GASLIGHT ANTHEM AMERICAN INDIE ROCK AT MANCHESTER APOLLO 19TH AUGUST 2022

 

 

 

WORDS DESH KAPUR / IMAGES BILLY SEAGRAVE

 

“From The Garage Punk Of Tracks Like “The ’59 Sound’s” Which Still Sounds So Awesome Today”

 

Saturday night was a stinking hot day in Manchester, so I thought I would go down to a hot sweaty venue in this case Manchester Apollo and see American Indie Rock heroes Gaslight Anthem.

From New Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 2006. The band consists of Brian Fallon (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Alex Rosamilia (lead guitar, backing vocals), Alex Levine (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Benny Horowitz (drums, percussion).

The Gaslight Anthem released their debut album, Sink or Swim, on XOXO Records in May 2007, and their second album, The ’59 Sound, on SideOneDummy Records in August 2008. The band’s third album, American Slang, was released in June 2010, and their fourth, Handwritten, was released in July 2012 through Mercury Records. The lead single from Handwritten, “45”, became their most successful single on the charts, and possibly their most well-known to date. The band’s fifth studio album, Get Hurt, was released on August 12, 2014, through Island Records. On July 29, 2015, the band announced an indefinite hiatus following their European summer tour, which concluded at Reading Festival on Sunday 30 August. The band temporarily reunited for a string of shows in 2018 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The ’59 Sound, before resuming their hiatus.

In March 2022, the band announced that they had reunited and returned to “full-time status”, and that they had begun writing their sixth studio album and a tour was to take place, so here we are

Taking to the stage to the echoing shouts and cheers from the crowd in the packed-out venue, the band took their places on the stage and moved straight into “Have Mercy”, “Handwritten” and “Boomboxes and Dictionaries” and now I remember why I like this band so much, hard-driven rock, blended with pop sensibilities, soaring chorus that drips with melodies that just won’t leave your head.

 

 

The crowd seemed mesmerized or I am hoping that is what It was, it was quite quiet for a live audience, but there was a feeling of intimacy, not just because the Apollo is that sort of venue, but the lighting on the stage was minimal and lead singer Brian Fallon was the only one lit up, if you didn’t know better you would think he was Gaslight Anthem and the rest were just the live band, maybe that had something to do with it, But as the band played, the most well-known songs, “Mae” “Mulholland Drive” “Blue Jeans and White T-Shirts”, I could see the audience, singing and swaying along, some even had their eyes closed looking blissed out, so I knew everyone in the venue was into what was coming back at that from the Apollo stage.

From the garage punk of tracks like “The ’59 Sound’s” which still sounds so awesome today, to the heavier more metal-sounding tracks from recent records, Gaslight Anthem are impeccable, and the crowd are lapping it up

So whilst the New Jersey Punksters never seemed to achieve the mainstream success that their talent for songwriting seemed to deserve, looking around the venue tonight I can feel the love and it’s a testament to how good, the band are, yes there was a different vibe in the air tonight as I alluded to earlier, a bit subdued and maybe to me it felt a little flat, but walking out and hearing the conversations between punters, and the smiles on their faces, shows that was not the case at all, and everyone had a great night with a great band in a great venue in a great city, enough said

 

 

SET LIST

1/ HAVE MERCY

2/ HANDWRITTEN

3/ BOOMBOXES AND DICTIONARIES

4/ MAE

5/ OLD HAUNTS

6/ 1,000

7/ UNDERNEATH THE GROUND

8/ THE DIAMOND CHURCH STREET CHOIR

9/ BILOXI PARISH

10/ MULHOLLAND DRIVE

11/ SWEET MORPHINE

12/ THE SPIRIT OF JAZZ

13/ HALLOWEEN

14/ BLUE JEANS & WHITE T-SHIRT

15/ HOWL

16/ STAY VICIOUS

17/ KEEPSAKE

18/ GET HURT

19/ 1930

20/ 45

21/ THE 59 SOUND

 

 

 

 

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