Frank Turner, Avail, The Bronx, Pet Needs @ Knockdown Center

by Ray Rusinak | Jun 23, 2022 | Shows

Frank Turner at Knockdown Center (photo by Ray Rusinak)

Back in September and October of 2012, The Melvins set out to accomplish what no one else had ever done. They played shows in all 50 States (and Washington DC) in 51 days. Buzz Osborne, lead singer and guitarist for The Melvins had this to say of that tour, “If stupidity got us into this mess then why can’t it get us out?” You have to wonder if Frank Turner conferred with Buzz prior to taking on his 50 States in 50 Days Tour of the US. And while Turner clearly has the advantage of doing this tour while traveling in a rather luxurious tour bus vs. the Econoline van that The Melvins drove themselves in, it’s also true that the Melvins only had themselves to worry about. Pulling this endeavor off with a touring entourage of multiple dozens of musicians, stage crew, and support staff adds a whole other dimension which The Melvins didn’t have to deal with.

AND OH YEAH, there’s also this little world wide pandemic called Covid which we just can’t seem to say goodbye to which will constantly be hovering over this tour as well. Well in any event, Turner and his crew rolled into New York City on Monday 6/20 for day number eight and show number ten of the tour. Actually it would be shows number ten AND eleven since Frank would be doing a midnight show at Crossroads in Garwood, NJ just about an hour after the lights went down at the Knockdown Center in Queens.

Truth be told, I was less than enthused when it was announced months ago that the NY show would be at Knockdown Center. I’d never been there but I’d heard through the grapevine that it was a rather cavernous space which was more often than not used for events rather than concerts. Anyway, upon arriving at Knockdown shortly after 6pm, I was pleasantly surprised to find the room not nearly as big as I had feared and it was laid out rather nicely as well. And for those who just read 6pm and immediately thought, “oh there’s a typo”, no 6pm is correct. With four bands playing and with Turner playing a midnight show afterwards an hours drive away, things were starting early and a tight schedule was (hoped to be) adhered to.

Opening band Pet Needs from Colchester, UK hit the stage at precisely 6:30 and wasted no time diving into their anthemic pop punk repertoire. I’d heard good things about them from friends who’d seen them earlier in the week in Portland so I was anxious to see what they were about. With this being their first time not only touring but also their first time ever visiting the States, suffice it to say the lads were quite stoked to be in New York. Their set was energetic and lively, comprised mostly of songs from their 2022 EP The Fractured Party Vol. I and last year’s LP, Fractured Party Music. And “party” is clearly an apt way of describing Pet Needs. I highly suggest catching them when they make their way back to our environs.

Next up was The Bronx who’ve been making the rounds in the punk (and Mariachi) world for years now. Hailing from Los Angeles, these hardcore punks hit the scene hard back in 2002 and that’s exactly how they hit the stage on Monday night, hard and loud. ead singer, Matt Caughthran hit the stage running with “White Shadow,” a banger which opens up the band’s latest LP The Bronx VI. The rest of their set was a fast and furious mix of songs from all six of the band’s albums which had the circle pit in full swing almost from the get go.

The last of the opening acts was none other than punk stalwarts, Avail. They are one of those bands which holds a deep spot in every aging punk rocker’s heart. Joining the tour for a select set of northeast shows, having them on this bill was an absolute treat. Although I for one clearly fall within the aging punk rocker category, I missed Avail during their heyday in the early to mid 90’s…something about raising two young boys kind of kept me out of the circuit for a while. The good news is that I got to share this Avail show with both of the boys, which is pretty damned cool. Having grown to know and appreciate Tim Barry via his second career as acoustic troubadour, it was quite a sight to see him screaming and bouncing all over the stage along with Beau Beau, the group’s self proclaimed cheerleader. With a set comprised of mostly songs from the 90’s albums, they proved to be the punk juggernaut that their reputation always claimed them to be.

Avail

It would have been a difficult enough task to have to follow any one of the three openers, but to have to come out after all three surely put the pressure on Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls. Taking the stage just past 9pm, Turner opened the evening up with an unusual starter for him in “Four Simple Words” from 2013’s stellar Tape Deck Heart album. Usually a song which is saved for later in his set, it’s also a song to which Frank goes into the crowd to dance with someone. I can’t help but think that due to Covid, crashing the crowd is off limits this tour and using the song as an opener was a good way of not only avoiding this but also setting the tone for what was to come. Either way, it worked masterfully.

Moving forward, Turner and The Sleeping Souls proceeded to play a mix of tried and true classics like “Photosynthesis,” “I Am Disappeared” (to which they added a nice new arrangement to), “Recovery,” and “Ballad Of Me and My Friends” to just name a few. But what Frank really pulled off nicely was his mixing in the new material in with the old and making the new songs feel totally familiar. The interspersion of songs like “The Gathering,” and “Haven’t Been Doing So Well” early on in the set felt absolutely seamless.

There were a couple of songs which especially stuck out for me however. First and foremost by far was “1933” from 2018’s Be More Kind collection. While this album opened Turner up to a much wider audience here in the States, I’ve never been completely enamored by its poppy sensibilities. However, “1933” is an absolute punk rock protest banger and on Monday night it absolutely ripped. And as hard as it might be to actually put into print, it just might be one of his most powerful (non personal) songs he’s ever written.

Frank Turner

One more highlight was the inclusion of “Out of Breath,” a song which doesn’t get paid much attention to from the 2015 LP Positive Songs For Negative People. A high spirited rocker, it fit in quite nicely coming off of “1933.” And interestingly, his following “Out of Breath” with his new song about his father, “Miranda” from this year’s FTHC was another non obvious yet masterful segue. While “Miranda” might not be my favorite song from the new album, Frank’s introduction and rendition of it on stage opened my eyes to it being a much better song structurally than I’d previously thought.

This brings me to the song which absolutely broke me. Scott Hutchison, the late singer from Frightened Rabbit, was a close friend of Turner’s. Scott’s passing was devastating enough for his fans but for actual real life friends of his like Frank it was brutal. Over the years since Scott left us, Turner would often play Hutchison’s song “The Modern Leper” on special nights. Anyway, Frank wrote a tribute to Scott for the recent FTHC album called “A Wave Across A Bay” which on Monday night hit home hard because as he said in the intro, his death broke his heart. But as sad as this story is, its also triumphant because Scott was “fucking great…and he smelt good”. And then as fate would have it, the song to follow “Wave” would be “The House Where I Was Raised” and as someone who is in the process of cleaning out and saying goodbye to their childhood home, well you can see where it might have been more than just sweat rolling down my cheek at this point in the show.

Needless to say, the show again picked up from there as only a Frank Turner show can. He after all is a master at the art of creating a show of ebbs and flows, an incredible and true entertainer, who despite periods of gut wrenching emotions, knows how to take those very same emotions and turn them into ecstatic glee as if turning a switch. I know that I am not an objective voice when it comes to Frank Turner the performer and artist, but I don’t care. His songs reach out to me in ways not many other songwriters have. He can have me in an emotional puddle of tears one second and then jumping up and down like a god damned fool the next. He’s not for everyone, I get that…but he ought to be.