New Jersey four-piece The Gaslight Anthem have been earmarked as ones to watch in ’09, largely on the basis of their second album, The ’59 Sound, which was released last summer. Steeped in Americana, the record owed a particular debt to the band’s fellow New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen, and overall offered a punked-up take on the classic Jersey Shore sound.
I have to confess that the album didn’t really do anything for me, and as a result I wasn’t expecting much from tonight, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that The Gaslight Anthem are a formidable live proposition. Perhaps it’s due to the remarkable intensity with which all four members perform, but the band’s songs are – to these ears at least – considerably more compelling on stage than they are on record. Another weapon in their arsenal is the magnetic stage presence of singer Brian Fallon.
In person, he’s a softly spoken American kid; onstage, he’s a grizzled, tattoo covered rocker with lots of attitude. The transformation in his voice when he sings is genuinely stunning – he sounds like a punk Tom Waits. In the mosh-pit, meanwhile, there is quite simply pandemonium, with a hardcore of fans (exclusively male, it has to be acknowledged) singing along with every word.
Whilst the set is largely dominated by blistering rock tunes, The Gaslight Anthem know how to pace a set. They throw in a brief cover of ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World’, and during a moment of respite between tunes, Fallon talks about his desire to meet Van Morrison (“I’ve heard he’s not very nice,” he chuckles, “but I don’t mind.”) Perhaps the best moment occurs during the encore, when the band perform a down-tempo number that is actually quite haunting.
The Gaslight Anthem still need to sharpen their songwriting (they have yet to write a melody as memorable as, say, ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out’ or my favourite Boss song, ‘Hungry Heart’), but was this was still a most impressive show.