Date: October 15th 2009
Opening Bands: Murder By Death, Broadway Calls, Jesse Malin
Band Link: www.gaslightanthem.com

Terminal 5 is the worst venue in NYC but The Gaslight Anthem rocked the house last night! Seriously, Terminal 5 is horrible for the sound and the layout if my opinion counts for anything. T5 makes it hard to hear anything unless you are directly in front of the stage on any level. Yet the unlucky group of fans don’t get to hear as well when we’re blocked by pillars and platforms.

Enough about the bad sound at Terminal 5, let’s talk about The Gaslight Anthem. Gaslight is the Bruce for the punk rock kids. The kids at the show last night knew every lyric and screamed along with pure passion. Brian Fallon’s lyrics hit home regardless of your background. They are powerful, depressing, inspirational, and happy; they just about cover every single genre of emotion.
Four musicians that have deep roots in New Jersey back up the lyrics every night and last night was no exception. The music was tight as hell, it was on point and super sing-a-long-able. The passion that Brian, Benny, Alex and Alex had on stage was great. It shows in their music. Starting out with “High Lonesome,” “Casanova, Baby!,” “Old White Lincoln” and “Even Cowgirls get the Blues,” the crowd went crazy when “The 59 Sound” started blasting out of the speakers.

The followed up to that with “We Came to Dance,” “Film Noir,” “Miles Davis and the Cool,” “The Patient Ferris Wheel,” “Stand By Me” (always played before) “I’da Called You Woody,” “Joe, Angry Johnny And The Radio,” “Great Expectations,” “Here’s Looking At You, Kid” & finally “The Backseat.” Then the fake (we’re done), also known as the encore happened. “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts,” “Drive,” “The Navesink Banks” and ending with “We’re getting a divorce, You Keep the Diner.”

I also enjoyed Murder By Death. I don’t know them that well to say what songs were played, but the combination of cello, guitar, keyboards and percussion was pretty cool. However, I can’t say anything about the other opening bands, Jesse Malin or Broadway Calls as I did not get there in time.

Last night was wonderful and there were not any special covers, but that’s OK. The Gaslight Anthem played everything I wanted to hear. From “Miles Davis” to “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts.” They rocked the house for over 90 minutes and they will continue kick ass.