The Frank and Walters are just beginning to catch their breaths after a hectic weekend on tour supporting Carter USM. The gigs took in two of the UK’s finest venues: The O2 Manchester Academy and the infamous Brixton Academy in London.
The fun began in Manchester when friend of the band “Sig” came over from Derry with the notion that he should come on stage wearing an oversized Bez mask. This made perfect sense with Manchester being the home of The Happy Mondays. However, Sig’s next surprise was producing life-size masks of The Frank and Walters (pictured below).
The Franks wearing Franks' masks
Paul got such a kick out of these that he suggested the band wear them onstage. Despite visibility being restricted to two tiny pierced holes the band wandered cautiously onstage wearing the masks of themselves to the bewildered delight of the Manchester fans. And it wasn’t only the fans’ eyes playing tricks on them. Further psychedelia was added by Paul and Rory wearing the masks on the back of their heads for the rest of the gig. Ash said it was a bizarre sight watching Paul’s head smiling back at him while his “other face” sang to the crowd!
The guys decided to keep the stage tricks for the Brixton Academy which has a capacity of 5,000.
The biggest cheer of the night came for the rarely performed “Happy Busman” which many of the crowd remember from The Franks’ performance on The Word.
One of the nice things about being the support band is having the opportunity to unwind with a beer and watch the fantastic Carter USM delight the crowd with their indie anthems and incredible light show.
The Franks' Paul with Carter USM's JimBob
At the after-show party Carter’s manager Marc informed The Franks that Saturday night’s gig had the second largest amount of Beer ever sold at the venue, just behind a gig by The Specials! Let’s put that impressive stat down to the fact that the crowd worked up quite a thirst due to the amount of indie dancing….
So after the incredible reception received at both Manchester and London The Franks return home happy in the knowledge that they’ll soon return to London in The Borderline on March 24th 2012 with a brand new album tour. Click here to pick up your tickets now!
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