In what was show 2163 for Frank Turner, O2 Guildhall Southampton turned up in full voice, dance and moshing as The Homeless Gospel Choir and Arkells supported him. Before the action started we caught up with Derek Zanetti AKA Pittsburgh’s The Homeless Gospel Choir as he talked about touring with Frank, latest music and more!
Derek actually told me beforehand alcohol-free for two years and that there are a lot of pros for this. The political singer really came across a down to earth nice guy and that reflected in his set. He told the crowd that each song was a protest song which made the crowd giggle as they truly were and each one had a really valid point. Derek started with his track With God On Our Side which was a protest song about Donald Trump. It was a really catchy song and had a lot of meaningful lyrics which Derek clearly believes in.
Despite The Homeless Gospel Choir only had an acoustic guitar, he created a lot of atmosphere and this was seen his next song Music Preferences. After this track, Derek revealed that this was a punk rock show and that everyone is welcome to the park, free of racism, free of sexism and that you can be you are. This really touched me and proved how much of a nice guy Derek is. Next up was Why Must I Feel This Way? which was great addition to the set and this was quickly followed by Crazy. He revealed how former My Chemical Romance man Frank Iero helped with the album Presents:Normal which is what Crazy featured on. The song was about medication and midway through the track, he asked fans to decide whether a part of the song is bullshit or not. He then played Untitled which was about making it. Derek finished on Normal and thanked Frank Turner before for giving him the opportunity to play and then something special happened. The Homeless Gospel Choir introduced Canadian rock band Arkells to join him on stage for the last song.
Incredibly after Derek finished his set, Arkells then carried on and played their whole set back to back, something I haven’t seen before. Right from the start, the band got the crowd clapping and Max Kerman certainly knew how to engage with fans.
Max also got a fan up on the stage to play guitar which was great to see and proved how much of an entertainer he really and how humble the band is. The band then talked about a certain American President that Derek earlier already talked about, and played Fake Money. This was a real punk rock show and the Canadians really got everyone in the party mood. The next song was a little funky and Max revealed it was a protest song. The song in question was People’s Champ and you could tell this song meant a lot to the band with Max going into the crowd and singing his heart out.
The next track was a bit of a love song and was titled My Heart Is Always Yours which got everyone to put their arms round the person next to you which created a lot of friends throughout the venue. The band finished on A Little Rain (A Song for Pete) and Leather Jacket which were both good tracks to end on and perfectly warmed up for Frank Turner.
Frank Turner then took to the stage with The Sleeping Souls as the O2 Guildhall was ready to party. Frank came onto an almost Celtic tune with lots of energy from the start with everyone singing and clapping. He started with 1933 which was a great start as he revealed to the crowd shortly after what number show it was. Frank played Get Better and The Next Storm after which was also solid additions to his set. He then said to the crowd it was a great pleasure to be back in his home county Hampshire playing. Frank revealed there are two ruled to his show which was ‘Don’t be an arsehole’ and ‘If you know the words sing’, this was an actually pretty cool advice and could apply with all kind of gigs. He then played Make America Great Again which was off his latest album Be More Kind that was released last Friday. Frank shouted out to Daniel Wakeford and talked about a new campaign called ‘Stay Up Late’ which was allowing fans with learning difficulties to attend rock shows. This led the title song Be More Kind to be played and worked perfectly.
The venue started to get really hot as the sold-out crowd started to get packed as the 36-year-old started to play old songs such as I Am Disappeared before playing his latest single Little Changes which was the first ever time he played this song live. Older songs started to be played such as Reasons Not To Be An Idiot as well as Glory Hallelujah as he revealed his mum was in the audience and does not like that song due to the atheist lyrics. Frank finished with The Sleeping Souls for while on Wessex Box. Frank turned solo and acoustic as he played Get It Right, Josephine and The Ballad of Me and My Friends which were all superb to watch live. Frank made a shout out to Pat and Shaun at The Joiners which was a nice touch and proved he hasn’t forgotten his roots. The Sleeping Souls returned and suddenly a circle pit and mosh pit appeared with the likes of Blackout, Out of Breath and Photosynthesis which were all amazing songs to be apart of live.
Frank Turner returned for the encore with The Sleeping Souls he played I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous and I Still Believe (with The Homeless Gospel Choir) where he crowd surfed got in the circle pit and danced. Frank finished on Four Simple Words and Polaroid Picture which was a perfect way to end a perfect night of punk rock and folk.