This is a bit of a monster entry, featuring both a regular album review and then a live concert recap to follow. It is a lot to read, but there are way more photos than usual if your eyes get tired from looking at words.
Disc 1764 is…Undefeated
Artist: Frank Turner
Year of Release: 2024
What’s up with the Cover? Frank from behind, sporting a new tattoo? It would be on brand, as he seems to get a new tattoo when he does a new record. Previous tattoos were more interesting than this one, but tattoos aren’t for other people, they’re for you.
I’m less a fan of the dark and indistinct filter making it hard to see much here. It gets worse in the liner notes which are printed in dark grey on black and nigh impossible to read. Would it kill you to be undefeated in slightly better light, Frank?
How I Came To Know It: I’m a Frank Turner fan, full stop. When he releases a new album, I buy that fucking album.
How It Stacks Up: I have 10 Frank Turner albums. I like them all, but anything new is going to be up against some legendary stuff. “Undefeated” is his best in years, but still comes in only at #8, bumping “FTHC” and “No Man’s Land” down a spot.
Ratings: 3 stars
For the last five years Frank’s been experimenting with his sound. On 2019’s “No Man’s Land” he did a theme album dedicated to various famous and infamous women. In 2022 he went back to his punk roots with the much heavier sounding “FTHC”. “Undefeated” is Frank returning to his core sound: folk rock anthems full of messages of overcoming adversity, anxiety, or both.
Being a huge Frank Turner fan means that I’m perfectly happy with his core sound, thank you very much, and while I enjoyed his previous two records “Undefeated” felt like slipping on a comfortable pair of shoes that have been too-long neglected at the back of the closet.
Turner’s albums always feature a couple of songs suitable for singing along, and ‘Undefeated” wastes no time getting into one. “Do One” launches the record, once again putting the theme of standing up for yourself front and centre. It starts with this positive bit of rhyme:
“Some people are just going to hate you,
No matter what you do.
So don't waste your time trying to change their minds –
Just be a better you.”
Good advice, and the verses of the song have that timeless lilting pine that characterizes much of Turner’s music. Unfortunately, the sing-along is just a scale up and down of “do do do do”. I expect more of a Frank sing-along than this – we are Turnerites, Frank – we can remember a few lines of actual words!
Much better on this front is “No Thank You for the Music” where our invitation to join is around a chorus of:
“I don’t want to be in any gang that you’re in.
I refuse to take part in gatekeeping people’s art.”
Yes, much better and again, an excellent message. Art doesn’t require gates. If you don’t like an artist, stop listening to them and your problem is solved. Also this song is the catchiest on the record, making singing along that much more enjoyable.
Frank sings about what he knows. On “Show People” he describes what it is like to be on perpetual tour, and how to own that and be proud of it. Not everyone was born to be a performer, but if you’re infected with this sickness, take pride in it and worry less about the money, and more about the experience. Frank has taken his own advice for years, and the world is better for it.
Turner is also very open about his lifelong struggles with anxiety and self-doubt. On “Undefeated” we have a couple, “Ceasefire” where he imagines giving his younger less-assured self a pep talk, and “Somewhere In Between” where he explores his struggles with imposter syndrome. Both songs are solid, and Frank is a natural at writing on topics like these without sounding like a whiner. At the same time, he does a better version of it on previous records.
“Undefeated” is a double disc set, where the second disc is the record recorded acoustically – just Frank and his guitar. The last time Turner did this was 2015’s “Positive Songs for Negative People”. His songs have such strong structural fundamentals that they sound great with or without a band, and I like having the option to hear them either way. Overall I liked the acoustic versions more, where Frank’s vocals come across stronger and there’s space and time in the arrangement to “feel the feels” of what he’s laying down.
Overall, “Undefeated” is a solid record from a singer-songwriter who long ago mastered his craft, and who continues to find new ways to make even an old sound fresh and enjoyable.
Best tracks: Girl from the Record Shop, East Finchley, No Thank You for the Music, The Leaders, Show People
The Concert: September 3, 2024 at the Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver BC
This was my second “commando raid” concert of the summer, where Sheila and I fly over to Vancouver, see a show that night, and fly home the next morning. The concert itself is probably 10% of the total cost, so it has to be worth it. This was to be our sixth time seeing Frank Turner. He’s also the only artist I’ve ever travelled to multiple towns to see on successive nights. I knew in advance it would be worth it.
The Venue:
The Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver is an iconic venue to see live music. It was built in 1929 and is a classic art deco ballroom, with a sprung dance floor that invites revelry. The downside of the Commodore is it is a lot of work to secure a table without paying a reserve fee. Sheila and I lined up an hour in advance and were rewarded with a choice location in one of the terraced side tables near the stage.
As we sipped our drinks we thought back on the types of music the place would have seen. Big band banquet hall stuff in the thirties, young local gals dancing with soldiers on leave in the forties, and everything else that followed in the great and glorious celebration of music through the ages.
Bridge City Sinners
The opening act were Portland’s the Bridge City Sinners. I knew nothing about this band other than the fact that they had great t-shirt art.
In fact, the pre-event lineup at the merch table had four times as many Bridge City Sinner devotees as Turnerites. I walked up to the Frank Turner merch table with about as much difficulty as a woman finding an open bathroom stall at a football stadium.
Then I decided, quite whimsically, to line up again in the longer Bridge City Sinner line and take a chance on them. It felt like those folks were in on something I wasn’t, and they had the look of real music fans about them.
