Brian's tumblr post discussion

Oh for fucks sake.

*ahem* Allow me to retort:

Playing in front of a crowd is like going to see a movie.  It's kind of a gamble.  Some nights you have good crowds.  Some nights you have bad crowds.  Some nights (hell, most times maybe) they shout "Bruce" at you.  Many times they'll shout songs you don't want to play.  You must know this; you've been going to concerts and shows for about 20 years.  Or am I being daft and this is a new trend?  Two options: 1) Address your concern, or 2) Accept that this is how people at shows are and learn how to handle it.

Addressing a concern is posting something like, "Great show tonight; in the future, can we refrain from shouting Bruce every five minutes?"  If this doesn't work, see option two.  Addressing a concern does not entail writing a lengthy post about who you are and how you've changed and how you want to proceed and who you're not, without ever really saying what is upsetting you in the first place.  I mean, sure we get what you're saying, the implications are certainly strong enough.  The same way whoever reading this gets what I'm saying, even though I haven't actually explicitly stated why I find this whole thing stupid.  Because somewhere along the line, I lost my point in all the bullshit sanctimony.  

Here's an example of what I'm talking about.  At work, we have somebody who gets irritated every day by people not cleaning up the dishes in the lunch room sink.  It drives her batshit.  She's the DCC (Dirty Cup Cop).  She's very good at this hobby.  Now, she hasn't gotten to the office-wide e-mail yet (it's coming, though, oh Lord, it's coming and I can't wait), but when it comes to things you don't like about your job, as we all have those things, there's a way to handle it:

"Hey everybody,

Happy Friday.  I just want to e-mail all of you about the lunch room.  At the end of most days, I usually end up cleaning out the cups in the sink.  If you could make a better effort to rinse your dishes when you're done, I'd appreciate it.  Thanks in advance! :-)"

Now, the office wide e-mail is never a tasteful thing if a conversation can be had face to face or with a manager or something.  Being that you have to communicate with people through some mode of mass communication, the situation is different.  However, even in that case, the e-mail should never go like this:

"Hey Everybody,

I pride myself on cleanliness.  My desk is organized, my files are kept diligently.  I'm always looking for ways to improve hygiene in the office.  I do this for myself, but I do it for you too.  To say that a person doesn't owe something to his or her co-workers is wrong.  We have the obligation to at least be decent to each other.  Sometimes tempers fly, things go wrong--that's life, we're just people.  Being decent doesn't come with the promise that we'll always be in a good mood.  But I try to do my part by cleaning out all the cups in the sink at the end of the day.  I didn't use these cups, but I rinse them out anyway.  When I first started working here, back in 2007, people were more accepting of their responsibility to basic order.  I didn't have to clean out anybody's cup until The 59 Sound was released about 5 years ago.  I thought it would be temporary but you just haven't let up.  This has been going on for five years! Our office environment is constantly changing, and I know we're going to get through this long, ongoing, probably-will-never-end-at-this-point awkward period and find balance to the lunch room.  Maybe it's my mistake entirely; after all, I'm enabling dirty cups by coming around and cleaning them when they're left dirty.  But I promise you, I will always clean up after myself.  To those who rinse out your cups, thank you."

I don't blame him at all for feeling like that. When I play somewhere, I have gotten people heckling me, shouting for "Billy Joel" covers,etc... It gets annoying and REALLY hard to control yourself. Usually I do, except for one night where I basically ripped the heckler "a new one"without using his name since I actually knew who it was-old high school bully. Anyway back on topic, Brian has a right to feel like this, but maybe he could have worded the post a bit better?

People here who are also the Sprignsteen BTX forum over at Backstreets, this topic is generating a lot of interest

http://www.backstreets.com/btx/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=939807

Maybe they should put Brian's blog post in the event info of every Gaslight Anthem show on Ticketmaster.

Regardless, stoked for the new direction they are going to be going in. This next album/tour will show who the real fans are. I'm definitely excited.

