Frank Turner Brought Positive Songs for Negative People to Kino Šiška (2016)

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 11 June 2026

Author: Aleš Podbrežnik

Location: Ljubljana / CUK Kino Šiška / Slovenia
Concert date: April 9, 2016
Attendance: 600
Ticket price: 17€ / 19€ / 23€

The night Frank Turner and his backing band played Kino Šiška could almost be called a mini festival, since no fewer than three quality support acts handled the warm-up. Downstairs, under the stairs of Kino Šiška, Almeida and Darko kicked off the first part. The first, Almeida, strives for some kind of mix of punk and metal, while the second, Darko, leans toward hardcore punk. Together the two acts provided about an hour and 15 minutes of warm-up for a crowd that was already packed tight into the foyer of Kino Šiška. A decent showing, definitely. What was interesting was the build-up, or rather the gradual “softening of the sound”, from the harshest rhythms to somewhat gentler ones, ending with the last support act, Ducking Punches, who in tempo and genre were already closer to the star of the evening. Ducking Punches, as the third and final support act, played the main hall of Kino Šiška. By the time they went on, the hall was already filling up nicely, and they didn’t leave the crowd cold. A mix of acoustic punk rock backed by a violin is definitely not your typical approach. And it sounded surprisingly good.

After about three quarters of an hour, the crowd finally got what it had come for. Once the instruments were tuned (Frank apparently skimps on roadies), Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls took the stage. The lineup, which already entertained the Slovenian crowd two years ago, was: Frank Turner (vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar), Ben Lloyd (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals), Tarrant Anderson (bass), Matt Nasir (keys, mandolin) and Nigel Powell (drums). Just listening to the album »Positive Songs for Negative People« gives you the feeling that a concert by this band is going to be a bullseye. And that’s exactly what it was. In his songs Frank Turner mixes rock, punk and a slight touch of Irish folk in the style of the likes of Pouges, which he’s happy to let shine through. What’s refreshing is that he doesn’t cling to the same old rhythms like a drunk to a fence, but swings between different dynamics in his songs. He started getting the mostly younger part of the crowd going right from the start of the show. But he completely won them over when he made the effort to address the audience in Slovenian and then even charmingly performed a song in Slovenian. We can’t say exactly what he sang because of the really poor acoustics, but more on that a bit later. It seems Frank and his band are masters of the live show. He keeps the crowd in the groove the whole way through, which the younger crowd obviously loved. The Sleeping Souls (»Speče duše« in Slovenian) also turn out to be an exceptionally tight backing band. It’s great to watch people who know what they came to the gig for and who really live it, playing along with the main man on stage. And Frank approached the crowd as if it were the first show of the tour. In the spirit of: »Let’s give it everything we’ve got«. Musicians like that are in short supply. In a pretty extensive setlist, Frank also paid tribute to the recently departed Lemmy Kilmister and David Bowie. The intro to one of the songs was even Ace of Spades by the rock gods Motörhead. All in all, Frank Turner’s performance comes across as a well-thought-out psychological approach to winning the crowd over. Everything built up perfectly. During the song »Photosynthesis«, with its chorus “And I won’t sit down/ And I won’t shut up/ And most of all, I will not grow up,” Turner managed to get the crowd to sit on the floor and then ordered them to go wild at the chorus. The peak of the magic with which Frank hypnotized the audience was his »stage dive«, which the man pulled off more than decently. A full-blooded, full-hearted show like this is, let’s be honest, something we really miss from many performers. Even though the hall wasn’t bursting at the seams (it was filled to about three quarters of its capacity), the performers gave absolutely everything.

But we can’t just keep praising, and there’s a serious note we can’t skip. The sound at the concert was very bad. No matter where you stood. Even at the mixing desk, where the sound should by the book be at its best, it was nowhere near better. What are we talking about? The totally indistinct instruments of the backing band The Sleeping Souls. Nothing except the frontman could be heard the way it should have been. We get that Frank has to stand out. He’s the lead character in the game, after all. Back during soundcheck there was hope we’d hear the lovely tone of the backing guitarist’s retro amp, because the whole thing promised a lot at the start. During the concert, though, it was as if it didn’t exist. The bass was practically undetectable, and the drums were extremely quiet. Keyboards? Were there any? Try as we might, we can’t give the sound engineer a passing grade. In the crowd we ran into a few well-known Slovenian musicians and sound engineers, and they were all appalled in unison at what they heard. And sadly, they’re right. One comment we overheard was: »A great concert, ruined by catastrophic sound«.

The concert wrapped up after a good two hours. After the show, Frank Turner joined the fans at the Kino Šiška bar, which he had seriously announced during the concert. And that gesture too shows he’s not an aloof star but an approachable, down-to-earth musician, a troubadour even. We sincerely hope Frank keeps up this “man of the people” approach and, of course, that he stops by Slovenia again on his next tour. And the sound guy? Someone should give his ears a good tug.

Text and photos by Klemen Udovč