The last couple of years have been a breakthrough period for ‘The Gaslight Anthem’ as they made the step up to major label stardom. Their new record, Handwritten, was produced by alternative rock heavyweight Brendan O’Brien on Mercury Record. Yet in this performance there was a sense that this refreshingly grounded rock band were still struggling to come to terms with their ascent.
At exactly 9.20pm, these New Jersey romantics walked on stage to great ovation, opening with a beautifully melodic rendition of their new song ‘Mae’. It was an understated yet powerful opener, and the band rattled through their first few songs, somewhat surprisingly. Fallon is known for his inter-song chit-chat, but it appeared that tonight he was a bit more reserved.
Yet the music was undeniably superb, as the band played through older favourites like ‘The ‘59 Sound’, ‘Angry Johnny and the Radio’ and ‘Great Expectations’ as well as hits from the new album with a barnstorming rendition of ‘Biloxi Parish’ and a similarly heartfelt title-track ‘Handwritten.’
But it was difficult to detach oneself from the sense that this ‘fame’ thing is a bewitching notion for these ordinary men who are, unlike so many out there today, playing music because they love it. Fallon was humble in his thanks to the crowd, explaining that he found it difficult to know what to do with the adoration that they bestowed upon him.
One must speculate that these troubles have been enhanced by the signing to a major label. It was particularly telling when Fallon, before playing ‘Handwritten’ B-Side ‘Blue Dahlia’, told the crowd that he believed this song most definitely should have made it onto the record. Did Mercury veto it?
A pleasantly surprising encore consisted of a meaty cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Changing of the Guards’, as well as a lesser known song of theirs ‘She Loves You.’ The final song was, as is custom, the fist-pumping ‘The Backseat.’ It was a fitting closing song to a truly enjoyable evening of good, proper, heart-felt music: a conclusion I have come to expect from these boys.
However good the performance, though, there was just a little nagging feeling that all these New Jersey rockers are still getting used to life in the higher echelons of the musical world.