The Gaslight Anthem Played The Stone Pony with The Hold Steady

We're Gonna Build Something This Summer

After last night, I think I may be a rare breed. I'm what's known as a casual Gaslight Anthem fan. From our position up front, and then even as we moved back through the crowd, I don't think that CoolMom and I came across another one. The sold out Stone Pony Summer Stage was a sea of people cheering the opening chords to every song and singing every lyric.

The weather was iffy all day. Not only had it been raining on and off, but it was also cold and windy. CoolMom put on her winter coat, and we headed out to kick off the summer. We arrived during opener Luther's set as a light rain fell. I convinced CoolMom to move close to the front with me so that we'd have a good view when The Hold Steady came out for their set.

Philly's Luther currently record for The Bouncing Souls' Chunksaah Records. They play pop-punk influenced rock and roll and were a nice fit on the bill with The Gaslight Anthem. Throughout their thirty-minute set, the folks up front with us pumped their fists and sang along.

The rain let up, even stopped, as we waited for The Hold Steady. Just as they took the stage at 7:15, though, it came back. At points during the set, it came down pretty hard, causing a delay when guitarist Tad Kubler's amp got soaked.

The Hold Steady opened with "Constructive Summer" from 2008's Stay Positive. The song's lyric "We're gonna build something this summer / We'll put it back together" wasn't lost on anyone, the crowd raising their arms and screaming in unison through the wind and rain. Frontman Craig Finn gave us his usual frenetic moving and dancing as he preached the lyrics of each song to the crowd, stepping away from the mic from time to time to re-mouth the words while shaking his head, shrugging his shoulders, or smiling and laughing. Several times he came to the edge of the stage, arms spread wide, and encouraged the crowd to sing along. Brian Sella and Matt Uychich of The Front Bottoms watched the whole set from the side of the stage as Sella sang along with the rest of us.

The absence of keyboardist Franz Nicolay, who left the band in 2010, was felt on songs like "Stuck Between Stations," "Chips Ahoy!" and "Southtown Girls;" but the band filled out the sound with even more crushingly loud guitar. None of the songs suffered. The roughly hourlong set also included favorites like "Rock Problems," "Sequestered in Memphis," "Your Little Hoodrat Friend," and "You Can Make Him Like You," closing with "Slapped Actress."

As darkness fell, the rain stopped. The Gaslight Anthem took the stage, as scheduled, just after 8:30, opening with "Handwritten." CoolMom and I were pretty well hemmed in at this point, as the crush of not-so-casual fans pushed their way to the front. I think it was during "American Slang" when the drunk, 250-pound plus man mountain with the shaved head and Oxford shirt began hurling himself into tiny female Gaslight Anthem fans and throwing elbows. He received a few punches, pushes, and harsh words which only caused him to turn up the violence. Anticipating a bad outcome to this, CoolMom and I threw in the towel and headed toward the back.

From our new spot, we saw the rest of the set, including "45," "The Patient Ferris Wheel" ("I've never felt so strange / Standing in the Jersey Rain"),  and "Too Much Blood." The Stone Pony Summer Stage may have given rise to the first-ever incident of crowd surfing during a Bon Iver song when The Gaslight Anthem covered "Blood Bank."

"Thanks for coming out. A little rain didn't stop you. We had enough rain in the fall. Now it's time to start the summer," said Brian Fallon at one point. That summed up the whole feel of the show. The weather was a little sketchy, but we've all seen worse. Last night ended up being the real release of much of the emotion that's built up over the last seven or so months.

The Gaslight Anthem brought people together. There were hardcore fans, casual fans, and non-fans who just wanted to get the beach season started. After the show, the re-opened Langosta Lounge across the street was packed with people, including many members of the New Jersey and Asbury Park music scene, enjoying a few drinks and listening to even more music from Asbury's Sikamor Rooney.

Summer at the Jersey Shore started in the wind and cold last night. You can still get in on phase 2 as I think there are still tickets available for the second Gaslight Anthem show tonight with The Felice Brothers. And we've got an entire, beautiful, comeback summer ahead of us. Be safe. Have fun.

Gaslight Anthem Post Sandy Video

"National Anthem"

My street was full of huge trucks bringing telephone poles and the workers who would be installing them to my block.  Two trucks flanked my driveway and the man in the hard hat indicated that it was safe for me to back into the street.

