Show Review: The Gaslight Anthem at the Electric Factory 11/27

There have been a few times in my life that i have left a show thinking, "that was the BEST show i have ever been to in my entire life." A) This is often an exaggeration. B) I have been to more shows than i can remember, so its likely not even true. However, i am damn sure that when i said it after the show this past Tuesday night at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, it was the truth.

I spent the better part of Tuesday hemming and hawing about if i was even going to venture out for the night. i had bought the tickets months ago, so the money didn't seem so important. it was rainy and cold and there was talk of the dreaded "S" word (snow, i hate that stuff). i just didn't see how it was going to be any fun. but lo and behold, when i walked out of work at six pm, the rain had never turned to snow, and in fact, had disappeared completely, leaving just a cloudy night sky. I was going to suck it up and go.

The opener was a singer/songwriter called Matthew Ryan. He was good enough, but it felt like maybe that wasn't the right setting for his music. I tend to find myself feeling bad for a guy and a guitar when the headliner is a full piece band~it just never really goes over well with the audience. I will give his music some attention, though, because Brian Fallon said i should.

Next up were the Menzingers, a punk-rock outfit out of Scranton, Pa (home of Dwight K. Schrute and Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch.) I really didn't know anything about this band going in, but they opened with this song:

I immediately fell in love. There is something about punk rock that just gets me. I cant explain it, really. I was having a pretty crappy afternoon and was still pretty steamed about what happened when i got to this show, but hearing this band made all of that bull melt away. Damn the man, save the empire.

I don't even want to talk about the Gaslight set, because i know that whatever words i use are not going to do justice to the perfection that happened in that venue. I was nervous that this show was going to be a letdown because i had hyped it up so much in my own head for so long. By the time the band took the stage, i was sure i had just wasted 40 dollars and a quality evening because this was going to be awful.

but it wasn't.

the house lights went down and the audience got loud. the beginning chords of "Mae" rang out and the band took the stage. By the time Brian started singing, the crowd had taken the level in the room to magnitudes i hadn't experienced in a very long time. Mae is my current favorite track on the new album, "Handwritten," and i found myself questioning what the rest of the set was going to hold. This is a bit vulgar, but I was definitely wondering if the band had "blown their load" so to speak by opening with the best track.

they didn't.

The set was amazing. They hit every song i could have wanted to hear, and played for what seemed like forever. they just kept going, like music machines. it was insane. the crowd was insane. i haven't seen mosh pits like that in years. i haven't felt energy like that from the stage in years, either. It really was one of those nights where all of the stars aligned to create the perfect situation.

after a 19-song set, including probably the 15 greatest musical minutes of my life (even cowgirls get the blues/here comes my man/Miles Davis and the cool), the band headed off stage to do whatever it is they do before the encore, and the crowd chattered and clapped and chanted things like "gas-light an-them" and "USA! USA!" I tweeted that the band was really making us work for the encore, because it took them a bit of time to come back out, but when they did, it was absolutely worth the "work" we had to put in.

the encore was great, too. Brian and the opener guy, Matt, came out and played one of Matt's songs that Brian loved (it was actually the reason the two acts were touring together). Every time a song would start, i would think "okay, this has to be the last one, and they didn't play 'blue deliah' so i guess they aren't playing it." but it wasn't the last song, and they DID play "blue Dehlia" and i danced around like a fool in the rain, and would bet money that that song is the reason I'm in pain two days later.

I left that show on cloud nine. I have been there for a few days. If i wasn't already head over heels in love with Gaslight, i absolutely am now. it was magical. it was perfect. it was exactly the way id imagined my first time to be.

Setlist:
Mae
'59 Sound
Old White Lincoln
Diamond Church St. Choir
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Here Comes My Man
Miles Davis and The Cool
"45"
Handwritten
Senor and the Queen
Film Noir
Howl
Keepsake
I'da Called You Woody, Joe
Angry Johnny and The Radio
Patient Ferris Wheel
Too Much Blood
Here's Looking at You, Kid
Backseats

ENCORE:
I Cant Steal You (M. Ryan tune)
She Loves You
Mulholland Drive
Drive
Blue Deliah
Astro Zombies
Great Expectations

i need to get this off of my chest.

I have a pretty wide open taste in music, and in such I have spent some time listening to "Contemporary Christian Music." I don't really spend much time with the genre these days, but there was a period of time in my life where it was all i listened to, and i dj'ed a radio show on my college radio station that played solely CCM.

I liked the idea of being able to worship a little differently than the standard hymns and praise and worship songs allowed. i liked that the music that i was listening to was positive and uplifting, because i realized that a lot of what what out there in popular culture was fairly negative. i spent a lot of time with bands like the newsboys, five iron frenzy, jars of clay and relient k. i was happy and having a good time, but there was one thing that used to bug me.

quite often its been said that the basic formula for a hit CCM song is to write a regular love song, and then replace "baby" with "Jesus." this used to upset me a little bit because i liked to think that these bands that i was more or less putting my faith in were making music for worship, and not for money. now I'm not naive enough to think that they were doing all of the recording and touring and everything else for free, but i really, really wanted to believe that the dollar wasn't the bottom line.

my musical taste has evolved over the last ten years, and i don't really find myself listening to CCM much at all anymore, but there are still a few bands that i pay attention to. remember how i got excited last year when FIF announced that they were back? i still love them, despite my statements otherwise (i talked a lot of smack on them after the break up. i was heart-broken.) i also still gave a decent amount of attention to jars of clay. i always connected with their music, even when i had fallen away from everyone else, and always believed that they were actually in it for the love of Jesus, and not for the cash.

but today i was watching TV, and i saw the new commercial for Christianmingle.com. guess what song was playing in the background? Jars of Clay's "Love Song for a Savior."

everything i ever thought was wrong, and I'm pissed.