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To be fair, I wasn’t overly enthusiastic when I first heard that The Gaslight Anthem had a new album (Get Hurt) and were touring again. Like many early fans, I loved the first two records (Sink or Swim and their break-through album The 59 Sound), was OK with the third (American Slang) but had my reservations about their fourth full length and major label debut, Handwritten. Having first seen them back in 2008, The 59 Sound had just been released and few people in Germany had heard of them yet. Back then,they played at the old Magnet Club to no more than 50 people, one of my fondest gig memories to this day. A year and a half later they played at Columbiahalle for the first time and had arguably become one of the greatest contemporary rock bands. Friday night was their third time at said venue.
Surprisingly enough, the band had scheduled two last minute in-store gigs the day before the night at Columbialle, one at Ramones Museum and one at Dodo Beach. Lucky for me I was able to see the band play acoustic songs to a small and intimate crowd once more before the headline show on Halloween night.
By the time I got to the venue on the night of the show, Bayside had already played and the second support, Deer Tick were on. Their indie folk rock was alright but didn’t really do it for me. At 10 o clock sharp, TGA took the stage in skeleton costumes and make up and launched the set with Stay Vicious from their latest record, Get Hut, which was rewarded with the crowd singing along the lalalas in the chorus. A seemingly happy Brian Fallon announced that tonight there would be no encore and that the band would just keep playing until curfew and he delivered on that promise. Every now and then he would make a few Halloween related jokes (“I’m not wearing anything underneath my bones”) but mostly he kept the talking to a minimum.
The 59 Sound and 45″, which they played next, had almost everyone sing along – which I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed at a venue this size. Evidently, much of the night was devoted to Get Hurt but the 28 song spanning set list left plenty of room for tracks from their other records comprised of the more or less usual (Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?, a beautiful acoustic version of Great Expectations, We’re Getting a Divorce, You Keep the Diner) but also lesser played tracks such as Old White Lincoln, We Came To Dance, or Old Haunts. Since it was Halloween, the eponymous track from their latest record was essential. The musical and vocal quality was excellent with Fallon delivering each song vigorously, be it an upbeat rock number or a ballad. The Backseat marked the end of a powerful two hour set and reminded me why I loved this band so much in the first place. Granted that they didn’t play all of my favourites (which, to be honest, would be their first two albums in full) but Get Hurt has definitely grown on me and The Gaslight Anthem have grown into a quality stadium rock act – deal with it. A full setlist can be found below.
Setlist:
- Stay Vicious
- The ’59 Sound
- 45
- 1,000 Years
- Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis? (Acoustic)
- Señor and the Queen
- Ain’t That a Shame
- We Came to Dance
- Angry Johnny and the Radio
- Selected Poems
- Halloween
- Underneath the Ground
- Film Noir
- Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
- Red Violins
- Great Expectations (Acoustic)
- Helter Skeleton
- Handwritten
- Howl
- Get Hurt
- Old Haunts
- Stray Paper
- Old White Lincoln
- Sweet Morphine
- Blue Dahlia (With “Mother” snippet by Danzig)
- We’re Getting a Divorce, You Keep the Diner
- She Loves You
- The Backseat
Image by vividsilencephotos.blogspot.de
Image by vividsilencephotos.blogspot.de
Image by vividsilencephotos.blogspot.de
Image by vividsilencephotos.blogspot.de
Image by vividsilencephotos.blogspot.de
Image by vividsilencephotos.blogspot.de
