The Sheffield Scenester

With a capacity of a couple of hundred the smaller room of the Leadmill was almost empty, which came as a surprise for this highly acclaimed band - Frankie and the Heartstrings. The band have been enormously hyped by the NME in 2010 as one of the best new bands and the Sunderland bunch have more than lived up to the marker set with their refreshing retro romantic pop songs that have been compared with the likes of Orange Juice, Dexy’s Midnight Runners and The Smiths

Tonight was the first night of their tour and the Heartstrings calmly walked on to be shortly followed by their leader - Frankie Francis who entered the stage cavorting and running his hand through his Morrissey-like quiff.
Without pause for words and with the stamping of Frankie’s boots they fired frantically into “What Goes Around”. Frankie twisted his hips and threw around the mic stand heartily as he tried to coax in this tricky crowd. By the third song “Possibilities” the crowd had fallen to Frankie’s charm and a couple of fans began to waltz and parade around the floor. Into the crowd jumped Frankie and danced along whilst trying to entice more fans to join in. Even though the Leadmill was hardly a quarter full and the majority of the crowd stood by the bar disinterested in what was unfolding in front of their eyes, this didn’t matter to Frankie and he seemed content with his surroundings and carried on to flaunt around. The set was fast and frantic and did not surface for air until “Photograph” a beautiful slow song that was dedicated to one older fan in the crowd. It was coming to an end and it slowly faded with “Fragile” - an epic ending to the set.

The set was refreshing unlike anything you get today, their late 50’s pop and Frankie’s wild dancing a perfect front man that could take them all the way. Their future looks promising with slots at the Leeds and Reading festivals in the summer and I think we shall be seeing a lot from Frankie and the Heartstrings this year.

Words/Photos by Tom Rappit