The Gaslight Anthem at History - Concert Photos

The Gaslight Anthem stopped in Toronto on their History Books tour. They played History with Joyce Manor and Pinkshift. Click on those links for my pics of their sets.

I've seen The Gaslight Anthem a few times and I'm a big fan of their music. It was cool to catch them after so long and I loved hearing their powerful tunes rolling off the stage. They always put on a great show. Check out their setlist here.

The band collaborated on the song "Little Fires" with Bully, who happens to be one of my favourite artists as well. Check out that tune below. It's on the new Expanded Edition of History Books, which is out right now. The expanded album features a bunch of cool songs, including The Gaslight Anthem's cover of Billie Eilish's "Ocean Eyes". 

Check out my previous Gaslight Anthem coverage including Brian Fallon and the Howling Weather at The Danforth Music Hall, Gaslight Anthem at Sound Academy and Gaslight Anthem at TURF.

Brian Fallon and The Howling Weather at The Danforth Music Hall - Concert Photos

I'm a pretty big Gaslight Anthem fan. I've seen them a bunch of times and photographed them at TURF and at Sound Academy. Click through on those links for those photos.

This time, it was Brian Fallon and The Howling Weather who stormed into Toronto to play at a sold out The Danforth Music Hall. It was a busy week; a point that Brian mentioned when he lamented that he'd missed Afghan Whigs and Built to Spill at that very venue the night before. You an me both, Mr. Fallon. You and me both.

We got a solid set of rock tunes from the band, including tunes from The Horrible Crowes, Brian's solo albums of course, and a solo piano version of The Gaslight Anthem's "The 59 Sound" as the first tune of the encore. We also got a couple of covers; namely a track from a very influential album for Brian, Derek and The Dominos' "Bell Bottom Blues" from the landmark Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs and fellow Jersey native Bruce Springsteen's "The Promised Land".

Check out some tunes from the band's set.

"Forget Me Not"

The Horrible Crowes' "Ladykiller"

"Painkillers"

"A Wonderful Life"

New music from Brian Fallon

The Gaslight Anthem are on hiatus at the moment, which gives singer Brian Fallon the opportunity to stretch himself out musically with some solo material. His first solo album is called Painkillers and it comes out on March 11.

Check out three great songs below. The first one, "Smoke", gets points from me for mentioning my home town with the lyric, "And I lost my mind in the middle of Toronto..."

Brian's touring and his Toronto show March 13 at The Opera House is sold out. That happens to be the very venue where I first saw Gaslight Anthem perform. Still somehow hoping someone will let me in.

"Smoke"

"A Wonderful Life"

"Nobody Wins" - I love the lyric "I lost most of myself pleasing everyone". I certainly feel like that sometimes.

Pic from Facebook.

Way Home Festival Line-Up

There's a new festival coming to town. It's called WayHome and it's taking place north of Toronto, near Barrie, in Oro-Medonte, at Burl's Creek, July 24 through 26. All the details are on the festival site. It's put together by Republic Live and AC Entertainment who just happen to be the co-founders and producers of Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, so you know this is going to be a well-run festival. Tickets go on sale today, so check out the great bands that are playing, get excited, choose your camping options, and break out your credit card!

Here are a bunch of the bands that I want to catch at the festival:

Modest Mouse

The Decembrists

Passion Pit

St. Vincent

Vance Joy

Future Islands

The Gaslight Anthem

Walk the Moon

Hey Rosetta!

July Talk

Metz

Alvvays

Yukon Blonde

Broods

Viet Cong

Lowell

Just for starters.

Looking forward to this new addition to the Toronto area festival season.

Pic from Facebook.

The Gaslight Anthem at Sound Academy

September 19 marked my fourth time seeing The Gaslight Anthem live. I caught them at The Opera House just after The '59 Sound was released, I saw them from the back of Sound Academy with The Joy Formidable opening, I saw them at TURF and now on their stop at Sound Academy on the Get Hurt tour with Against Me! and Northcote.

This set was way more Get Hurt heavy than their greatest hits set at TURF. They played "Stay Vicious", "1,000 Years", "Helter Skeleton", "Rollin' and Tumblin'", "Underneath the Ground", "Red Violins", and title track "Get Hurt". Of course, the rest of their discography was not ignored and the show overall was great.

One other thought: let's be nice to each other. I don't know how it happened but a fan was pulled out of the front with a split lip. We're all here to have a good time and we need to keep our excitement in check if it endangers our fellow concert goers well being. During the encore, I thought they were playing "Best Song Ever" but no, indeed it was a rockin' cover of The Who's "Baba O'Riley" to close out a fantastic night.

Here are some highlights from their set:

They opened with the opening track from their new album Get Hurt, "Stay Vicious"

"Handwritten" from the album of the same name

"45" from 2012's Handwritten

"Old Haunts" from 2010's American Slang

"Rollin' and Tumblin'" from Get Hurt

The title track from Get Hurt

"Great Expectations" from 2008's The '59 Sound

They closed out their main set with "Meet Me By The River's Edge" from The '59 Sound

The encore kicked off with the rockin' "1930" from 2007's Sink or Swim

"The '59 Sound". Still one of my all-time favourite songs.

"Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts" from the 2008 EP Señor And The Queen

They closed the night with their cover of The Who's classic "Baba O'Riley"

TURF Day 2: Band 6: The Gaslight Anthem

This was my third time seeing The Gaslight Anthem and I think it goes down as the best. I saw them when they did a show at The Opera House just after they released 2008's The '59 Sound. I saw them with The Joy Formidable at The Sound Academy and I took some of the worst concert pictures ever. This time they rocked the late afternoon sun on Day 2 of TURF.

This was the first time that I was able to properly shoot them, and the atmosphere at TURF is just awesome. The three songs that they opened with, that I got to hear as I photographed them, were three of my absolute faves: "The '59 Sound", "Handwritten", and "Old White Lincoln". They are short, rockin' songs, which is good for the crowd, bad for photographers. But I'll take it!

They've got a new record coming out on August 12 called Get Hurt. They played "Rollin' and Tumblin'" for us. But it's a secret. Don't tell anyone.

Now here's something for the crowd at TURF that might not make sense to anyone else: I'm sure if you were at TURF and you provide proof that you adopted a dog they'd give you a free copy of their new album, right guys?

The Gaslight Anthem played a great setlist that included so many of their best tunes. Check out a selection of my faves. I chose live versions for many of the tunes because they capture that live energy.

"The '59 Sound"

"Handwritten"

"Old White Lincoln"

"Rollin' and Tumblin'" from the forthcoming Get Hurt

"45"

"Great Expectations"

"American Slang"

Show closer "The Backseat"

They didn't play it at the show, but since it's from the new album, here's "Get Hurt".

My favourite songs: Awesome and cool songs of 2012: My best of list: Top 60 songs: #60-41

It's been a great year for indie-alternative music. Maybe it's because I've been putting more emphasis on seeking out great music for the blog, or maybe it's just intergalactic forces. Whatever it is, I'll take it.

Just to avoid consistency of any kind, I've abandoned last year's idea of doing 2 year best of posts, like doing "The Best of 2011-2012".

Here's post number one featuring songs 60-41 of my favourite 60 songs released in 2012.


60. "Dollar Chills" DZ Deathrays

59. "We Were Children" Tribes

58. "Anxiety" Ladyhawke

57. "My Girl" Yukon Blonde

56. "Youth Without Youth" Metric

55. "Awakenings" The Junction

54. "Tomorrow" Parakeet

53. "It's Time" Imagine Dragons

52. "Sleep Alone" Two Door Cinema Club

51. "Blood for Poppies" Garbage

50. "Radio" Nude Beach

49. "45" Gaslight Anthem

48. "Settle Down" Kimbra

47. "What Makes A Good Man?" The Heavy

46. "Follow Baby" Peace

45. "Savage" Hacienda

44. "Met Before" Chairlift

43. "Took a Walk" Passion Pit

42. "Lets' Boot and Rally" Iggy Pop and Bethany Cosentino

41. "Two Feet Stand Up" Cookie Duster

Check out the rest of my best of posts.

Gaslight Anthem with Joy Formidable at Sound Academy

It was a busy concert weekend for me. Highly unusually so. Saturday night seeing Stars and Metric at the ACC, Sunday night seeing Gaslight Anthem with Joy Formidable at Sound Academy and Monday night seeing Joy Formidable at the Mod Club for their win-to-get-in headlining night in Toronto. Makes me tired thinking about it, but I had a great time.

I saw Joy Formidable earlier this year at Lee's Palace and they cemented themselves as one of my absolute favourite bands. Although I will try to avoid shows at Sound Academy in the future, I thoroughly enjoyed the opening set by the trio from Wales. Their show at Mod Club the following night would blow it away, but that's tomorrow's post.

They rocketed through an always-energetic set highlighting many awesome tracks from their 2011 full-length The Big Roar along with new songs "Cholla" and "This Ladder Is Ours" from their forthcoming album Wolf's Law. Singer and guitarist Ritzy Bryan and her rhythm section of bassist Rhydian Dafydd and drummer Matt Thomas worked hard to make an impression on a crowd that I felt was mostly there to see The Gaslight Anthem. Well, that's the job of an opening band and I think they won over some new fans.

"The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade"

"I Don't Want To See You Like This"

"The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie"

"Whirring"

"This Ladder Is Ours"

I got to see The Gaslight Anthem as they were coming up the ranks of popularity, when they played The Opera House in 2009, just after the release of The '59 Sound. Then, they were the new band winning over fans on the road. This time, The Gaslight Anthem took to the stage to unbridled enthusiasm from a sold-out crowd. Hitting up tunes from their breakthrough album The '59 Sound early in the set brought a smile to my face. They faithfully recreated highlights from their entire discography, from 2007's Sink or Swim, through 2008's Señor and the Queen EP, 2008's The '59 Sound, 2010's American Slang and their most recent, Handwritten, plus a Misfits cover and the opening chords to an Asia classic mixed in for good measure.

