The Gaslight Anthem, Chris Farren @ The Tivoli, Brisbane (29/01/2015)
The Gaslight Anthem, a particular band that have appeared in conversations between myself and other musicians/photographers, often labelled as a “must see” or a “must shoot”.
The evening started of with Chris Farren of indie-punk band Fake Problems, or more recently, one half of Antarctigo Vespucci. Farren makes his way out to the crowd, the stage empty aside from a single Gretsch guitar with an amp and microphone. With a few lights shining down upon the soloist, he quickly tunes up while taking a comical dig at Australia’s natural wildlife, commenting on the spiders of our country and how he’d rather be dead than have to deal with them. Farren’s set, while short and sweet, is filled with humorous lyrical quips and emotive storytelling that complements his style wonderfully as he covers stripped down versions of many songs of his back catalogue, including Fake Problems’ ‘Ghost to Coast’, Antarctigo Vespucci’s ‘Come To Brazil’ and ‘Guest List Spots’ and some from his own solo works, including the well received ‘Eagle Eyes’. The Gaslight Anthem then make their way onto the stage shortly after, the crowd cheering them on like gladiators entering the arena. It’s a subtle wave from frontman Brian Fallon before kicking the show off with their 2008 hit and crowd favourite, 'The ‘59 Sound'. After stellar performances of ‘Old White Lincoln’ and ‘Handwritten’, the band open up to the crowd, performing a snippet of Rick Springfield’s hit, ‘Jesse’s Girl’, enjoying a laugh with the crowd as everyone joins in on the iconic chorus. |
At only a few songs into the set, a few inebriated attendees are already becoming vocal about what songs they want to hear from the band, with Fallon responding by putting his index finger to his lips and releasing a soothing “shhhh” to the crowd, letting them know “we’ll get to those ones soon”.
‘1,000 Years’ sees some heads grooving to the funky guitar intro while a small group on the mezzanine floor has their fists pumping high in the air. ‘Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?’ sees a few crowd surfers rise-up . A few die-hard fans had their night become even more magical as one got her home-made poster signed by Fallon, while another one, named Matt, was brought up on stage after shouting out to the band that he’d attended over 14 shows of theirs (which is a damn solid effort if true). After announcing they don’t do encores and are just going to play right through until the end, the band gets back into the swing of things, with crowd favourites ’45’ and stripped down version of ‘Great Expectations’. To experience both of these songs in a live environment was certainly something spectacular, with everyone singing along to every word; for a moment, you could genuinely feel just how important The Gaslight Anthem was to everyone in the room.
‘1930’ is the heaviest song of the night, with a sweet lighting show filling the venue and the bass drum kicks of Benny Horowitz pulsating through my chest to boot. Chris Farren was also invited back out on stage to perform Fake Problem’s 2011 single, ‘Songs For Teenagers’ as a duet with Fallon and the band. After the inclusion of ‘Red Violins’ to the set as a request from an avid fan, the show comes to a climatic finale with both ‘We’re Getting A Divorce, You Keep The Diner’, the crowd chanting along to the final chorus (“It's all right, man, I’m only bleeding, man. Stay hungry, stay free, and do the best you can”, the lyrics becoming somewhat of a mantra for fans who uploaded snaps from the concert to Instagram afterwards), and all time fan favourite, ‘The Backseat’.
The Gaslight Anthem went above and beyond to deliver a captivating performance, giving their fans an epic set of 25 songs total. With a show that felt genuine and sincere, it’s a delightful quality to witness and something that comes through in both their musicianship and their songwriting; something that in this day and age, is quite hard to come by and greatly appreciated by their fans and music enthusiasts alike.
Wezley Pitt
‘1,000 Years’ sees some heads grooving to the funky guitar intro while a small group on the mezzanine floor has their fists pumping high in the air. ‘Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?’ sees a few crowd surfers rise-up . A few die-hard fans had their night become even more magical as one got her home-made poster signed by Fallon, while another one, named Matt, was brought up on stage after shouting out to the band that he’d attended over 14 shows of theirs (which is a damn solid effort if true). After announcing they don’t do encores and are just going to play right through until the end, the band gets back into the swing of things, with crowd favourites ’45’ and stripped down version of ‘Great Expectations’. To experience both of these songs in a live environment was certainly something spectacular, with everyone singing along to every word; for a moment, you could genuinely feel just how important The Gaslight Anthem was to everyone in the room.
‘1930’ is the heaviest song of the night, with a sweet lighting show filling the venue and the bass drum kicks of Benny Horowitz pulsating through my chest to boot. Chris Farren was also invited back out on stage to perform Fake Problem’s 2011 single, ‘Songs For Teenagers’ as a duet with Fallon and the band. After the inclusion of ‘Red Violins’ to the set as a request from an avid fan, the show comes to a climatic finale with both ‘We’re Getting A Divorce, You Keep The Diner’, the crowd chanting along to the final chorus (“It's all right, man, I’m only bleeding, man. Stay hungry, stay free, and do the best you can”, the lyrics becoming somewhat of a mantra for fans who uploaded snaps from the concert to Instagram afterwards), and all time fan favourite, ‘The Backseat’.
The Gaslight Anthem went above and beyond to deliver a captivating performance, giving their fans an epic set of 25 songs total. With a show that felt genuine and sincere, it’s a delightful quality to witness and something that comes through in both their musicianship and their songwriting; something that in this day and age, is quite hard to come by and greatly appreciated by their fans and music enthusiasts alike.
Wezley Pitt