Asbury Park: The Press Room solo show (3/31/12)

Again, how did those of you who got in find out about the show?

http://www.rollingstone.com/random-notes-2012/an-intimate-evening-with-brian-fallon-0837262

An Intimate Evening with Brian Fallon

Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem gives a solo acoustic performance during Red Bull's Intimate Evening with Brian Fallon at the Press Room in Asbury Park, NJ on March 31st, 2012. Prior to the performance Fallon was interviewed by Jon Coen and spoke about a range of topics from the Mayan calendar to trying to sound fresh when recording a new record.

So as B701 pointed out, this was a private event for the Red Bull Music Academy.

The event was by invitation only and I was able to snag myself an invite from someone involved with the event. I was specifically told not to post/blog/discuss the show until after the interview portion of the night had concluded. So I hope people understand why I couldn't post about it on here until the time that I did last night.

For the interview session, the stage was set up like a talk show set with a couch for Brian. The interview was about an hour and Brian also took questions from the audience. Some interesting highlights from the interview:

Brian thinks the Smiths and the Replacements are overrated

The main difference between European and American fans is that European fans are more likely to give unknown/unproven bands a chance and to get into them (at festivals, for example). The food in the US is much better though.

Someone recently took a photo of Brian fixing his front porch door and posted it online. This kind of stalking is starting to freak him out (understandably).

Some people in the punk scene don't like bands to succeed ("they want us to be beautiful losers"). Brian thinks that's dumb and wants Gaslight to get big enough to play Giants Stadium.

Some hilarious stuff about the Mayan calendar and the world ending in May. ("Why should anyone listen to the Mayans? No one is even Mayan anymore.")

Said new album would be out soon ("a warm weather release") and that he loves it. As I said earlier, he couldn't play any new songs "because of the internet".

At the door, people were explicitly told that there could be no picture taking or video. That probably only applied to the interview portion but I don't think people wanted to take a chance. After the interview, there was a short break and Brian came out on a stool with his guitar.

I posted the setlist in my earlier posts. Brian opened with Great Expectations and sounded great. Alex L. was there so was Hollie and Brian's mom. El Jefe was there too. Didn't see anyone else from the band.

The event posters were hand-numbered and signed by El Jefe. And, oh yeah, they were free. All in all a very special night. I look forward to seeing the interview again once it's posted online.

Finally, I may have an extra poster or two that I can give away to someone on here (depending on whether the people I was with want to keep theirs). If I can do this I'll make a separate post about it.

Shrewsbury_Stars wrote:

The food in the US is much better though.

sounds like it was an awesome night! can't wait to watch the interview

Hmm can you give some context to him saying the Replacements were overrated? Seems kinda odd because he's even said "there would be no Gaslight Anthem without The Replacements"

I was just going to post the same thing about the replacements! By the way, so NOT overrated!

Would love the poster, by the way.

eagles1139 wrote:

Hmm can you give some context to him saying the Replacements were overrated? Seems kinda odd because he's even said "there would be no Gaslight Anthem without The Replacements"

He basically said their good songs are some of the best songs in the world but that they also put out a lot of stuff that's not so great.

Shrewsbury_Stars wrote:

So as B701 pointed out, this was a private event for the Red Bull Music Academy.

The event was by invitation only and [...]

thanks for that write up

if you've seen that front porch photo, you'll know the stalking comment was a joke

as the for the event itself, I think someone somewhere has a lot to learn about who to include in such invitation only events ...

Shrewsbury_Stars did a great job capturing the event. The only things I'd add,

Brian talked about how he is a huge fan of Pearl Jam, he's stuck with them through thick and thin
He mentioned how the Bouncing Souls do it right, always make great music (Pete from the Souls showed up later)
Mentioned they recorded in Nashville to avoid the distractions that recording locally (NY/NJ) would bring

Also, his comments about the Mayan stuff and local NJ pizzerias were very funny.

Shrewsbury_Stars wrote:

eagles1139 wrote:

Hmm can you give some context to him saying the Replacements were overrated? Seems kinda odd because he's even said "there would be no Gaslight Anthem without The Replacements"

He basically said their good songs are some of the best songs in the world but that they also put out a lot of stuff that's not so great.

Interesting...one could argue the same about lots of bands/musicians...ex. Bob Dylan (lots of great stuff but also lots of bad filler stuff)


thanks for the detailed account.

