Starting in New Hampshire back in early June, Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls kicked off a tour that would bring them through all 50 US states in 50 days. Aptly named “The 50 States in 50 Days Tour”, show 47 of 50 found them in Phoenix, Az at The Van Buren, with opening support by Pet Needs, The Bronx, and Amigo the Devil. During an incredibly dynamic set, Turner mentioned that this tour brought them across a country freshly fractured due to political and ideological differences. He isn’t wrong: back in June, the English lyricist got to witness a seismic shift in US culture and law, all while traveling and meeting fans of every political stripe and opinion at venues in every state. Witnessing the shift in peoples lives could prove to be unbalancing for any outsider, yet Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls accomplished the impossible. He and his band managed to become a singularly uniting presence, a common-ground for everyone who made their way to celebrate his brand of punk rock show. In one simple word, Turner personified solidarity.
Launching into his set, the entire crowd was brought close together immediately, dancing with abandon to “Four Simple Words” and then screaming along together to the post-pandemic anthem “The Gathering”, off of his most recently released album FTHC. Playing these two fan favorites back-to-back set the stage for a close-knit, highly emotionally charged party atmosphere that hasn’t been seen by many in years. Following these, Turner rollicked through two hours worth of tracks from his vast catalog, some politically charged, some hope-filled, each and every song an aspirational thread tying the entire room together. From Love, Ire & Song (“Photosynthesis”, “Love Ire & Song”), to England Keep My Bones (“Peggy Sang the Blues”, “Recovery”, “If Ever I Stray”), to Tape Deck Heart (“Four Simple Words”, “Plain Sailing Weather”, “The Way I Tend to Be”), Be More Kind (“1933”, “Be More Kind”) and more, Frank Turner plucked on the heartstrings of fans new and old. Each song Turner sang and jumped across the stage with abandon to was met in kind by hundreds of voices chorusing the words back at the stage, unified in passion and frenzied fandom. The evening crescendoed to an encore capped by “I Still Believe”, Turner’s seminal track extolling the importance of believing in the simple, unifying power of music.
There is an unrivaled passion in Frank Turner’s fans that can only be understood through experiencing it first hand. It is present in a mosh pit created on his command to become the size of the Grand Canyon, or in the interlocked arms of fans singing his words back at him at full volume. More than almost any fan base, Frank Turner’s knows how to rabidly come together as one, to put aside differences and make friends and make amends, to bare their chests open and be more kind to each other. And uniquely for Arizona fans, to make an English band traveling on foreign roads feel welcome and at home with a much needed Cornish Pasty.
The 50 States in 50 Days tour came to an end in Hawaii, but you can catch Frank Turner on the road as he finds the road again this fall in Germany and the UK.
Article & Photos: Joe Abbruscato
Additional Photos: Jonny Stalnaker
