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Review: The Sleeping Souls, Thekla – ‘Guitar-hero prowess’
Being a huge Frank Turner fan and listening to the Sleeping Souls (Frank Turner’s band) debut album, Just Before The World Starts Burning, I was keen to see how this gig would play out.
It was a nice surprise when self-proclaimed honorary Bristolian Hannah Rose Platt take the stage. Before long a nice crowd had formed to catch her set, obviously more in the know than me.
Hannah was playing songs from her albums Death Bed Confessions and Hypnagogia.
is needed now More than ever
Hannah straight away strikes me as a storyteller with lots of stories to tell. She sings songs of Scandinavian horror delivered with a smile.
Kissing Room tells the tale of a room where soldiers would come home from war and get intimate with their partners, the song is complete with a crowd-pleasing screwdriver guitar solo! 50’s doo-wop classic Date Night closes a quick set with a big impact.
Next up Sean McGowan hits the stage and doesn’t look back. Smashing through songs at a rate of knots. His set spans over all of his releases new and old. He packs in plenty from his latest release, Who on Earth.
He’s a bundle of banter, energy and passion; the lyrics are delivered straight down the line. Man Up is a high speed train of song as I look to my right the crowd know all the words. They lend themselves as a quiet backing crowd, but a choir none the less.
Same goes for Millbrook Road and the next time I see him I’ll be singing along too. Cuppa Tea is a song I’ve had on repeat before and after, live it comes complete with a heavy ending as the band come on to join Sean to rock out.
One to look out for over the summer at festivals for sure.
The Sleeping Souls had been given a flying endorsement by Sean Mcgowan as “being way better now the other guy has fucked off”.
I came at this gig with curiosity but also confidence as I had listened to their debut album Just Before the World Starts Burning and had instantly heard similarities to other bands I know and love.
As the sound of I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith died down, the band took to the stage and played one of my favorites, Rivals. A three minute emo banger that to my little ears sounds like one of my favourites bands, Alkaline Trio.
Singer Cahir O’Doherty admits to being under the weather but it doesn’t show as he regales the crowd with tales throughout as an engaging front person should.
Steal Some Time is a chilled acoustic lament telling the tale of O’Doherty’s break-up and then makeup with his wife.
The Sleeping Souls are having a great time on this tour. Guitarist Ben Lloyd is darting around the stage with a smile on his face throughout the gig exchanging smiles a knowing glances with the musical monster that is Matt Nasir, who seems to play any and every instrument in the world as he swaps keys for guitars with ease.
Remember Boann is all about the lost art of storytelling it opens with an infectious piano riff to open and drumming that makes you want to move.
Caught in The Scrape is a bullet of a set closer. Odoherty’s sickness had cleary left him at this point as he jumps around with guitar-hero prowess screaming to his heart’s content to bring the set to a rousing finish.
Main photo: John Morgan
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