Frank Turner and Lottery Winners return to Northampton for sold-out Roadmender show

Frank Turner sold out the Roadmender in double-quick time which means a) this is a crowd which is already onside, and b) that's not bad going for a cold February Monday night.

Sales will have been helped by support band The Lottery Winners - although at first the two don't seem obvious bed fellows.

The Lottery Winners produce uplifting, sunshine-smile indie laden with ridiculously catchy hooks while Turner comes from a long line of English men with guitars who smash together folk, punk and poetry. Joining both were acoustic folk duo Wilswood Buoys.

The Lottery Winners' set is (relatively) light on songs and heavy on interaction - namely singer Thom Rylance's ability to draw a crowd into his frantic, frenetic, energetic world.

He's engaging, funny and self-deprecating. You can see where he's going with his own observation that he looks like Rag n’ Boneman's nan and in between theatrical crowd participation there are gloriously uplifting tunes, nailed harmonies and tight indie pop that can't fail to lift the spirits of a Roadmender which is rammed for a support act.

And support acts are either shunned or embraced by the top of the bill.

It's the latter with The Lottery Winners - Frank Turner has already appeared on Start Again with them (sadly not appearing for tonight's rendition), he appears on the new album Anxiety Replacement Therapy which will be delivered in April and sang their praises during his set.

Turner himself wears his inked heart on his tattoo sleeve.

His subject matter covers a range of existential angst from personal to political to musical, delivered with long-time backing band The Sleeping Souls.

His style takes in a lot of acoustic-driven folk and distorted punk - a place inhabited by the likes of Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg and The Wonder Stuff - stuffed full of choruses a packed main hall know word for ‘fist-in-the-air’ or ‘arm-around-companion’ word.

Tonight's 26-song set stretches back to tunes which, “are old enough to hold a provisional driving licence,” up to numbers from last year's FTHC album.

It includes a duet on Little Life with The Lottery Winners singer/bass player Katie Lloyd - originally sung by KT Tunstall on record.

The same KT Tunstall who also appeared on The Lottery Winner's Something To Leave The House for album. Quite a cabal they've got going.

This was gig number 2,737 for Turner (he told us), so he knows how to turn on the well-mannered charm and must have asked the already partisan crowd how we were doing 28 times and mentioned the Roadmender / Northampton at least as many.

After encouraging the die-hards to start circle pits during his set, Turner was forced to interject when things got a little rough and feisty at the front – reminding fans of the ‘gig etiquette’ guidelines he’d delivered at the start.

The highlight? A Wave Across the Bay.

The song which celebrates Turner's friendship with Frightened Rabbit’s singer Scott Hutchison who took his own life in 2018.

It's a beautifully written song about a much admired, much missed songwriting talent, emotive on record, but takes on a whole different level of punch-to-the-gut celebratory pathos live.

We got a bit of politics, we got rousing tunes and we got to find out The Sleeping Souls keyboard player was born in Northampton.

Not a bad way to raise the temperature, and the roof, of the Roadmender.

Frank Turner played:

Recovery

Try This At Home

Photosynthesis

Non Serviam

Haven't Been Doing So Well

Long Live The Queen

Back In The Day

The Road

Little Changes

Punches

Untainted Love

Plan Sailing Weather

Little Life (w/ Katie Lloyd of Lottery Winners)

Wessex Boy

Little Aphrodite

Wisdom Teeth

Thatcher

Oh Brother

If Ever I Stray

The Next Storm

Out of Breath

I Still Believe

A Wave Across The Bay

1933

Get Better

Four Simple Words