No one was more surprised than me to see one of my favourite artists was going to playing in my hometown. Apparently, I’ve been living under rock, as he has played in Lancaster before, the last time in 2018, when I was most definitely here (so why didn’t know about it?). Anyway, I didn’t then, but thankfully, this time, I did.

The tickets sold out very quickly, with all profits from that, the merchandise, raffle, and bar were all going towards Citizen’s Advice Bureau North-West (from herein CAB NW). The charity helps thousands of people every year, with issues on everything from housing, to employment, to benefits. Last year, they helped put £13M into the pockets of people who needed it from the local area. They are an essential resource (that I have used in the past for advice on employment matters) from people looking for help and advice, and any money raised for such an institution is excellent. You can find out more information about the CAB here.

By the time you’re reading this, it will be quite a while after the gig, but I had such a good time, I wanted to write about it anyway.

I was blown away by Lancaster Town Hall as a venue itself – I don’t know for sure, but I imagine it could probably get around 2,000 people in there standing on the floor level, with a lovely wraparound balcony for limited seating above. The room had a full bar, and everything I would expect from a “proper” gig, including a solid barrier screwed into the floor, a lighting set up (with another barrier around it), a 5ft high stage, and good access. It reminded me of other medium sized venues I’d been in, such as the O2 Academy in Leeds, or Shepherd’s Bush Empire in North London, and I immediately wondered why a) I hadn’t heard of this venue in Lancaster before, and b) why wasn’t it being used as a proper touring stop for bands going round the country? Upon looking at their website, the answer to the latter might be because it only seems to get used as a venue on Saturday night, as I imagine actual city council business needs to get done during the week, so perhaps that severely limits what they can put on. As an aside, Lancaster used to be a stopping point for some seriously big bands – and this is a whole ‘nother story – but at one time the uni played host to bands such as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Kinks and others. It would be beyond cool if we could get Lancaster back on the map as a “place to go” to play on a tour, not just as a random town halfway between the stops of Manchester and Glasgow.

Getting inside was quick and efficient, and the first support act Amy Rae (Spotify profile) came on at about 7.30pm. She had a lovely clear and soulful voice, singing folk/singer-songwriter type music, with easy melodies and repeatable choruses that the crowd could begin to learn quickly and get into. One particular song, ‘Gin & I’, with the refrain “I think I’ll have another gin, and make it a double…” has been going around my head as an ear worm since the gig. The second support, Joe McCorriston (Spotify profile), had a bit more of a rock and roll sound with moodier lyrics to go alongside, but he got the crowd singing along on a particularly repeatable chorus (I think he said there was exactly one word we had to learn in order to sing the chorus: do (as in do doo do do dooo do do)).

Then at around 9pm, it was time for the main event. I was surprised to find that people had actually travelled a long way to come to this gig (I don’t why I should be, I’ve done it. I guess just the idea of people coming to Lancaster for such thing seems strange to me). The guy next to me had travelled from somewhere in Bedfordshire. And they were all here to see Frank Turner (Spotify profile).

Frank was introduced by his sister, the CEO of CAB NW, as “my little brother who’s going to play some songs for you all.” Frank entered, wearing a Counting Crows t-shirt (that would become prescient later on), picking up his guitar and began with ‘If I Every Stray’ from the album England Keep My Bones (my favourite FT album). At some point, earlier in the evening, a small human of no more than 7 years of age had appeared next to me on the barrier, straining on his tippy-toes to try and see. I wanted to pick him up and sit him on the top of the rail, but I was pretty sure security wouldn’t let me do that, so instead as we reached the chorus of ‘If I Ever Stray’ which goes “So come on everybody, sing a 1, 2, 3, 4!’ I leaned down and counted out the beat to the small one, to try and get him involved. He seemed hyped by it all anyway.

For the most part he stuck to older well known singalongs such as ‘Long Live the Queen’ (heartbreakingly about a friend who died of cancer), ‘Wessex Boy,’ ‘Love, Ire & Song,’ and ‘I Still Believe.’ I love the last one especially because it just rings so true with the bridge:

Any music lover will totally identify with those words; that music really does have the power to “save us all.”

Other highlights of the evening included a denouncement of fascism (‘if anyone tries to give you simple answers to deep questions, they’re lying,’) and a duet with his sister of Counting Crows’ ‘Sullivan Street.’

All in all it was an excellent night. I danced, jumped around, sung my heart out, and I can’t wait for him to come back so I can do it all over again.