It’s
hard to believe that in just 5 years The Gaslight
Anthem have gone from being unheard of in the
UK to releasing 4 solid albums and being labelled
the hottest band from various different publications,
but it is safe to say that the band deserve all
the recognition that they have been getting over
the years as they have worked solidly, releasing
an new album every two years and touring relentlessly
with hundreds of sold out shows, huge support
slots and festival appearances under their belts.
Tonight the Gaslight Anthem kicked off their UK
tour at the Academy in Bristol and tonight was
the first of a double header of sold out shows
in Bristol and after their stint in Bristol they
are heading off to do a double header of shows
in Manchester, Glasgow and London which all sold
out as quick as they went on sale.
I got to the Academy 20minutes before the Gaslight
Anthem were due on stage and as soon as I walked
in I noticed that the venue was packed to the
rafters and the sub zeros temperatures
outside could be ignored for a couple of hours
as the Academy was close to hitting the temperature
of a sauna as thousands of eager Gaslight Anthem
fans were chanting for their heroes to take to
the stage.
The Gaslight Anthem soon took to the stage and
opened the set up in an high energy way as they
got straight down to business opening with ‘High
Lonesome’ which was quickly followed up
by ‘Casanova, Baby!’, ‘Old White
Lincoln, ‘45’ and ‘Handwritten’,
from the start the crowd fans were in their element
singing-a-long and as each song started up you
could just see certain people in the crowd smiling
like Cheshire cats as the Gaslight Anthem blasted
out everyone’s favourite tracks.
As
the set progressed you could tell that the Gaslight
Anthem's time supporting Bruce Springsteen has
had positive effects on them as they laid down
their bluesy rock sound, the band spent minimal
time interacting with the crowd and let their
music doing the talking for the best part of one
and a half hours as they managed to cram a massive
22 songs into their energetic set.
Pretty much every song you would expect the Gaslight
Anthem to play was played tonight as well as covers
of The Animals ‘House Of The Rising Sun’
and The Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’,
yet it was the epic 6 track encore which impressed
the most tonight as the Gaslight Anthem came back
on stage to blast out the likes of ‘Here
Comes My Man’, ‘Mulholland Drive’,
‘American Slang’ and the song that
pretty much started it all for the band in the
UK ’The 59 Sound’.
The
whole night felt like a massive family gathering
as people who had barely met were sinking beer
and singing in each other’s ears until their
throat could take no more, as the show came to
an end you could tell that the Gaslight Anthem
were eager to play on for a lot longer and you
can guarantee in a few more years once they have
one or two more albums to their name they will
be contenders to match their idols Bruce Springsteen
for lengthy set’s.
After the epic performance the Gaslight Anthem
put on tonight it really is only a matter of time
until they embark on an sold out arena tour of
the UK and let’s face it that’s the
sized venues that their music is written for.
Gaslight Anthem 5/5
Review By Trigger
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