Friday 6 April 2012

F is for Frank Turner

Oh Frank. How empty my life and iPod were without you, your guitar and your stories. Without that chance encounter at Leeds Festival 2008 I might never have known about the songwriter of a generation and discovered that charming blend of acoustic folk/punk that you've crafted as your own.

You had me hooked from the first song, but the most memorable moment of this set for me was that you made me cry. Telling the story of your friend Lexi, who died of cancer, through the most heartbreaking, but also heartwarming, lyrics, you transformed a rowdy crowd to a sobbing wreck.

'Long Live the Queen' is a magical moment in music that sadly took a personal tragedy to create and every time I hear it live, with so many people singing along, I  get a lump in my throat.

The following year I saw you at Leeds again, in a bigger tent, where the few hundred supporters from 2008 had morphed into several thousand and they all sang along. I cried again and I wasn't the only one.

I'm sure you've done her proud.






My top five Turner tracks to check out:


* The Ballad of Me and My Friends

* St Christopher is Coming Home

* Balthazar, Impresario

* Back in the Day

* Long Live the Queen (see above)

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