Review: Frank Turner goes back to basics at Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms

Having toured constantly for the past five years, live shows have become something of second nature to folk-punk artist Frank Turner.

The former front man of post-hardcore band Million Dead has racked up more than 1,000 gigs in that time, and spread his wings over 27 different countries - including an extensive American tour supporting The Offspring.

Impressive statistics, but what keeps his fan base growing is his knack of writing songs which reach out to an ageless audience.

Songs about politics, broken hearts and everyday experiences – for him anyway – are combined on a set list which has fans screaming the words back at him.

Branching away from recent activity of Westminster, largely down to being out the country for the majority of the past year, Frank states his days of writing about an angered frustration at the country’s top bodies are well and truly behind him.

Instead, his upcoming fourth studio album England Keep My Bones, is more in tune with the nation’s soul – which he believes is still very much intact.

Taking to the stage, by self-proclaimed popular demand, Frank ditches the band of late and opts to take on the masses with an acoustic guitar.

Kicking off the night in familiar fashion with I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous, his catalogue of hits still have the power to ignite a crowd.

New tracks I Still Believe, Peggy Sang The Blues and I Am Disappeared were also well received despite the album not being released until next month.

Frank pleased his faithful flock by stating Nottingham was the best night on the tour, which says a lot after his last experience in the city.

Playing at the same venue in 2009, he had to stop in the middle of the set to, in his own words, “throw up my pelvis”.

A bout of gastroenteritis prevented him from completing the infectious Father’s Day, this time, however, he had no trouble with a few hundred people helping him overcome the trauma.

Frank doesn’t disappoint and his in between song dialogue makes him a certain man of the people.

After signing off with the rousing Ballad of Me and My Friends, he returned to his natural habitat, the road.

It is where he feels most comfortable, after all.

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