Fox Theater, Oakland, CA Sept30, 2012

rkirkpatrick25 wrote:

I promise you don't want them to be more chill...

The show in SF in July was embarrassing. It was like doing the deed with someone who just lays there.... she just looks at you and doesn't move...

We were the dead fish and Gaslight was bringing it... It was simply awkward and embarrassing, as a big time gaslight fan, to be a part of that crowd....

PLEASE BE ROWDY OAKLAND... MOVE! DANCE! SING! FIST PUMP!!!! MAKE GASLIGHT KNOW NORTHERN CA actually cares!!!

Yikes. If this is the case there's a bright side to the fact I'm not going. *sour grapes*

a-hole rowdy crowds > dead fish crowds

DeathoftheCool wrote:

a-hole rowdy crowds > dead fish crowds

I agree, to an extent ("rowdy" would be an understatement). but I'd prefer an inbetween. But yeah, a dead fish crowd would be so lousy. I was in one at Bamboozle. I'm a little more biased though against the a-hole rowdy crowds because I'm a small person so it can get a little terrifying when you're surrounded by dudes the size of football players. Guess we'll have to wait and see what this crowd's like.

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

DeathoftheCool wrote:

a-hole rowdy crowds > dead fish crowds

I agree, to an extent ("rowdy" would be an understatement). but I'd prefer an inbetween. But yeah, a dead fish crowd would be so lousy. I was in one at Bamboozle. I'm a little more biased though against the a-hole rowdy crowds because I'm a small person so it can get a little terrifying when you're surrounded by dudes the size of football players. Guess we'll have to wait and see what this crowd's like.

Yeah i started to realize that when reading the thread. At the Against Me show I was getting knocked around, and I'm not very small lol.
So yeah, I can see where you're coming from. The nature of crowds varies so much at different shows its craaaazy

So according to The Fox Theater's website a band called "The Soft White Sixties" is opening. Does anyone know anything about them? I'm checking them out on spotify now and I'm kind of indifferent so far but what do people know about them?

So is this a Gaslight headlining show?

azlisa wrote:

So is this a Gaslight headlining show?

Yes. Turn that frown upside down muthafucka

Ugh, so jealous.

azlisa wrote:

Ugh, so jealous.

i actually feel for you i moved from SF last week to Santa Barbara so I can't see the show

So who here will actually be at the show? Anyone?

setlist looks amazing, still very jelly. can't wait to read the reviews

Where'd you see the setlist?

rkirkpatrick25 wrote:

Where'd you see the setlist?

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-gaslight-anthem/2012/the-fox-theater-oakland-ca-13ddcd15.html

Here's my review:

The show was great mainly because the crowd was near perfect IMO. It was dead center between a dead crowd and an out of control crowd. I was between Alex R and Brian at the start of the show, on the barrier, and ended up almost dead center by the end and I only got slammed into the barrier 2 or 3 times. The rest of the time there was enough space to dance, jump & go crazy and that's what everyone did. It was awesome. No pushing until about halfway through the show and even then it was minimal, but we had once crowd surfer and security was not ready for him. He literally flew off the crowd and slammed into the floor/stage about 8ft away from the front row. He was okay though. As for the band...

Brian's vocals could not have been more perfect. He sounded awesome right from the get go. Handwritten sounded the best I've ever heard it live. I don't think he missed a note the entire show. His voice sounded rested and strong (not like it may give out at any second). The main set was really strong (setlist.fm is accurate) but other than Blue Dahlia I was disappointed with the encore just because I think they need to swap in some different songs for a change but I'm being nitpicky.

Ian has been moved up to the front of the stage, so evenly between brian and alex L not hidden, which honestly looks soooo much better and he seemed more into it than usual. Alex R. was off in freakin' no mans land he was so far away. Brian talked politics for a minute and was thrilled he could say "don't vote for the white guy!" but he didn't get into a rant and no one seemed mad (CA is a blue state after all).