I stopped and rolled down the window.

"Are you guys from the phone company or the power company?"

"We're working for the power company.  Contractors from Chicago."  Then he raised his fist and said, "Jersey Strong!  Am I right?"

"Yeah," I said.  "Right."

The Gaslight Anthem, Handwritten, 2012

Sunday (Didn't) Run Album Review

One of the surest ways of having your motives questioned or to experience public backlash is to appear sincere.  As a culture, lately, I think we value irony and sarcasm over expressions of true emotion.  I'm guilty of this myself.  As I watch the the post-competition Olympic interviews, I can't help myself from unconsciously adding the phrase "...to earn millions of dollars in endorsement deals" to every tearful "This is a dream come true" from the winning athletes.  I think this type of cynicism works against a band like The Gaslight Anthem, at least when their work gets reviewed.

Like a good New Jerseyan, I bought Handwritten, the latest from this New Jersey band, on the day of its realease.  I haven't run with it yet, but I listened to the record throughout the weekend.

Lead vocalist and principal songwriter Brian Fallon delivers each lyric at the level of "all out."  He's so sincere, so earnest that you think, on some level, this has to be a put-on.  But I don't think it is.  The album, like its predecessors, is a collection of big, romantic rock songs full of nostalgia, "Hey-eyyy-eyyy's," and "sha-la-la's."

Lead single and album opener "45" tells you a lot of what you need to know about where Fallon is coming from as a songwriter.  His hands are shaking; his heart is bleeding; and he pours that heart into the chorus "Aaah-eyy, turn the record over! Aaah-eyy, see you on the flip side!" at a time when many of his fans probably have only a passing familiarity with vinyl records.  On the title track, Fallon once again shows his love of the old ways, singing, "We only write by the moon, every word handwritten."

Some of the best lyrics on the record, and I mean this in all seriousness, revolve around cars.  "In the deep, dark parking lot pressed up against my car" on "Mulholland Drive" or "See if you wanna, you can find me on the hood under the moonlight" on album standout "Howl" conjure some very young-in-the-Jersey-burbs images for me.

Musically, Handwritten, unsurprisingly, doesn't break any new ground.  Almost all of the songs have a big, 1990's alternative rock sound.  "Too Much Blood" even has a bit of a Soundgarden feel to it with its big guitar chords and Fallon's Chris Cornell impression.  Guitarist Alex Rosamilia has given almost every song its own distinctive and recognizable riff.  Mostly acoustic album closer "National Anthem" comes as a bit of a (welcome) surprise after ten stadium-sized rock anthems.

The Gaslight Anthem are an unselfconscious, sincere, earnest band of New Jersey romantics.  If you're someone a little more into subtlety, irony, or musical innovation, then Handwritten is likely to push all of the wrong buttons for you.  That was my initial reaction.  But after spending some time with the record, I realized that it can sometimes be cathartic to drop all of that baggage and to just try to enjoy the songs.

Look at that.  I did a Gaslight Anthem review and didn't even mention Bruce Springsteen once.  Right?

NYT In Asbury Park

George Tice Photographs The Gaslight Anthem

Is this turning into an Asbury Park blog?  I don't know, but I'm loving this short New York Times video previewing the Sunday Magazine piece on New Jersey's Gaslight Anthem.  If you've heard any of their songs, it probably won't surprise you that the guys in Gaslight Anthem really enjoyed being shot by an old-school New Jersey photographer and his amazingly cool, old-school camera in and around Convention Hall.

Gaslight Anthem First Listen

Handwritten

NPR has an early peek at the big New Jersey sounds coming on the next Gaslight Anthem album, Handwritten.  In my review of Japandroids' Celebration Rock, I listed a bunch of artists that I thought were big Japandroids influences.  Don't know how I could have left The Gaslight Anthem off the list.

If GA comes back to Asbury Park's Convention Hall this time around, I think I'll make an effort to go see them.

The record's due out next Tuesday.

New Gaslight Anthem Video

"45"

Still not quite sure where I'm at with the Gaslight Anthem.  On the one hand, The '59 Sound is a really good album.  On the other, they've got what I would describe as the type of 90's alternative rock sound that I liked well enough as a young man, but have been kind of over for a while.  They're from New Jersey, though, so I've definitely got some home-state affection for them.

And I'm a sucker for any video that is full of images of Asbury Park.