"Great Expectations"

"The '59 Sound"

"American Slang"

"The Spirit of Jazz"

"45"

"Handwritten"

"Here Comes My Man"

While I don't enjoy Sound Academy as a venue, both bands did a great job of their performances, leaving the audience well-satisfied. Great show!

The photos in this post are original pics by me, taken from well back in the venue, not the usual professional pics stolen from some other web site. You can tell the difference original art makes.

Gaslight Anthem almost cover 1982 Asia classic

The other week, I went to see The Gaslight Anthem here in Toronto. I may post more show details and totally crap pictures another time, but for now I wanted to share what I thought was a highlight from their show. It was when they teased us with the opening chords to Asia's "Heat of the Moment" from their 1982 self-titled first album. I wonder how much of the audience was alive when that album came out. I only wish they tried playing the whole song.

New Gaslight Anthem video

The Gaslight Anthem have released a video for "Here Comes My Man" from Handwritten. Yes, that's Canadian actress Elisha Cuthbert of such movies as The Girl Next Door starring in the video. There's also a new iPhone/Android app out if you're into that sort of thing.

I guess the nostalgia of handing down physical music is coming to an end...

And it looks like I missed this vid for the song "Handwritten".

Favourites: The Gaslight Anthem

The '59 Sound

The Gaslight Anthem Handwritten previews are up

UPDATE: You can stream the album in full now at NPR. This is why I don't usually post teasers. Lesson learned. Again.

I don't usually post little teasers of tracks, but I'm going to make an exception for the new Gaslight Anthem. They have posted clips of all the songs on Handwritten on their youtube page. Check 'em:


"45"

"Handwritten"

"Here Comes My Man"

"Mulholland Drive"

"Keepsake"

"Too Much Blood"

"Howl"

"Biloxi Parish"

"Desire"

"Mae"

"National Anthem"

Sounds like another awesome Gaslight Anthem album to me!

Gaslight Anthem video for 45

A while back I posted the new song "45" from the new Gaslight Anthem album Handwritten which is out July 24. They've now released a video for that song. Watch it here.



Just loving this song!

New Gaslight Anthem track!

Gaslight Anthem have just let us hear "45" a new song from their forthcoming album Handwritten, which is out on the 24th of July. Check it out below - it's a fantastic song that I just keep playing over and over.

My favourite albums: Awesome and cool albums of 2010-2011: Top 30 Albums: My best of list

Since I didn't put up a post for my favourite tunes and albums of 2010, and since it takes me a while for things to grow on me, I'm going to be a little different than other music writers. I'm going to do "best of" posts for 2 year periods. This will allow me to be late to the party, and give albums extra time to germinate in my little brain. So this set of posts will cover 2010 and 2011.

One side effect of iTunes, smart playlists and listening to songs over albums is that I've really become a lot more of a "songs guy" over being an "album guy". I was more of an album guy back when I was buying vinyl and CDs in the 80s and 90s and I'd throw them on the turntable or in the CD player and listen to the whole things end to end.

That's my explanation for why my best albums list is so much shorter than my best songs list, anyway.

1. The National - High Violet
2. The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
3. Blood Red Shoes - Fire Like This
4. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong
5. The Hold Steady - Heaven is Whenever
6. The Whigs - In The Dark
7. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
8. The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
9. The New Pornographers - Together
10. Les Savy Fav - Root For Ruin
11. Robyn - Body Talk
12. Hard Fi - Killer Sounds
13. John Grant - The Queen of Denmark
14. The Black Keys - Brothers
15. Army Navy - The Last Place
16. The Posies - Blood/Candy
17. The Kills - Blood Pressures
18. Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart
19. Telekinesis - 12 Desparate Straight Lines
20. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
21. Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
22. Stars - The Five Ghosts
23. Superchunk - Majesty Shredding
24. We Were Promised Jetpacks - In the Pit of the Stomach
25. Kasabian - Velociraptor!
26. The Naked and Famous - Passive Me, Aggressive You
27. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
28. Sky Larkin - Kaleide
29. The Thermals - Personal Life
30. Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

Check out the rest of my best of posts.

The Horrible Crowes: I just can't go cheesy with this title

Gaslight Anthem are a cool band. Good, crunchy, straight-ahead rock with a bit of Springsteen and punk thrown in. And they put on an energetic live show. Their singer has a new venture with their guitar tech (if I remember correctly) called The Horrible Crowes. Their album, Elsie, is out now and this is the first single called "Behold the Hurricane". It sounds like a darker and more laid-back affair than Gaslight Anthem, but I like it.



And in other Gaslight Anthem news, they've recently signed to major label Mercury and we can expect a new album from them in 2012.

Check out the New Gaslight Anthem Album American Slang

I rather like Gaslight Anthem. I caught them when they came through town for a gig at the Opera House. Their straight ahead rock sound with aggressive guitars and great stories had instant appeal to me.

Their new album, American Slang, is out June 15. You can check out a stream of the new album at NPR. Then mosey over to emusic or your fave retailer for your copy on the 15th.

I've only made it through the first couple of tracks myself so far, but it sounds uber-promising.