Basically the guys were in top form (and the mix as well as the venue acoustics were perfect) but my one criticism is they didn't do much else. Brian never put down his guitar, he didn't attempt to approach the crowd (although in all fairness we were about 10 ft away), he talked a bit, basically it was very um blah? in that sense only, but I've never heard them play so well so it's not a bad trade off. Oh and the Angry Johnny interlude was just Brian messing around on his guitar for like 5 minutes which was cool but too long.

After the show, their bus was locked behind a gate and Brian came out (like 20 minutes after it ended) but he was trapped on the other side of the fence. Like 2 people talked to him and shook his hand. Then while I was chatting with him, they opened the gate for the garbage man and he kinda snuck out (venue security didn't even like that we were shaking his hand through the gap in the gate, let alone want him to do that). There were only like 8 people there and everyone basically just said why the music meant a lot to them, had him sign stuff, and peaced out, so this all took place in about 10 minutes. He seemed good though. A lot happier than he was at the NYC show.

Oh and the opening band was boring as hell but they played hard so I give them credit for that.

All in all a very fun night. With one or two minor improvements it would have been downright perfect. That crowd though...I may have to fly out here for all my TGA shows, haha.

Great review Shelby. Thanks.

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

Here's my review:

The show was great mainly because the crowd was near perfect IMO. It was dead center between a dead crowd and an out of control crowd. I was between Alex R and Brian at the start of the show, on the barrier, and ended up almost dead center by the end and I only got slammed into the barrier 2 or 3 times. The rest of the time there was enough space to dance, jump & go crazy and that's what everyone did. It was awesome. No pushing until about halfway through the show and even then it was minimal, but we had once crowd surfer and security was not ready for him. He literally flew off the crowd and slammed into the floor/stage about 8ft away from the front row. He was okay though. As for the band...

Brian's vocals could not have been more perfect. He sounded awesome right from the get go. Handwritten sounded the best I've ever heard it live. I don't think he missed a note the entire show. His voice sounded rested and strong (not like it may give out at any second). The main set was really strong (setlist.fm is accurate) but other than Blue Dahlia I was disappointed with the encore just because I think they need to swap in some different songs for a change but I'm being nitpicky.

Ian has been moved up to the front of the stage, so evenly between brian and alex L not hidden, which honestly looks soooo much better and he seemed more into it than usual. Alex R. was off in freakin' no mans land he was so far away. Brian talked politics for a minute and was thrilled he could say "don't vote for the white guy!" but he didn't get into a rant and no one seemed mad (CA is a blue state after all).

Basically the guys were in top form (and the mix as well as the venue acoustics were perfect) but my one criticism is they didn't do much else. Brian never put down his guitar, he didn't attempt to approach the crowd (although in all fairness we were about 10 ft away), he talked a bit, basically it was very um blah? in that sense only, but I've never heard them play so well so it's not a bad trade off. Oh and the Angry Johnny interlude was just Brian messing around on his guitar for like 5 minutes which was cool but too long.

After the show, their bus was locked behind a gate and Brian came out (like 20 minutes after it ended) but he was trapped on the other side of the fence. Like 2 people talked to him and shook his hand. Then while I was chatting with him, they opened the gate for the garbage man and he kinda snuck out (venue security didn't even like that we were shaking his hand through the gap in the gate, let alone want him to do that). There were only like 8 people there and everyone basically just said why the music meant a lot to them, had him sign stuff, and peaced out, so this all took place in about 10 minutes. He seemed good though. A lot happier than he was at the NYC show.

Oh and the opening band was boring as hell but they played hard so I give them credit for that.

All in all a very fun night. With one or two minor improvements it would have been downright perfect. That crowd though...I may have to fly out here for all my TGA shows, haha.

Thanks for the review! I'm jealous

Jesus, insanely jealous now. Pleasantly surprised to hear about the crowd. Great review!