As much as I agree with Brian, I also feel it's a bit of slap in the ace to Bruce and Eddie etc., like there helped tga out and got them some attention and now he's almost resenting them for it. Idk I'm up in the air with this whole thing. I always thought the Bruce thing was kind of cool but I could see why rain feels the need to break that tie. He wants to make a name for himself without that, but I'm not sure he needed to come right out and say it. In time I think it will fade, it already has but I guess this really was the end of it.

41 guests right now! Holy shit, word is getting around I guess.

colmillionaire wrote:

41 guests right now! Holy shit, word is getting around I guess.

That's a record alright. I think I only saw more guests on here when we did that live chat with Benny.

Brian has made no secret in the past of his ambitions to be 'the biggest band in the world', to play to sold out arenas, etc. Unfortunately, that sentiment and his frustrations with what happened last night could be hard to reconcile. The more popular an artist gets, the more people they attract to their shows that are there for reasons other than a pure love of the music. Sadly, that is a part of the price of success. When you are playing in the basement of the Court Tavern you've got a hundred or so people who are there because they love you, or at the very least love music and are seeking out a new band to discover. With popularity comes the people who are there because you are the "cool" thing to like or the trendy show to attend.

I think he came off as a little overly defensive given the specific context of last night, but ultimately it was probably just the last straw in what has been a slow boil toward this point. It must be pretty shitty to have something that was initially one of the highlights of your life (taking the stage with Bruce) become a curse that you can't shake.

Exactly. It's like he cant even enjoy that for what it was now.

  I have to say Brian is wrong in this specific case.  I was at the show and for the start of the encore Brian wanted to do a sing-a-long.  At first he wanted a Lady Gaga tune which, thankfully, the crowd did not respond to.  That he started looking for other ideas and mentioned Livin' on a Prayer.  At that point the crown starting yelling "Bruce".  I saw this as the crowd wanting to do a Springsteen song for the sing-a-long.  This was not a plea to the Gaslight Anthem to become the E Street Band, just an answer to Brian's request for a suggestion for a sing-a-long song.  I think he might be a little over-sensitive to association to Springsteen (though it does not seem like he has had a problem in the past when Bruce joined the band on stage) and over-reacted.

Why is it wrong for the audience to want to do a Springsteen song for a sing-a-long, but ok for Brian to suggest a Lady Gaga tune?  Should we all be upset that he is implying we are Lady Gaga fans?

Now I am a big Gaslight Anthem fan and I go to their show to hear their music, but as I said above, I think Brian is wrong in this case.

CluckyB wrote:

There is little if any Springsteen influence left in HW. Yet reviews still scatter his name all over the place and interviewers still bring it up. I think this was really just the straw that broke the camels back.

Yeah, well he's going to have to deal with it. The press are lazy, and the music press are no exception to this.

Anybody remember Oasis? I used to be (and still am, i suppose) a really big fan of theirs, so i read a lot of stuff written about them. And because the press latched onto Noel & Liam's love of The Beatles pretty early on, you scarcely saw an article that didn't mention The Beatles, or a review that didn't compare the band/album/song to them.

I see huge parallels between the way TGA are compared to Bruce and how Oasis were/are compared to The Beatles.

Do you know when the press stopped comparing Oasis to The Beatles? No? That's because they haven't. And Oasis split up very nearly 4 years ago.

This will follow TGA around for a long time. Probably for as long as they exist. And quite possibly into any solo careers or other bands they form.

SirBrad wrote:

Stop the whining already.  

Who knows, maybe Ryan Adams is the next hero Brian is trying to be like.  Seems like he does a lot of talking about being his own band but doesn't follow up on it.  And with that said, why don't they change their name to Brian Fallon and the Gaslight Anthem.  I'm starting to wonder what input the others even have in the creative process.

Just play some songs.  The people he's calling out on Tumblr probably don't even follow him on there and if they do they don't care what he has to say.  And the hardcore super fans will see thru anything.  So just shut up and make an awesome record and everyone will be happy.