While waiting I met a very large, very dangerous looking man who turned out to be entirely jovial and talkative. We had a lovely chat while waiting. I figured he must love the band for a reason so, as I did when I saw the Smalls back in 2014 (review here). I not only bought a t-shirt, I bought the band’s whole damned discography as well. I’ve since listened to two of the four records and can confirm this was a good decision.
But I digress…
Back to the actual band. The Bridge City Sinners are a style entirely unto themselves. They are a cross between punk and bluegrass with a fair bit of the devil thrown in for good measure. They reminded me favourably of Canadian psychobilly act Creepshow, complete with their own scary but beautiful lead singer, Libby Lux. Lux blasts with pure punk energy, all the while playing an instrument something that – according to their Bandcamp page – is called a banjolele. With a band this unabashedly smashing genres together, it feels like a fitting instrument.
It isn’t just Lux who commands attention, every band member seems like The Most Interesting Person You Will Meet. Special mention to fiddler Lightnin’ Luke, who was all beard and hair as he furiously sawed away.
As the first of three bands the Sinners got a scant 30 minutes, but they made the most of it and I was definitely left wanting more.
Bedouin Soundclash
Up next was Bedouin Soundclash, another genre busting band this time in the form of a three piece rock band that play a mix of reggae, ska and prog rock.
Bass player Eon Sinclair commanded most of my attention with his smooth groove and eighties shimmy-shimmy dance moves. At first I was enraged by the appearance of the word “Let’s” on his bass, with no accompanying verb. Let’s what? Let’s dance? Let’s go?
Later a blacklight would reveal the hidden second half of the message, which when fully displayed read “Let’s Grow”. Well played, Eon.
Bedouin Soundclash had good energy, and apparently were well known through Canadian radio, with Sheila recognizing several songs. I did not, and although I liked it all well enough, I won’t be searching them out.
In one low moment, the lead singer stating, “jazz is better than country music”. This felt like an attempt to recover from an earlier failure to ignite the crowd with a Sturgill Simpson cover but more importantly, the statement was objectively untrue.
One song I did know was their 2004 hit “When the Night Feels My Song” but given the way they were thrashing and rocking out, I was dubious they’d pull off the soft and sweet sounds of the version I recall from the video. In the end they did play it, but as a medley with a couple other songs, notably “Country Roads”. The crowd sang along, proving they liked country after all, and all of us – jazz and country enthusiasts – ended the set as friends.
Frank Turner
At last, having weathered the insistent requests from the roving server to buy more drinks (and succumbing a total of twice) it was time for Frank Turner to take the stage. Take it, he did, with a ferocity that immediately seized the room and lifted things up. He started with a couple classic sing-a-long anthems of yesteryear, plus a track from the new album.
This would be the order of the night, as Frank played all the favourites, and squeezed in a good half of his new record. I for one welcome new record play at a show, even though for every song off the new record that I loved (“East Finchley”, “No Thank You for the Music”) he played one that I appreciated less (“Letters”, “Somewhere In Between”).
As a Turner show veteran, times I knew what I should expect and got it all, and then some. Frank belted it out, Frank bantered, Frank encouraged crowd surfing, and then did some crowd surfing himself. Check, check, check and check.
The rules of a Frank Turner show remain the same. There are only two: 1) Don’t be a dick (i.e. dance, party and punk the fuck out, but not at the expense of those around you) and 2) If you know the words, sing along. If it seems like I mention that a lot, it is because it happens a lot. If you usually hate it when the person beside you sings along full-throat with the act you came to see I feel you, but trust me when I tell you that with Frank it is different, and you will like it.
I followed both rules with gusto. Briefly there was a table in front of us doing a lot of standing and milling about in our sight lines, straying dangerously into a possible violation of Rule #1. However, the largest and most boisterous of the bunch was none other than my newfound friend from the Bridge City Sinners line up. He quickly recognized what was going on and set a better example, and within a few minutes the whole group had reorganized themselves so we got an unobstructed view the rest of the way. Score one for the brotherhood of punk rock!
Later this crew left permanently for the dance floor and were replaced by two non-descript women who looked at their phones and took selfies throughout the show. I don’t know why they were there, but whatever combination of drugs or alcohol is required to allow you to ignore Frank Turner playing live right in front of you, I want no part of it.
Through it all, Frank was killing it. There was a brief moment about 2/3 of the way through where three or four “bad relationship” songs in a row threatened to bum us all out, but that was just Frank feeling the feels (he does this). It is one of Frank’s great connections to an audience that he can create a feeling of togetherness not just through rock anthems, but through a genuine vulnerability and admission of his failings. It has the effect of giving his audience permission to forgive ourselves a few of our own cares and worries. It is very cathartic.
And besides it was short-lived and before long he brought us all back up to a frenzy of horns-in-air/flip of the hair/devil-may-care ecstasy.
I am wise to Frank’s ways, but I succumbed yet again. If you haven’t experienced the sheer joy of a Frank Turner concert, you should give it a shot. For best results, I recommend you chat in the merch line not during the show and by all means take a few photos, but otherwise, put your phone in your pocket, or – where appropriate – use it to light up the room like this:
Remember to not be a dick, and to sing along and while Frank Turner is great with strangers that you will treat like friends, it is even better enjoyed with those you love, as I did with this lovely lady. Sheila, you are the best – I’m so glad we met. In jail.
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