The opening act for tonight is Beans on Toast who in all honesty goes down really bloody well with those who turned up early enough to catch his set. The man is no stranger to big crowds and you can tell he feels pretty comfortable on stage.
Flogging Molly take the stage and their brand of Irish themed folk punk is as incredible as always, more than worthy of a main support slot they drill through a good set with the iconic ‘Drunken Lullabies’ going down especially well. This band are the best at what they do and everyone watching them has a great time.
By the time 9pm rolls around, it seems as if the night has gone by incredibly quickly, in actual fact you needed to be gearing up for what would essentially turn out to be a two hour long show. First things first, ALL arena shows need to start with a curtain drop, Frank and the band come on stage looking every inch the accompolished rock stars to the tones of ‘Photosynthesis’ and the crowd go duly wild.
Frank Turner commands the stage almost effortlessly, the hits sound fucking huge with a big shout out to ‘One Foot Before The Other’ which brings a genuine intensity to the night while the live return (as if it was ever going to go away) of ‘The Ballad of Me and My Friends’ goes down an absolute storm. It’s almost as if Frank Turner has this whole arena shows thing sussed, the atmospheric main set curtain closer of ‘Broken Piano’ is incredibly well put together and actual show closer ‘Four Simple Words’ leaves everybody in high spirits singing the praises of the man they’d just seen as they spill into the streets of Cardiff.
Any doubts as to whether Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls could pull off an arena tour are put to rest as soon as they hit the stage tonight. A big percentage of the fans in attendance here tonight probably don’t realise how much work this man has put into his career, but tonight Frank Turner deservedly reaped the rewards of the past 1500 shows.
CHRIS MARSHMAN