The Gaslight Anthem, Bristol Academy
The Gaslight Anthem
February 5th, 2009
Having not heard of Gaslight Anthem until about three months ago, I was surprised to learn that they were in fact not a brand new band, but a well travelled act on their second album. This fact to which I was quite ignorant explained the near sell-out show that I was in attendance of, as well as the sensational support act they were able to book for the tour.
Listening to the album (the latest one) in preparation for the show, I was struck by how incredibly U.S. they were. Bruce Springsteen‘s continued popularity and rumoured Glastonbury slot could do wonders for these folks, with their album sounding quite similar to any number of his, a trait that does start to grate towards the middle of the record, but I’d read that their live set was pretty emotional in a rock ‘n’ roll kinda way, so maybe it’d all make a bit more sense after the gig.
Polar Bear Club are on first tonight, a band whose name put quite a gentle thought in my head, but after seeing them I reconsidered and it became quite obvious that if polar bears were indeed to unionise, it would be at the expense of the human race who’d be made to suffer for the years of selfish resource squandering which has caused the decimation of the polar bears’ natural habitat. So, louder than I thought, and worth hearing some more of too.
‘Twas the next fellow, though, who had initially attracted me to the evening’s entertainment. Frank Turner never fails to impress, and tonight was obviously not an exception to this most rigorously followed of rules. Appearing without his band, he pulls a set out that makes you feel a little like he’s in a front room, just doing a favour for a few mates. Beginning at the beginning with his “song about everything,” a solo career-spanning show follows, ignoring some of the usual ‘hits’ in favour of those perhaps most appropriate for one man and his guitar.
No matter what he picks though there is a floor-sized chorus to accompany him, the room already nearly full with a number of people clearly more excited by Frank then they are about the impending headliners. Being a recent iTunes single of the week may have aided this fervour, or it may just be because he does marvellous music, but whatever the reason his renditions of ‘Long Live The Queen’ and ‘Reasons Not To Be An Idiot’ are met almost word for word by the audience. Attempts to start a wee hoe-down during ‘Back In The Day’ fall flat, with the crowd showing their adulation through the more staid woops and cheers. ‘The Ballad of Me and My Friends’ ends the set on just the right note, and leaves us all happily anticipating an opportunity to share the love with the next on the bill.
Gaslight Anthem come on stage to a collective scream loud enough to put my thoughts that everyone was there for the support to rest. An appreciative and embarrassed smile from the lead singer leads straight into the latest album’s opening track, ‘Great Expectations’ as the crowd goes suitably rapturous. I am pleased to see that Bristol’s gig-goers were still capable of this and impressed by the way the band respond to it. The song seems to elevate the more mental the crowd gets, with both seeming to feed off one another. If either were to suddenly stop it could well have lead to the other collapsing, like whipping away someone’s walking stick, but this did not happen.
The gaps between songs allow lead man Brian Fallon to gush about how great the support acts, the UK, and of course the crowd are, which causes more cheering and more moshing during the following song. ‘The ’59 Sound’ and ‘Old White Lincoln’ draw some particularly vociferous responses, but from my now slightly detached viewpoint it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between some of the output. The promised emotion is indeed present, but it always feels like the same one; not so much a rollercoaster ride as a train, albeit quite a fast one.
They’ve definitely earned the screams that bring them back on for the encore but, mandatory slow one apart, they offer only more of the same. The steady, pounding, drum beat which provides the structure for the rest doesn’t seem to vary for the whole of the impressively long set, with the yearning optimism in Fallon’s voice remaining at a very equal, measured level throughout, picking up during the chorus and dropping again for the verse.
A tight and enjoyable performance of some good folky rock that has the crowd dancing in all the right places, with everyone seeming to leave with at least a bit of a grin on their face, it can be a comfortable mission accomplished for Gaslight Anthem tonight. A little bit more variation in the set would help to keep them in the memory as more than just purveyors of ‘The ’59 Sound’, even if it seems to be working pretty well at the moment.
No related posts.
