The Gaslight Anthem, Dave Hause @ Metro City, Perth (19/05/2013)
Brimming with excitement, I lined up an hour early for the gig. In this tedious hour wait, I conversed with my friends about their expectations of the oncoming performance.
With full knowledge of the fact I had to write a review, one of my friends quickly questioned me. “Why do you even need to write a review? I could sum it up in one sentence for you”. He was right; he could accurately sum it up in one sentence. But more on that later.
Without too much of a wait, Dave Hause took to the stage. Now I’m going to come straight out and admit it, I was more or less a stranger to much of his work.
I was anticipating some bloke with an acoustic guitar on stage for 45 minutes making my wait for Gaslight all the more tedious. I expected the act to be mostly ignored by the patrons and, as I was so close to the front, would make me cringe with the awkward proximity between myself and Hause. Boy, was I wrong.
Hause quickly addressed all my concerns as he entered the stage, with the intro music none other than Kenny Loggins seminal piece, Danger Zone following him.
In a jovial manner, Dave informed us that he had “no idea what the f*** was going on” when he entered the stage, and soon deduced that it was a practical joke from Brian Fallon, the lead singer from The Gaslight Anthem. The shenanigans did not end there.
Throughout the set, a very intoxicated Fallon started banging drums for the sake of making noise, running around in a morph suit and, of course, drinking.
Despite this constant distraction, Hause did not miss a single beat. The Loved Ones frontman effectively warmed up the crowd by encouraging sing-a-longs, continuous crowd interactions and a high octane performance. He far exceeded all expectations. Although, with that being said, he definitely could not match the reaction The Gaslight Anthem received when they walked on stage.
The crowd ignited as The Gaslight Anthem tore into Handwritten without a moment’s hesitation. I am still in complete awe over Brian Fallon’s incredible vocal work throughout the entire set. The man will go on to do some very great things.
Fallon would go from a pitch perfect song into a slurred anecdote about absolutely nothing in a matter of seconds. Hell, he even impersonated internet sensation Sweet Brown’s “Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That” before launching into another song.
An equally intoxicated patron incessantly requested the band the play a song by punk band The Misfits, and, after a brief and confusing dialogue between the patron and Fallon, the band (surprisingly) performed an airtight rendition of Astro Zombies. I’ll admit, I did get pretty carried away during that song.
I feel as though I must also mention how good Fallon sounds when he does his version of a Bon Iver song. Midway through a song (I believe it was during the bridge of The Queen of Lower Chelsea), Fallon busted out Blood Bank, which was, again, surprisingly fantastic.
The band blasted out hits such as American Slang, The ‘59 Sound and 45, while still managing to fit in some old favourites such as Wooderson, Here’s Looking at You Kid and Great Expectations.
A commendable mention must also go to the drummer, Ben Horowitz. His overwhelming drumming skills really are underappreciated.
The one sentence my friend used to sum up the performance was, “That was fucking awesome”. To be honest, I could have not described it better myself.
I truly believe that one day I will tell anecdotal stories about the time I first saw The Gaslight Anthem to my inquisitive children. Akin to how I marvel at stories told by my parents about seeing Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen and Skyhooks, my children will fail to grasp just how good The Gaslight Anthem were.
I have no doubt in my mind that The Gaslight Anthem will go down in history as one of the few bands that accurately preserved rock and roll.
James Versluis
With full knowledge of the fact I had to write a review, one of my friends quickly questioned me. “Why do you even need to write a review? I could sum it up in one sentence for you”. He was right; he could accurately sum it up in one sentence. But more on that later.
Without too much of a wait, Dave Hause took to the stage. Now I’m going to come straight out and admit it, I was more or less a stranger to much of his work.
I was anticipating some bloke with an acoustic guitar on stage for 45 minutes making my wait for Gaslight all the more tedious. I expected the act to be mostly ignored by the patrons and, as I was so close to the front, would make me cringe with the awkward proximity between myself and Hause. Boy, was I wrong.
Hause quickly addressed all my concerns as he entered the stage, with the intro music none other than Kenny Loggins seminal piece, Danger Zone following him.
In a jovial manner, Dave informed us that he had “no idea what the f*** was going on” when he entered the stage, and soon deduced that it was a practical joke from Brian Fallon, the lead singer from The Gaslight Anthem. The shenanigans did not end there.
Throughout the set, a very intoxicated Fallon started banging drums for the sake of making noise, running around in a morph suit and, of course, drinking.
Despite this constant distraction, Hause did not miss a single beat. The Loved Ones frontman effectively warmed up the crowd by encouraging sing-a-longs, continuous crowd interactions and a high octane performance. He far exceeded all expectations. Although, with that being said, he definitely could not match the reaction The Gaslight Anthem received when they walked on stage.
The crowd ignited as The Gaslight Anthem tore into Handwritten without a moment’s hesitation. I am still in complete awe over Brian Fallon’s incredible vocal work throughout the entire set. The man will go on to do some very great things.
Fallon would go from a pitch perfect song into a slurred anecdote about absolutely nothing in a matter of seconds. Hell, he even impersonated internet sensation Sweet Brown’s “Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That” before launching into another song.
An equally intoxicated patron incessantly requested the band the play a song by punk band The Misfits, and, after a brief and confusing dialogue between the patron and Fallon, the band (surprisingly) performed an airtight rendition of Astro Zombies. I’ll admit, I did get pretty carried away during that song.
I feel as though I must also mention how good Fallon sounds when he does his version of a Bon Iver song. Midway through a song (I believe it was during the bridge of The Queen of Lower Chelsea), Fallon busted out Blood Bank, which was, again, surprisingly fantastic.
The band blasted out hits such as American Slang, The ‘59 Sound and 45, while still managing to fit in some old favourites such as Wooderson, Here’s Looking at You Kid and Great Expectations.
A commendable mention must also go to the drummer, Ben Horowitz. His overwhelming drumming skills really are underappreciated.
The one sentence my friend used to sum up the performance was, “That was fucking awesome”. To be honest, I could have not described it better myself.
I truly believe that one day I will tell anecdotal stories about the time I first saw The Gaslight Anthem to my inquisitive children. Akin to how I marvel at stories told by my parents about seeing Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen and Skyhooks, my children will fail to grasp just how good The Gaslight Anthem were.
I have no doubt in my mind that The Gaslight Anthem will go down in history as one of the few bands that accurately preserved rock and roll.
James Versluis