we have The Lottery Winners and Wilswood Buoys to warm up this Lancastrian crowd (although I note there’s definitely a few who have shipped over from Barrow in Furness for the event, like myself).
Wilswood Buoys are first to hit the stage, fresh on the back of debut release ‘A New Beginning’. Instantly I’m struck by this dynamic acoustic duo who sound like a well refined homage to duelling banjos with their acoustic guitars. Josh and Joe seem to take it in turns to churn out complex acoustic rhythms that are heavily folk influenced and have a real danceable quality to them! It’s not long before I find myself carried away and dancing along with the rest of the crowd which can’t really be beaten as an opening act. These guys are certainly up and coming, and it turns out that somehow they haven’t managed to bag a record contract yet. This is a travesty that must be resolved, so if you’re reading this and looking out for new talent, the Wilswood Buoys of Essex deserve a call! The set ends with an audience sing-along in the form of ‘Save the Queen’ (not an ironic take – named after the drinking game) which rounds off a fantastic set which has left me making a note to pick up the album at my next opportunity!
Next up are The Lottery Winners who can loosely be described as indie-pop with the odd Fleetwood Mac influences… but that doesn’t really cut it. Instead it could be described as an early 2000s teenage house party with your mates with zero negativity and good vibes only (but that’s a bit of a mouthful). Mixed in with this energetic display of musical good vibes is also a bit of a comedy show from co-vocalist Thom who chucks in a few Irish Justin Timberlake impressions. For why? I can’t remember, but it had me in stitches nonetheless.
By the time The Lottery Winners are a couple of songs into their setlist, Kanteena is pretty much packed to the rafters with fans dancing away and singing along. It certainly is a case of good vibes only for this set and I’m quickly sucked into the fun and having a great time to hits like ‘Worry’ and ‘Much Better’. The set reaches a crescendo with the final song (which just so happens to have Frank Turner on the recording) ‘Start Again’ which is the perfect closing song encouraging boatloads of audience participation to belt out the catchy chorus! During the set, Thom also reveals that the band have managed to both be signed and dropped by a major record label in the last few years so they have decided to go it alone with their upcoming album ‘A.R.T (Anxiety Replacement Therapy)’ and have grand dreams to follow in FT’s wake and bag that ÜK number one slot. With a performance like the one here in Lancaster, I see this is a realistic goal as it’s likely to pump up anyone who happens to listen to it!
After a seriously impressive undercard, you have to wonder whether Frank Turner can manage to top what we’ve already seen? But experience says that the man who is on gig number 2,731, and has grafted his way through countless shows to the position he is now, can absolutely top that! And that’s quickly proven as Frank and the Sleeping Souls dive straight into ‘Recovery’ without so much as an introduction – letting the music do the talking. Naturally this drives the whole room wild and nearly everyone is singing along which is, of course, one of the core rules of a Frank Turner show. Except this time, we don’t have rules, we have “New Year’s Resolutions” which are essentially; Don’t be a dick, sing along if you know the words, and (a newer one) start more circle pits.
The latter is something that Frank pushes regularly during the set, so we’re treated to circle pits for the more hardcore punk songs like ‘Non-Serviam’ and ‘Punches’ from the UK number one ‘FTHC’ album. But they also crop up for some of the lighter songs like ‘Four Simple Words’ where ballroom dancing makes an appearance in the pit too… It’s all pretty wild tonight with what feels like a condensed runthrough of the wide range of the Frank Turner back catalogue as there’s barely pause for breath throughout the set which is probably how we ultimately manage to fit 26 songs from across the range of albums into the 90 minutes of stage time.
There’s plenty from ‘FTHC’ like ‘The Gathering’, my favourite ‘Haven’t Been Doing So Well’ and Katie from The Lottery Winners joins for ‘Little Life’. But also loads from across the years like ‘If I Ever Stray’, ‘Back in the Day’ and ‘Photosynthesis’. ‘Thatcher Fucked the Kids’ seems to have made it’s way back into the regular setlist too, which is pretty telling of the climate we live in at the moment! With Frank comparing the current government to that guy at a house party who sticks around in the kitchen long after everyone else has left, can’t read the room and understand it’s time to leave, and no one knows who invited them anyway – which is pretty spot on!
The set ends with an impressive encore which begins with the touching and emotional ‘A Wave Across A Bay’ dedicated to the late Scott Hutchison, a song that is made more powerful by the crowd remaining quiet to allow the power of the song to wash over them. ‘1933’ and ‘Get Better’ follow this up before the set ends with an extremely rousing rendition of ‘Four Simple Words’ to top off what has been an excellent night of music in a surprising venue. I’m sure this won’t be the last time I see any of these bands (hell, I’ve already got my eye on The Lottery Winners in Warrington, and fingers crossed for Frank Turner to support NOFX on their final ÜK shows). If you haven’t already picked up tickets for a date on this tour running through to mid-February then you really should get off your arse, because it’s a big one!!
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