First video to surface from last night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2oaBToQT8M

Brian doing Blue Jeans & White T-shirts

jonnyz83 wrote:

First video to surface from last night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2oaBToQT8M

Brian doing Blue Jeans & White T-shirts

and they are f'ing talking over it; that's what you get with an invitation only crowd; I can't wait for the day when TGA or Brian play a small gig for hardcore fans only

Basically not much to add other than what everyone's already posted. If I said I'm not bitter that I didn't have someone alert me about this (I clearly need to start writing for Rolling Stone) I would be lying, but I am happy that some Dimestore Saints were there instead of just all people who are in-the-know and didn't appreciate the value of getting to attend the event. Like anyone who would talk over Brian for example.

Coming from Brians mouth that "the Replacements are overrated" got to be the most insane thing ever, because I've always heard their influence the most (even more than Bruce or Clash or whatever) in TGA's music (and well, a lot of bands in the last 30 years or so)...but with saying they have those bad songs I wonder if he means the last two records or maybe the 'weird' stuff like the songs on Hootenanny or something else.

Well I always thought the Replacements were wildly inconsistent.

I don't understand why he won't play new songs, they are just in acoustic form, Ben Nichols from Lucero was playing songs from their new album "Women and Work" which is a great album, last summer and was released just couple weeks ago. Ok we are all dying for something, but the picture of his house, that is odd, but the bigger you get, the less privacy, as much as I love the Gaslight, I won't be trying to find any of their houses, can barely find my own house in Northern Minnesota some nights!

I don't know what this porch stalker photo is.

Went to the Church Choir group on Facebook to see if I missed a prior announcement. I didn't.

I forgot who I was just reading about (Patrick Carney maybe?) and they were saying they don't want to play new songs before a CD is out because people will post it on the web and they'll get judged prematurely on some crap video.

IrishNameAndAnInjury wrote:

steady now steady now wrote:

IrishNameAndAnInjury wrote:

That must have been amazing! How was this show not mentioned on here earlier? Was it announced at the last minute?

their FB says:

SATURDAY NIGHT CLOSED PRIVATE EVENT from 8PM-11PM
RED BULL AFTER PARTY OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Starting @11PM. DJ JAY INSULT. LEGENDARY.

so was Brian the closed private event?

Hmm...that's what it sounds like to me. Was anyone else there besides Shrewsbury and Rizz?

I was actually there....

.....April Fools. I couldn't resist.

NeverTrustAJunkie wrote:

I don't know what this porch stalker photo is.

Went to the Church Choir group on Facebook to see if I missed a prior announcement. I didn't.

I forgot who I was just reading about (Patrick Carney maybe?) and they were saying they don't want to play new songs before a CD is out because people will post it on the web and they'll get judged prematurely on some crap video.

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me about Carney. I read an article about the Keys in Rolling Stone and I'm pretty sure he said that being judged kind of affected him. Although, he was the total nerd in High School. So, I dunno. I could be totally wrong. Dang it, now that I actually think about it (and sorry for my ramblings) he said he wasn't affected by people judging him and he actually kind of enjoyed being the nerd.

I'm done now...

I am really sorry for all those who didn't know about the show. If I had any of your contacts, I would have gotten in touch immediately. I don't have an iphone so couldn't get post to the board and found out last minute about it. I actually missed the first few songs. Let's hope we get some some more of these smaller shows again soon and they aren't as hush hush!

You're not in trouble. Don't worry!

I originally thought the thread was an April Fool's joke. How badly I wish it was. I know I had a spoiled week with Revival, but this is a Brian solo show FFS!

This was pretty much a "private" show so I don't think ( even if I had an invite) I would have told anyone about this. There is a reason they wanted it low key so i think that's something you have to respect. Yes, it sucks "we" didn't get an invite or "we" didn't know about it. But at the same time I dont blame anyone for not mentioning it.

I think steady now steady now actually posted, something similar, on this subject. Something along the lines of, that when you meet the guys and they tell you stuff, ask yourself should you be posting about it. Or was what they were telling you, was ment to be, "off the record"

I agree with what you are saying, but the private event was the filming of the Red Bull Q&A. Doors for the Press Room opened to the public at 11 which was right around when Brian took the stage for his nine song set. I just wish more fans would have heard about it. The place was really not that crowded at all...

I'm glad that I am not the only one annoyed by the lack of info about this show. And to hear that it was open to the public and not that crowded, coupled with the buttheads talking during blue jeans makes it even worse.