I though Ryan Adams was the biggest baby of all the bands I love but man, Brian Fallon is really pushing to be that guy.  

I kind of agree with this. Ive been following the band since the earlier touring days. My first show was in Asbury in 2008. I remember their being a really great crowd there that night (mostly there for the Souls, but still) My last time seeing them at Terminal 5, The chick in front of my wife and exclaimed "oh this my song!", to every song. Then she proceeded to talk through the song. What Im trying to get at without dragging it out is that to many times the people that are attending these shows know little more than 3 radio played songs by a group. And those 3 songs are all they want. In their drunken stupors they yell and piss off everyone else who is there to see the artist perform.
I personally go into each concert I go to see with this mentality: The most popular song by a group I can hear anytime. Its called the album. I go to a concert to see and hear the artist play. To experience what they put into a concert. I may in my mind say "oh I hope they play this" but never am I mad to not here this. The fact that I was given the chance to see them perform is enough, anything more is just an addded bonus.
And its true, the people who did "break the camels back" and have added to this problem of the course of the last few years most likely dont follow Brians Tumblr or look at his Instagram or care to even lurk here in the boards to read about the going ons of the band. I hope the guys realise this in some time, the actions of few dont count for the feelings of the mass.

Where I stand today is that I'm supportive of the Tumblr post, but as a person who was at the show on Sunday, I take offense to the Instagram post :(If that's how he really feels, then he is entitled to that feeling. But from my viewpoint, a whole night is being trashed over a 2 minute moment (out of a 90 minute experience) that was a complete misunderstanding between Brian and those crowd members requesting Springsteen for the singalong.

I sort of feel like, although the encore last night was pretty unfortunate, it may have been a needed catharsis for him to work through whatever he was feeling. And yeah, no fun, but I can't help feeling that him reorienting himself to the crowd could lead to better shows down the road. When you show more on stage, there's more room for magic to happen (but there's also more room for bummers to happen).

http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/82895/the-gaslight-anthem-get-their-wet-hearts-broken-in-new-york-city

thurman wrote:

  I have to say Brian is wrong in this specific case.  I was at the show and for the start of the encore Brian wanted to do a sing-a-long.  At first he wanted a Lady Gaga tune which, thankfully, the crowd did not respond to.  That he started looking for other ideas and mentioned Livin' on a Prayer.  At that point the crown starting yelling "Bruce".  I saw this as the crowd wanting to do a Springsteen song for the sing-a-long.  This was not a plea to the Gaslight Anthem to become the E Street Band, just an answer to Brian's request for a suggestion for a sing-a-long song.  I think he might be a little over-sensitive to association to Springsteen (though it does not seem like he has had a problem in the past when Bruce joined the band on stage) and over-reacted.

Why is it wrong for the audience to want to do a Springsteen song for a sing-a-long, but ok for Brian to suggest a Lady Gaga tune?  Should we all be upset that he is implying we are Lady Gaga fans?

Now I am a big Gaslight Anthem fan and I go to their show to hear their music, but as I said above, I think Brian is wrong in this case.

I wasn't at the show so I can't say for sure what happened, but but from what I understand even after Brian said "no Springsteen" people kept saying "Bruuuuce".

Furthermore, he never asked the crowd what they wanted to here. He was just like "we could do this". Its his show, not yours, so what you want to hear doesn't really matter. Its his show, not yours. Unless a front man specifically asks "what do you want to hear" you shouldn't be telling him what you want to hear. And even if he asks, chances are after the first few times someone says a given suggest he's heard it so you can just shut up and not keep suggesting it because clearly either he doesn't want to do it or is already planning on doing it.

Furtherfurthermore the implication that being a Lady Gaga fan is somehow a bad thing is ridiculous. No one is forcing you to go listen to her albums when you get home or join her fan club, but you're at a rock show. If you are too uptight to let yourself have a good time because the band is playing Lady Gaga then I donno what to tell you.

