Frank Turner, Larry & His Flask, Jenny Owen Youngs

This is going to get long so I'll do my "tl;dr" up front:

Nonstop energy from the first set through the last, this trio of bands was a brilliant combination that had the crowd dancing and singing all night. A must-see.

The bands:

Jenny Owen Youngs

Larry & His Flask

Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls

The venue:

Saint Andrews Hall (Detroit MI)

Date: 

September 11, 2012

A little background: On May 23, 2012, I heard my first Frank Turner song ("Reasons Not To Be An Idiot"), I bought my first Frank Turner album (Love Ire & Song) and I bought tickets to this concert. That day was kind of a game changer for me, so to say I was looking forward to this concert is an enormous understatement. I had very high expectations. I was not disappointed.

I rushed over to the Detroit after work, nervous about going to another new venue alone but damn determined to get there and to be cool because I'd been waiting for this for months. It turns out that Saint Andrews is really easy to find and parking is even easier. I rolled in with ten minutes or so to spare before Jenny Owen Youngs took the stage.

I got reasonably close to the stage but ended up standing behind some tall dudes who were drinking and laughing and I know that's what you do at a show, I couldn't fault them for that, but I've had some bad experiences with people being really douchey during opening acts (see forthcoming Airborne Toxic Event post) so I felt wary.

I need not have worried. They boys were so enthused to see Jenny, it was actually pretty adorable. They toasted her when she came out on stage and in fact were so obviously and loudly into her that I thought she'd spit beer out her nose laughing. She seemed genuinely flattered and surprised and it ended up being really fun. She's great on stage, too. She's got a great voice and songs that draw you in and she's gorgeous, which is irrelevant but still true. I didn't know any of her stuff before the show but she got us new kids singing along to a nice cover of "Ring of Fire" and overall, I really enjoyed her set and I've put a few of her tracks into my main playlist.

Next up was Larry and His Flask (LAHF from here on).

If you're not moving when LAHF starts playing, I assume one of the following scenarios applies:
1. You have died/are in a coma.
2. You suffer from full-body paralysis.
3. You are standing in a state of shock at the sheer awesomeness in front of you.

There is no other legitimate excuse. I'd only listened to a few of their songs before the show but was sucked right in to it from the moment they began playing. Then when they started playing "Beggars Will Ride", I thought I'd lose my mind. Dancing and clapping and stomping my feet with a bunch of other crazy people doing the same thing was beyond my wildest expectations. Finally getting to dance the crap out of that song was a relief as I had previously been listening to it at work where busting a move is frowned upon by management.


I'm not sure what to say about LAHF. They're the real deal. The (upright) bass player will blow your mind. Straight up. The mandolin and banjos solos give you the sense that all is right in the world. There's harmonica and drums and sometimes even trumpet and trombone. There's so much going on that it's almost impossible to keep track of, especially when they don't keep still for even a second. They lay out soulful, solid harmonies over this well-constructed wonderful punk rock jamboree. I had this thought that I was just happy to be a human being who could experience their show and appreciate it.

Too soon, it was over. But the best was yet to come. Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls took the stage and the show pretty much blew me away. You have to understand that LAHF was a wild ride but I'd been living in Frank Turner's music for months. It's attached itself to my heart now, which made seeing him live kind of a Big Deal. The combination of the music being such a big part of my life, of being caught up in the crowd singing and dancing and Frank and the band sounding great and playing their hearts out on every song... it was one of those moments that stick with you. Amazing.

It's obvious that Frank Turner loves what he's doing. He's solidly connected to what he plays and he invites the crowd to connect as well. He calls for a sing-a-long but makes sure everyone knows what to do because he's "not all about the in crowd" or only long-time fans. His call to dance during "Four Simple Words" pushed the crowd to a new level of awesome from which it never descended through the rest of the show.

The Sleeping Souls really rocked. They were a lot of fun to watch. Had my bass-player gauge not just been thoroughly destroyed by LAHF, Tarrant from the Sleeping Souls would have made the top of my list of fun-to-watch bass players. I guess he can still top the list of bass guitar players because he was really beautiful to watch. I got a chance to say hi to some of the guys after the show and even got a copy of the set list (thanks Matt!).

I'd heard that Frank is known to hang around after a show and I was thrilled to find that was, indeed the case. Now, I'd been practicing for this moment all summer by meeting other musicians that I really admire after shows and I thought that since now I'm so cool, meeting Frank would be no big deal. Wrong. I totally pulled a deer in headlights act! Thankfully, he's a pro and he signed the things I proffered and even took care to spell my name correctly without once giving the impression that he thought I was a total tool. He did call my 30 Things To Do While I'm 30 list a "bucket list", which I hate, but he didn't know any better and since I was incapable of giving any real explanation, I choose forgiveness.

I was bummed that I didn't get to meet Jenny Owen Youngs or the guys from Larry and His Flask but hopefully I'll be able to catch them on their next trip through the Mitten.

All in all, bump this one to the top of my favorite concerts list. The energy, the awesome performances, the enthusiastic crowd that was there to sing and dance and rock out, it really came together, start to finish.