Several times he came to the edge of the stage, arms spread wide, and encouraged the crowd to sing along. 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. 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. The Hold Steady opened with "Constructive Summer" from 2008's Stay Positive. At points during the set, it came down pretty hard, causing a delay when guitarist Tad Kubler's amp got soaked. Just as they took the stage at 7:15, though, it came back. The rain let up, even stopped, as we waited for The Hold Steady. Throughout their thirty-minute set, the folks up front with us pumped their fists and sang along. They play pop-punk influenced rock and roll and were a nice fit on the bill with The Gaslight Anthem. Philly's Luther currently record for The Bouncing Souls' Chunksaah Records. 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. We arrived during opener Luther's set as a light rain fell. CoolMom put on her winter coat, and we headed out to kick off the summer. Not only had it been raining on and off, but it was also cold and windy. The sold out Stone Pony Summer Stage was a sea of people cheering the opening chords to every song and singing every lyric. 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. I'm what's known as a casual Gaslight Anthem fan. Enthralling stuff.After last night, I think I may be a rare breed. Instead they’ve come of age by striving for brilliance. The criticisms are minor – a couple of tracks slide back into familiar Americana, but even then there’s no sense of the band coasting. The almost choral climax of Biloxi Parish just might be the shimmering highlight of the whole shebang. Keepsake and Too Much Blood are two nods to the grunge era, the latter a bristling journey through the problems of confiding in both a loved one and a lyrics sheet. On the title track, the observation that “there’s nothing like another soul that’s been cut up the same” is made to sound like something to cherish. It’s a lead-off single so bright it deserves to rule the radio this summer. “I can’t move on and I can’t stay the same,” Fallon cries on “45”, before neatly turning it into a jubilant rallying cry. It must be enough to make some of their peers, whose material merely wallows in comparison, sink even further into the dumps. It’s emboldened by the fact that Benny Horowitz is still one of the most underrated drummers around, while bassist Alex Levine and guitarist Alex Rosamilia continue to be fine foils for Fallon’s bewitching turns of phrase.įrequently, things that turn existence ugly – change, doubt, love – are gutted and filled with life-affirming vitality. These room-filling rock songs are still guided by frontman Brian Fallon’s husky croon. It’s a natural but impressive transition that takes to another level the intravenous hooks present since their comparatively raw Sink or Swim debut of 2007. The main upshot of this decisive step out of their comfort zone is the warm embrace of big, bold anthems. Handwritten is the band’s fourth album and represents an attempt to avoid repeating themselves. Hearteningly for their old-school fans, they never seem to forget the rites of passage that brought them here. Four years and two silver-certified albums since their leap over the top in this country, they’ve established themselves with an evocative brand of wistful, blue-collar rock. The times have certainly changed for The Gaslight Anthem.
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