Frank Turner – Live in Vancouver (09/08/18)

“Thanks for that,” she said as she made her way back into the pit after crowd surfing on the final verse of Photosynthesis. “That was a bucket list thing for me.”

With a massive smile on her face, we high fived and went back to chanting “one more song” in order to entice the punk rock troubadour known as Frank Turner and his merry band of friends in The Sleeping Souls to come back on stage. It was a simple moment, a quick exchange between two strangers and yet – in a way – summarized the evening perfectly.

It was a moment of levity in a wild, chaotic environment. An example of the joy that can be discovered in the simplest of things; and, finally, the importance of helping one another reach their goals. As I walked home in the drizzling rain on that gloomy Saturday night, I thought back on that interaction and how it connected with the show I had just witness.

It may seem weird, but for me, there was more in the evening’s two-plus hour set than just a great performance. You know you’ll get that anytime you show up for a Frank Turner concert. He’s a professional at what he does.  Not afraid to put it all on the line or jump into the crowd as he did when he danced a  waltz with a lucky dancer in the final crescendo of Four Little Words –  he’s honed his showmanship over the past  two thousand and twenty eighth shows performing solo and with his backing band. Even in just the two years since his last appearance in Vancouver, his connection with The Sleeping Souls is stronger, creating for a more unified performance than before.

Yet more than performance, energy, and hitting the right notes – Frank Turner spewed a sense of positivity deeply missing in today’s climate. It was that joyfulness that radiated through the evening’s lengthy set list and as he played through new and old songs alike, you realized it’s that spirit that has been the guiding through line of Turner‘s career.

Bookended with a soulful acoustic solo tunes of Be More Kind and Polaroid Picture, the set list pulled out old favourites like Love Ire and Song alongside I Still Believe and Get Out when he wanted to energized the crowd but slowed it down with 2007’s Romantic Fatigue and this year’s Blackout when a softer moment was required.

Yet no matter the tempo, Turner urged unity and family. From the calming acceptance of Don’t Worry and encouraging Brave Face (where he swapped the orchestral choir out for crowd participation) to the punk rock anthems of Try This At Home and Four Little Words, Turner‘s positivity radiated through. And you realized he’s always been that way.

In a world full of calamity and uncertainty, Turner wants you to help your friends and strangers alike. He says it in the songs he sings and he lays it out in his mid-song banter. So despite what he may croon in Love Ire and Song, I left the Vogue thinking that maybe – just maybe – punk rock can still live up to everything I once hoped it could be.