I just hope Gaslight starts incorporating a full band cover of "Bad Romance" into their sets because it would be absolutely hilarious.

30 Seconds to Mars does a great cover of Bad Romance.

There are a lot of things I want to write right now, but the problem is over the last year and a half or so my interest in the Gaslight Anthem has gone from favorite band in the world to not really caring much anymore...

It's the change in Brian's attitude that has turned my opinion on Gaslight.

If you try to get the crowd to do a sing-along and try to get Bon Jovi going for a show in NYC, RIGHT NEXT TO NJ, where the majority of your fans LOVE Bruce, what do you think is going to happen?

I'm tired of hearing him bitch about everything. He used to be an inspiring human being with the way he didn't swear, he didn't drink, he worked his hardest every night.... I feel like I'm looking at a skeleton of who he used to be.

I don't care if he's bummed out that people were cheering BRUUUUUUCE. Without BRUUUUUUUCE joining him on stage at the festival, I don't think they would've been as big as they are now (and ps, they're not even big now.) I've never heard a Gaslight song on the radio. The venues they're playing aren't larger than they were during the American Slang tour....

Maybe if Brian realized how lucky he is to have thousands of people show up for him, then he'd stop worrying about all the bullshit and maybe I'd be interested in seeing them again....
-----------

And as soon as I lose faith.... Wow...

rkirkpatrick25 wrote:

There are a lot of things I want to write right now, but the problem is over the last year and a half or so my interest in the Gaslight Anthem has gone from favorite band in the world to not really caring much anymore...

Yeah, I came out of lurking to say I feel the same with this part of your post.
The change in just the last two shows I've personally been to (July 2012 and March 2013) was like night/day. I have friends around the US (not on this forum) who have been saying similar things.... that old feeling has been lost somewhere over the past year or so, and a lot of it has to do with Brian's stage presence and general attitude.

I will say this. There's a lot of things going on with Brian's personal life that attribute to his change in attitude (I'm not speculating). Whether these problems are internal or external is not the point, nor am I here to talk about that. His personal life is private, and I respect that... but at the same time it clearly is showing in his work.

In some ways, that's been bad.... but in other ways maybe it's good. If some of these instagram, twitter, etc. posts and "Halloween" are an indication of where the next album is headed... I can get down with that. Halloween is more "real" to me than anything on HW. If Brian is going through some heavy shit... well, that tends to bring about some of the best art in the greatest artists. Maybe once he's able to express some of what he's going through through song... the shows will change as well...?

At the same time, it would be heartbreaking to see him go into a downward spiral, because it's hard to see anyone go through that. And as a fan who fell in love with a different version of Brian (and Gaslight... although it's really Brian who has changed), it's hard to not be disappointed in some things that have happened.

I've just about stopped following them entirely unless some big news comes up, like this post. That being said, I'm still very curious to hear new the new music.

I also agree with a few of the other comments on here. I've always loved when Brian talks to the audience between songs, and I hate when people tell him to "get on with it" or "just play the song" and shout out requests... HATE it. As a fan, it pisses me off that I can't fully enjoy the experience I paid to see. I never notice people doing that type of thing at other shows I go to ever... so I don't know if Brian just happens to get shit on more than other people or what?

He seems to have a very black/white attitude about things, but then he ends up changing his mind and contradicts himself. Idk how I feel about his attitude about the Springsteen thing. He's a passionate guy, the post doesn't surprise me at all tbh. He's allowed to be human. *shrug*

from now on i communicate only in Mad Men GIFs

CutToRibbons wrote:

rkirkpatrick25 wrote:

There are a lot of things I want to write right now, but the problem is over the last year and a half or so my interest in the Gaslight Anthem has gone from favorite band in the world to not really caring much anymore...

