This past week, Frank Turner’s Lost Evenings music festival took over Anaheim, CA. Lost Evenings is a festival like no other; each year Turner selects 20-30 bands/musicians he enjoys, wants to play with, is friends with, who have inspired him, or whom he simply finds exciting, and smashes them together into a multi-day music festival with him headlining a different set with The Sleeping Souls each night. In addition to the musical festivities, each day of Lost Evenings also held lab sessions and round tables that those in attendance could sit in on; some were discussions with music professionals and AMA’s with musicians, others were private acoustic sets or open mics for those brave enough to step up. This year, The House of Blues in Anaheim was home to the 6th iteration of Lost Evenings from 9/21/23-9/24/23, and it was a sold out show every night. Frank Turner fans turned out en masse, traveling into sunny California from both across the US and abroad (by the end of Night 1, I had met people from England, Scotland, Germany, and Canada). With so many fans coming together from across the world, the festival felt both far reaching and intimate; the music was an instant touchstone for people to connect, meet new people, and continue to foster friendships made at prior festivals. Beyond all of this, Frank Turner uses Lost Evenings as a way to mobilize his fanbase to help provide to various charities; by teaming up with Ally Coalition, he was helpable to raise over $22,000 for different groups local to Anaheim.
Night 1 – Frank Turner and Matt Nasir, acoustic
Night one brought Frank Turner and Matt Nasir to the main stage to headline with an all acoustic set. As Turner stated, the setlist was crafted with “the intent of getting you all to just sing.” And sing everyone did. The evening turned into a near 2 hour long singalong, with Nasir accompanying on mandolin, and Turner leading on guitar. The two played selections from across Turners catalog, with Turner reaching back at one point to pull a tune from the setlist he played at his first Anaheim show back in 2009 (specifically here, “Wisdom Teeth”, because he felt that first show was crap due to admittedly poor life choices at the time). He coupled this back catalog search with a preview of what’s to come, by playing “On My Way” off of his freshly announced 2024 album.
Night 2 – The First Four Albums
The second headlining set brought Turner and Sleeping Souls to stage with a setlist packed with songs from their first few albums. The setlist pulled from Sleep is for the Week, Poetry of the Deed, Love, Ire, & Song, and England Keep My Bones. Essentially, if the song was older than 10 years, Turner said it was fair game to play. Many of these songs are considered classics amongst his fan base, and make regular appearances on more recent setlists (no show would be complete without “Photosynthesis”, “I Am Disappeared”, or “Peggy Sang the Blues” being played).
Night 3 – Tape Deck Heart 10th Anniversary
Night 3 brought a celebration of Tape Deck Heart turning 10 years. This album was many peoples (in the States, at least) first introduction to Frank Turner, and as such, Saturday night was packed shoulder to shoulder in the main room. The theme of the night could have been “once more with feeling”, because like Night 1, every track became a sing along. It was an incredible tour de force through every song from Tape Deck Heart, some of which haven’t been played live since the initial tour. This led to some new live interpretations, especially as drummer Callum is a recent addition to the Sleeping Souls and hadn’t ever played some of these songs live before (“We Shall Not Overcome” was pointed out in particular, just before he nailed it), as well as some solo versions of tracks with Turner playing alone onstage with only an acoustic guitar. This was one of the most storytelling nights of the weekend, with Turner explaining the tales behind some of the songs (and where there really weren’t any intended). He also took crowd interaction directly to the audience by diving in over the barricade during “Four Simple Words” and sang his heart out while being crowd-surfed around the room.
Night 4 – Greatest Hits
The final night of Lost Evenings 6 brought Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls to the stage to play what they have dubbed their Greatest Hits set. The Sleeping Souls played every song as if it was the final song of an encore, the crowd was screaming along to every lyric, and the crowd surfers surged across the venue. This was their 2,819th show played, and every bit of history came to the surface during this set. From stories about friends lost but never forgotten (“A Wave Across A Bay”), to rediscovering family and love (“Miranda” and “There She Is”), to deep cuts from their first album (“The Ballad of Me and My Friends”), the final night of Lost Evenings 6 was a culmination and celebration of everything Frank and The Sleeping Souls have done and accomplished thus far. Next year will bring a different festival lineup to a different city (Toronto was announced, no dates given yet), but Frank Turner will be hard pressed to top this year’s festivities.
Set lists for each night were as follows:
Setlists Night 1
Be More Kind
The Way I Tend to Be
The Real Damage
Mittens
The Work
21st Century
Fatherless
Journey of the Magi
To Take You Home
Rivers
Sailors Boots
Redemption
On My Way
Thatcher Fucked the Kids
Wisdom Teeth
Balthazar
Don’t Worry
Jinny Bingham
Little Life (with KT Tunstall)
Somebody to Love
Get Better
Setlist Night 2
Eulogy
Try This at Home
Once We Were Anarchists
Reasons not to be an Idiot
Nashville Tennessee
Glory Hallelujah
Peggy Sang the Blues
I Am Disappeared
One Foot Before the Other
Wessex Boy
Substitute
Long Live the Queen
Worse Things Happen at Sea
Dans Song
Love Ire and Song
Father’s Day
I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous
Songs of Liberty
Back In The Day
The Road
I Still Believe
Jet Lag
St Christopher
Photosynthesis
Setlist Night 3
Broken Piano
Recovery
Losing Days
Time Machine
Good & Gone
Polaroid Picture
Oh Brother
We Shall Not Overcome
Fisher King Blues
Telltale Signs
The Modern Leper
Hits & Mrs
Undeveloped Film
Sweet Albion Blues
Wherefore Art Thou Gene Simmons
Cowboy Chords
Tattoos
Anymore
The Way I Tend to Be
Plain Sailing Weather
Four Simple Words
Setlist Night 4
Punches
1933
Get Better
Recovery
Try This At Home
The Next Storm
Miranda
Little Changes
If I Ever Stray
The Road
Do One
Opening Act of Spring
There She Is
The Ballad of Me & My Friends
Non Serviam
Haven’t Been Doing So Well
The Gathering
Wave Across A Bay
Photosynthesis
Out of Breath
I Still Believe
Four Simple Words
