And if music was the food of love...

Last night I went to see Frank Turner at The Rickshaw, and I have to say, he played a blinder! What a fun show! I'm always excited to see British musicians in San Francisco, as they often play more intimate venues. Plus there's something strangely satisfying about knowing you are from the same country as the band and you all live in the same country - but none of you are there, so you have some sort of connection that you wouldn't have if it was at a show in the UK...if that makes sense?!

Actually, it seems the Brits were out in force last night, with a range of shows taking place across SF and Oakland ahead of Coachella festival in SoCal - Muse, LaRoux, Thom Yorke and Erol Alkan. How annoying that all of these gigs were on the same night. Anyway, I decided to go with Frank Turner, as I'd never seen him live before, and I liked the idea of supporting a lesser known musician with the added bonus of being at a smaller venue. I was glad I chose to go to this show, and I even got to chat to him for a bit before he took to the stage!


I'll be honest, I didn't pay much (any) attention to the two support acts. In fact, most of the time I don't really bother with the warm up bands at these types of gigs unless I know their music - I know I could be missing out on something amazing, but it's a risk I'll take. So instead, I immersed myself in drinkiepoos, meaning I was suitably merry by the time FT came on.

I was impressed at how well he played and how great the sound was. He also interacted with the crowd really well, which to me is an integral part of the live music experience. The venue was pretty packed and the crowd loved him - they demonstrated this by singing along to everything! It seems like he is definitely the kind of musician who has a loyal following of fans who know all the words to all his songs. I particularly love 'The Road' so I was happy that he played that and I got quite excitable...until a mini mosh pit formed and someone fell on me. I was unhappy that he didn't play 'Substitute' because that's my favourite. Waaaah.


All in all a really fun gig! I definitely want to see him again - and it seems I am not the only one, as his gigs in London are getting bigger. He already played a couple of sold out shows at The Roundhouse in Camden this year and he is set to play Brixton Academy in December.

The night ended with a quick venue change to the Edinburgh Castle for a boogie to the sounds of 1964, although my recollection of that is tinged with vodka....now if only I could forget my decision to succumb to the advances of a particularly cheesy slice of late night pizza before bedtime...