Frank Turner is touring the US right now to promote his new album, Positive Songs for Negative People, but I don’t think I saw a single negative person in the audience last weekend at the House of Blues. This was a really friendly crowd, tons of smiles and strangers offering to get drinks for people they had just met. The packed house didn’t surprise me, but the range in ages in the audience did - at least one as young as 10! Frank Turner is a musician with wide appeal indeed!
The night started off with Beans on Toast, just one guy, Jay McAllister, on acoustic guitar. He seemed to be having fun and entertained us all with songs and stories. One story he told was about a girl who introduced herself at one of his shows. She told him about a guy who had tried to pick her up, trying to pass himself off as a musician, playing a Beans on Toast song and saying that it was his. She wound up dumping him but bought a Beans on Toast CD and t-shirt, so Jay thanked the guy and anyone else who wanted to try stealing his songs.
This guy is really a marketing genius! After he left the stage, he invited people to meet him at a side table where he sold t-shirts, decorated with a “custom design” that he drew right there with a magic marker. One little girl showed us her t-shirt with a big “Surprise!” written on the front.
Skinny Lister filled the stage next with lots of energy, moving and dancing non-stop during every song. They involved the audience with their contagious energy, inviting everyone to sing along. Michael Camino, the double bass player even crowd-surfed while still holding onto the instrument (about as big as another full-sized man). I don’t know how he didn’t get dropped, but he seemed confident and kept playing as he rode the tide of hands! Later on, Lorna Thomas, the lead singer, also jumped out to take a turn at surfing the crowd, but she took her cell phone along. A smaller and easier instrument to handle maybe - she managed to take selfies with the crowd as they were passing her high overhead. She was in a short dress and heels by the way, which couldn’t have made this any easier.
See full-size photos of Frank Turner here.
See full-size photos of Skinny Lister here.
See full-size photos of Beans on Toast here.