The Gaslight Anthem at Wolverhampton Civic Hall
New Jersey rockers The Gaslight Anthem are being talked up as the next big thing and a near sell-out crowd turned up at the Civic to see if the hype is justified.
The Gaslight Anthem
Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Concert review and photos by Ian Harvey
New Jersey rockers The Gaslight Anthem are being talked up as the next big thing and a near sell-out crowd turned up at the Civic to see if the hype is justified.
Championed by no less than Bruce Springsteen – and mixing his poetic lyricism with the rolling thunder of The Clash in their prime – singer Brian Fallon led the four-piece through a near two-hour set which had the Civic bouncing along.
Click on the image to the right for the gig photo gallery
Muscular yet melodic, The Gaslight Anthem possess a ferocious energy, best heard in songs like American Slang, The Backseat and a glorious performance of The '59 Sound which saw the Civic erupt with pure and simple joy.
But they have a tender side too, with a real yearning quality about the gentle Queen Of Lower Chelsea and Here's Lookin' At You Kid.
Recalling rehearsing in the basement of bassist Alexine Levine's mother's house, Fallon turned the clock back to the first song they ever performed, 1930, before spinning "from the oldest to the newest" and We Did It When We Were Young.
The encores included a turbocharged run through Tom Petty's American Girl and the Civic crowd left assured that this is a band on the cusp of greatness.
Music photography by Ian Harvey / RocktasticPix
