Frank Turner is touring North America in support of his tenth album, Undefeated, along with a killer lineup of musicians featuring Amigo the Devil, Bridge City Sinners, and Micah Schnabel & Vanessa Jean Speckman.
One might question the wisdom of hosting a 4-band show starting at 6:30PM on a Monday night, but when Frank Turner is personally curating the lineup you make it a point to get there early. Indeed, by the time opener Micah Schabel took the stage there were a surprising number of folks already filling the general admission floor and they kept arriving in a steady flow in as Vanessa Jean Speckman joined him.
While oriented around singer/songwriters, the lineup was admittedly eclectic. How so? Look no further than satanic folk punkers Bridge City Sinners. No stranger to San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom, the Portland quintet got the crowd moving and singing along to their entire set including a few tunes from their upcoming release as well as an unnamed and unreleased song before which Libby Lux implored the crowd not to film.
With the crew making quick work of the stage, Amigo the Devil was already on the stage by 8PM and launched right into “Small Stone.” It was clear from the get-go that San Francisco loves AtD and that the feeling was mutual. The entire set turned into a massive sing-along with the crowd hanging on every word, from new tunes “My Body Is a Dive Bar” and “Crying at The Orgy,” the latter of which appeared to have been slipped into the set at the last minute as his time ran out. For a while there it was easy to forget that Amigo was not the headliner!
There appeared to be a massive shift in the crowd between sets as the Amigo the Devil fans cleared out of the front (no doubt to catch some fresh air in the lobby) as the Frank Turner fans stepped forward. When the band finally took the stage and busted out “No Thank You for the Music” any doubt that there weren’t many Frank Turner fans in the room was quickly shattered. It was clear that the fans had fully embraced Undefeated—and good thing too, because they were about to get a healthy dose of it.
After riling the crowd with a few songs, the band finally paused for Frank to remind the crowd of his two rules: 1) don’t be a dickhead, and 2) if you know the words sing along. While #1 is always a good reminder, encouragement was clearly not necessary for #2!
New Sleeping Souls drummer Callum Green brought some great energy to the band and seemed to be enjoying his first time in SF while the band’s fill-in bass player opted to be booed during the intros in a bit of an anti-hero inspired moment which came back to bite him when Frank encouraged the crowd to pile on with some extra boos during a particularly challenging bass riff.
Clearly having a good time, Frank was light on his feet as he bounded across the stage. A brief respite for a trio of acoustic tunes gave him a bit of a break before it was back to the full band and a ripping encore to top off the 1 hour and 50-minute set. Great bands, great setlist, and a great crowd made this worth the Tuesday morning pain.
FRANK TURNER AND THE SLEEPING SOULS
AMIGO THE DEVIL
BRIDGE CITY SINNERS
MICAH SCHNABEL & VANESSA JEAN SPECKMAN
FRANK TURNER SETLIST
No Thank You for the Music
Girl From the Record Shop
Get Better
Try This at Home
The Next Storm
I am Disappeared
Haven’t Been Doing So Well
Polaroid Picture
Ceasefire
Wessex Boy
Solo Acoustic
Love Ire & Song
Be More Kind
The Ballad of Me and My Friends
Electric
Show People
Punches
1933
Non Serviam
Do One
Never Mind the Back Problems
Photosynthesis
Encore
Undefeated
Recovery
I Still Believe
Four Simple Words
