Frank Turner
Retro, Manchester
25th July 2025
Punk rock troubadour Frank Turner returns to his roots, taking to the stage at Manchester’s Retro to help raise funds for the venue following the recent announcement of their impending closure. Louder Than War’s Dave Beech was there.
Most people are aware of the plight of grassroots music venues these days. From rising rents, increases in the price of stock, a cost-of-living crisis, and of course, developers throwing their weight around, striving to turn our places of cultural importance into soulless skyscrapers full of flats we can’t afford, and offices we’d never work in.
Unfortunately, tonight is something of a bittersweet occurrence. Retro is just the latest bar under threat if closure from developers. Its demolition is certain; however, a campaign supported by the Music Venue Trust to help find a new location for the business, if not the building, is underway, and that’s why we found ourselves here tonight, alongside a capacity crowd, to catch Frank Turner.
Turner, a patron of the aforementioned Music Venue Trust, understands the importance of these venues, with Retro being the first he played in Manchester at the very start of his solo career. But as we descend the stairs into the sweaty confines of the basement, it isn’t Turner on stage currently, but venue owner Mark Armor.
It’s a pleasant surprise, seeing him on stage armed with nothing more than an acoustic guitar and a microphone, and his material falls somewhere in between the emotional likes of Dashboard Confessional and the heartland rock of punk troubadour Dave Hause. It’s a short but sweet set. One which he ends with a short explaining the importance of the venue, its position within Manchester’s music infrastructure and just what we can do to help aid the mission to relocate it.
Both the heat and the anticipation are almost unbearable in the changeover. Enough time for a quick pint, before we’re back in the crowd as Frank Turner takes to the stage to an impressive roar, considering there’s just 120 people here. Not backed by his usual band, The Sleeping Souls, tonight is an acoustic outing for Turner, who kicks things off with If Ever I Stray. It’s a raucous opener; the folk flavourings transformed into an uplifting anthem, Turner’s voice only just louder than the crowd itself.
It’s the perfect start to what proves to be a career spanning set. Recovery features early, as does The Road, both of which provide huge sing-alongs from a crowd that hangs onto Turner’s every word, both during and between songs. And well they might. He peppers the set with just how much venue means not just to him, not just to the owners and the staff, but to the community as a whole, and how we can help, instructing us to “get pissed to support your local music venue”. We’re only too happy to oblige.
Of course, he’s preaching to the choir, with everyone in the room knowing how vital these spaces are. Tonight, however, is about the fundraising as much as the music and the message. With ticket sales and donations at the door going in to help the venue’s relocation.
Back to the set, and a triple-whammy of Thatcher Fucked The Kids, The Ballad Of Me And My Friends, and I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous is almost too much for the baying crowd to bear, with the atmosphere in the room almost reaching fever pitch. No small feat for one bloke and an acoustic guitar.
By now, we’re heading towards the set’s conclusion. Do One is an explosive moment of punk rock chaos, followed up by the more tender Four Simple Words. It’s the final three tracks that threaten to level the venue well before the developers move in. Photosynthesis, Get Better and I Still Believe prove to be a masterful way to end tonight’s set. The crowd in full voice, the sweat dripping from the ceiling and the way everyone’s t-shirts stick to their backs. This is what live music is about. Uplifting, life-affirming moments of solidarity that prove once and for all just how vital these venues are to the bands and the communities they operate in.
Long live Frank Turner. Long live Retro.
~
More from Frank Turner can be found on his website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Dave Beech is a music writer based in Manchester. Links to his work can be found over at his blog, Life’s A Beech, as well as his Louder Than War Author Archive. He also tweets as @Dave__Beech
Photos provided by James Amos from Jamhouse productions
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