Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls, House of Blues, Chicago, Illinois

For some reason, I waited a bit too long to get Frank Turner tickets, perhaps hoping that I could find someone to join me for the English folk punk singer-songwriter’s return to Chicago. That person never materialized, and tickets for the official front section ended up selling out. Though in my experience House of Blues typically maintains general admission policy throughout the venue, they claim to reserve the right to enforce sections. And if there was a show that I refused to be stuck in the back for, it was Frank Turner (love him and want to be up close with the diehard fans) at the House of Blues (the back sounds terrible). So I waited, planning to utilize the secondary market as needed.

However, it unfortunately turned out that a live taping of the Stuff You Should Know (SYSK) Podcast was occurring on the same night as the Frank Turner show. Even though Frank was my favorite show of 2013, I had seen him before, and I figured he would return. On the other hand, I might not get a chance to see a live taping of SYSK again for quite a while if at all. So I figured I’d skip Frank. However, in the days leading up to the show, it kept irking me that he was coming to Chicago, and I’d miss him. So once I confirmed the approximate set times of the two shows, I decided that I could probably swing both. So I went to SYSK, witnessing the full taping of the podcast and most of the Q&A. Then I snuck out before hosts Josh and Chuck left the stage to catch a ride downtown to the House of Blues. Frank was only a couple of songs into his set when I arrived. I didn’t miss much. Hell yeah.

The Tuesday night show was sold out. And if a show is sold out on a Tuesday night, you know that everyone in the audience wants to be there. As such, it wasn’t particularly easy to find a great spot. I slid my way through the crowd and within a couple more songs found myself in front of the bar house left. It wasn’t perfect, but a pretty good spot all things considered. After a bit, I slid down into the pit though a bit off to the side.

Frank was accompanied by the Sleeping Souls, his usual backing band. Other than a large backdrop of his new album, Positive Songs for Negative People (2015), and some standard lights, there weren’t any theatrics. He played a mix of old and new songs. I liked a lot of the new songs, and was glad to get to hear a few of them live, as it made me appreciate them all the more. His songs are just so damn fun, each one encourages a sing along. Just the greatest little blend of genres – all the energy of punk with the singability and relatableness of folk. His music makes for a hell of a show.

Frank was wearing a white shirt and tie but his sleeves were rolled halfway up showing his tattoo sleeves, making for a decidedly more casual look. Without the back trouble of his last performance in Chicago, he played guitar himself throughout, including a few solo songs in the middle of his set. At some point, he noted that it was show number 1745; he has the full list on his website. Apparently when it comes chronicling concerts, he’s just as big of a nerd as me.

At the start of the encore, I slid into the pit, right in the thick of things amongst the hardcore fans that knew every word to every song. During the encore of the show, a fan jumped on stage. As the bouncers aimed to throw him off the stage, perhaps out of the venue, Frank stopped them and instead gave him a harmonica. The look on the guy’s face indicted that this might be the most important moment in his life. He loved every minute of it, even though he looked a bit like a deer in headlights at first, having no idea what to do with himself when he succeed in getting on stage. Frank crowd surfed a bit himself during the encore as well. Everyone walked out with such joy. A guy stopped me outside the L when I had gotten all the way back to my local station to ask if I was at the show. I guess he was there too and at that hour, assumed it was probably the only rational explanation for why a person would be so sweaty and look so happy.

Setlist:
Get Better

If Ever I Stray
Try This at Home
Long Live the Queen
Out of Breath
Poetry of the Deed
Peggy Sang the Blues
Josephine
Polaroid Picture
I Am Disappeared
The Opening Act of Spring
The Ballad of Me and My Friends
Tell Tale Signs
Somebody to Love [Queen cover]
Wessex Boy
Plain Sailing Weather
Glory Hallelujah
Reasons Not to Be an Idiot
Mittens
Recovery
The Road
The Next Storm
Photosynthesis
Encore:
I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous
The Way I Tend to Be
I Still Believe
Four Simple Words