Yeah, I came out of lurking to say I feel the same with this part of your post.
The change in just the last two shows I've personally been to (July 2012 and March 2013) was like night/day. I have friends around the US (not on this forum) who have been saying similar things.... that old feeling has been lost somewhere over the past year or so, and a lot of it has to do with Brian's stage presence and general attitude.

I will say this. There's a lot of things going on with Brian's personal life that attribute to his change in attitude (I'm not speculating). Whether these problems are internal or external is not the point, nor am I here to talk about that. His personal life is private, and I respect that... but at the same time it clearly is showing in his work.

In some ways, that's been bad.... but in other ways maybe it's good. If some of these instagram, twitter, etc. posts and "Halloween" are an indication of where the next album is headed... I can get down with that. Halloween is more "real" to me than anything on HW. If Brian is going through some heavy shit... well, that tends to bring about some of the best art in the greatest artists. Maybe once he's able to express some of what he's going through through song... the shows will change as well...?

At the same time, it would be heartbreaking to see him go into a downward spiral, because it's hard to see anyone go through that. And as a fan who fell in love with a different version of Brian (and Gaslight... although it's really Brian who has changed), it's hard to not be disappointed in some things that have happened.

I also agree with a few of the other comments on here. I've always loved when Brian talks to the audience between songs, and I hate when people tell him to "get on with it" or "just play the song" and shout out requests... HATE it. As a fan, it pisses me off that I can't fully enjoy the experience I paid to see. I never notice people doing that type of thing at other shows I go to ever... so I don't know if Brian just happens to get shit on more than other people or what?

He seems to have a very black/white attitude about things, but then he ends up changing his mind and contradicts himself. Idk how I feel about his attitude about the Springsteen thing. He's a passionate guy, the post doesn't surprise me at all tbh. He's allowed to be human. *shrug*

I totally agree. Brian's changed over the past year and its really effected how the band is perceived. He cares a lot more, but almost too much. I think he really let this whole thing get to him and it didn't need to come to this. I think he might really need some time off. I know he's had some personal stuff going on but that doesn't mean he has to leave who he was/ what hes done before behind. I don't get it. At the second NYC show at terminal 5 last November he was such a downer. I didn't get it. Normally he talks more and jokes around more. His attitude shifted somewhere a long the way. I understand his desire to break the Springsteen tie but that was part of who this band is for a while and I honestly don't see too much wrong with it but now its coming back to haunt them because no one will write an article or hold and interview without bringing it up. i guess this is part of Brian's attitude change but he really needs to stop and figure out what it is he wants for this band and who they want to be because over the past year, this band stopped being fun for me. I wasn't really as impressed with Handwritten because it abandoned a lot of their old ways. I liked the references to other songs and things. I thought it was fun and different. but if they want to be just another generic band than so be it I guess.

Here's a better video of the "incident"

When he said "You wanna do something different?" I took that as him opening the door for suggestions. At the time I felt like he wanted to do something everyone would get into but couldn't decide on a song, so people yelled for Bruce because hey, who in that crowd doesn't like Bruce. Plus, who in that crowd didn't want their own Brian/Bruce-ish moment if they weren't there for the others that have taken place over the last few years.

Watching it again, the second round of Bruce callouts was a bit much, but only because I now know how much he really hated it.

Also I disagree. Convention Hall was my awesome thing too Just for different reasons than his.

This is like analyzing the Zapruder film.

Reading the Tumblr post after I got up this morning made me feel better after leaving the show last night somewhat disappointed, especially since it had been such a great weekend of music up until the encore of the third night. Disappointed also that the band would feel we weren't there for them based on what I believe was not more than a band-crowd misunderstanding. But sounds like there had been a few things building up.
The points made in the tumblr post sound good to me.
As for last night I am hoping that after a few days and some rest Brian can look back on the show and remember seeing a wet and pumped crowd in front of him, the impromptu "Gaslight Anthem" chant in between two songs earlier in the set and the loud cheering when he asked the crowd after the main set if we were still with them.

That's what bothers me the most! So much other goodness happened last night that will be forgotten because of this.