After an up and down week with too many tears and fears, it was nice to be back in my element. For nothing makes me happier than live music, well, good live music. So it was a pleasure to round out one of the hardest weeks of my life with Frank Turner when he invaded LA’s hipster hotspot, Hotel Café for not one show, but a double dose of his folk rock ways.

Dressed like a potato farmer, the Englishmen took the stage and in an instant there was an uproar from the sold out crowd. I thought I was amidst a pirate ship. Being Cinco De Mayo, I wasn’t sure if the volume of the crowd was because of their Turner excitement or because of the excessive amounts of alcohol consumption. Nevertheless, I’d never seen Hotel Café so alive. Usually littered with “too cool to move” hipsters and industry folk, it’s not the place I imagine an energetic event to happen. Much thanks to the guy in green for singing so loud that Frank had to stop mid-story to address you, the older man who apparently loved quesadillas and the girl behind me who felt the need to sing every other word out of key. It is fans like you who, along with Frank, make the show memorable.

Not to be outshined by his own following, Frank told tales of a bitch of an Ex, hats and harmonicas lost to drunken nights and all while giving the crowd what they came for. Flipping the bird to the Bible Belt of the world, “Glory Hallelujah,” a new tune oddly titled “Rod Stewart” and crowd favorite “Photosynthesis.” Wait, let’s rewind a bit to that harmonica. Usually a fan gets to come up and play but it being no longer in existence, Frank commanded the crowd to all play the “air harmonica” in unison, which everyone eagerly participated in. A pleased Frank noted there wasn’t a “hipster in the room” because of that.

Ending the night like a Rock and Roller in 1983, drunken cover songs got underway. Frank took on The Hold Steady with his tour mate Dave Hause, got help from Fat Mike of NOFX, got the crowd going with a Tom Petty classic and ended it in a badass way by going into the crowd and getting down on a table top. Even though his set ran way later than I had expected and caused my friend and I to miss the last subway of the night, endue a stress causing cab ride and lack sleep the next day…I would definitely have relived that night again.

Reviewed by Kendra Rae