The First time I saw The Gaslight Anthem...

MKULTRA wrote:

Hasler09 wrote:

London Forum June 2009 then again that year in Edmonton Canada in a tiny venue. Frank Turner was supporting. Both shows were amazing. Seen them around 10 times since then! Can't wait for them to come back to the U.k

edmonton '09 was my first show too! it introduced me to both Frank and the Loved Ones, so i got my money's worth even before gaslight came on.

Such a great show!!!

Hasler09 wrote:

London Forum June 2009 then again that year in Edmonton Canada in a tiny venue. Frank Turner was supporting. Both shows were amazing. Seen them around 10 times since then! Can't wait for them to come back to the U.k

Massively jealous. They've only been to Perth three times and I've managed to catch two of them. I don't think even the Rolling Stones have been to this miserable far-off city ten times, let alone any smaller band...

I have a friend who moved out to Perth he said it was hard to follow bands he liked as too few make the trip over there. Thats a shame mate! makes it more special when they do head over though i guess!

I actually kinda of realized I never shared in this thread. My first actual ever Brian Fallon related show was The Horrible Crowes in NY 2011. (THCs first show) So I was coming off the biggest rush after such the amazing show that was. Then the 2011 conventional Hall show was announced, which was a no-brainer, I had to go. But I definitely felt pretty spoiled after seeing the awesomeness that was The Horrible Crowes. I knew TGA was going to be awesome, but I figured it was just going to be a normal show with nothing out of the ordinary happening. But as Im sure you all know now, that was the show that Bruce Springsteen made his second appearance on stage with that band. The two, arguably, legendary moments in TGA/THC history and I saw both of them consecutively. Then after the show I met Benny who took my THC poster to get signed by Brian and mailed it back to me. Which was crazy on its own.

good times. Man i was spoiled   

Debonair wrote:

I actually kinda of realized I never shared in this thread. My first actual ever Brian Fallon related show was The Horrible Crowes in NY 2011. (THCs first show) So I was coming off the biggest rush after such the amazing show that was. Then the 2011 conventional Hall show was announced, which was a no-brainer, I had to go. But I definitely felt pretty spoiled after seeing the awesomeness that was The Horrible Crowes. I knew TGA was going to be awesome, but I figured it was just going to be a normal show with nothing out of the ordinary happening. But as Im sure you all know now, that was the show that Bruce Springsteen made his second appearance on stage with that band. The two, arguably, legendary moments in TGA/THC history and I saw both of them consecutively. Then after the show I met Benny who took my THC poster to get signed by Brian and mailed it back to me. Which was crazy on its own.

good times. Man i was spoiled   

You're killin' me bro! You missed the greatest part of both of those nights!! You met ME! And we still text (sometimes!)!!

rkirkpatrick25 wrote:

Debonair wrote:

I actually kinda of realized I never shared in this thread. My first actual ever Brian Fallon related show was The Horrible Crowes in NY 2011. (THCs first show) So I was coming off the biggest rush after such the amazing show that was. Then the 2011 conventional Hall show was announced, which was a no-brainer, I had to go. But I definitely felt pretty spoiled after seeing the awesomeness that was The Horrible Crowes. I knew TGA was going to be awesome, but I figured it was just going to be a normal show with nothing out of the ordinary happening. But as Im sure you all know now, that was the show that Bruce Springsteen made his second appearance on stage with that band. The two, arguably, legendary moments in TGA/THC history and I saw both of them consecutively. Then after the show I met Benny who took my THC poster to get signed by Brian and mailed it back to me. Which was crazy on its own.

good times. Man i was spoiled   

You're killin' me bro! You missed the greatest part of both of those nights!! You met ME! And we still text (sometimes!)!!

Shhh no one can take away what we have!   

Which reminds me I'm going to text you now!

November 2008 at the Palladium in Los Angeles.

Gaslight Anthem was supporting Thrice, Alkaline Trio and Rise Against (True story!).

I was going to a school in Redondo Beach, CA at the time and was a pretty big Rise Against fan back then. So was very excited for this gig, although I hadn't heard much of Gaslight Anthem before. I knew there was a hype going around though so checked them out a few weeks before the gig.
I remember sitting in my apartment in Redondo and putting on "Sink Or Swim" for the first time, and after three songs I turned to my roommates and said: "This might be the best band in the whole fucking world!". So by the time the show was gonna go down I already knew most of the lyrics and was super excited for Gaslight Anthem to play, probably more than any other band on the bill.

The show itself was absolutely epic too, and at that moment I knew that this was gonna be a band that I'd listen to for a very long time.

The whole experience living in LA for 7 months was rad itself, and this is one of my favorite highlights from that time for sure. Something I'll remember for a very very long time.

First time I saw them was November 2012, three nights in a row at Terminal 5. Apparently they were filming for a live DVD but nothing was ever released. It was however broadcasted live on AXS-TV. I assume a DVD never happened because Brian's voice was god awful all three nights, was toward the end of the tour and his vocals obviously needed a rest.

Biggest memory of a GA show was road tripping to Cleveland OH from Jersey to see them play with the Bouncing Souls. That whole weekend was full of memories.

I saw Brian for the first time like the week before I saw Gaslight, at a solo show at a university (the only solo thing he did outside of the Revival Tour for like a long time, I think), and he was also the first band member that I was really into that I met, so that was a really big deal. But really, it was so magical, because it had been a really rough year, really, and I remember I had been really depressed and that night was the first time I had been happy in so long and like it literally reminded that it was possible to feel that way.
Oh this is so sappy sorry, but it's true, and it makes sense thinking about how invested I have been in shows and bands ever since...
and then the first time I saw Gaslight was the famed Asbury show where Bruce showed up, couldn't have asked for a better night!
(And I met Andrew/Debonair for the first time and remembered his situation w Benny and the poster years later   )

The first time I saw TGA was (sadly) only about a year ago. I live in Vermont, and it is very rare that "big" bands come through here. Every now and again, I grab a "Seven Days" (the local free newspaper in which the venues all advertise), and saw "Just Announced: The Gaslight Anthem" in tiny little print at the bottom of the "Higher Ground" (only venue that gets "big" bands) ad. I immediately purchased tickets online for my girlfriend (also a big fan) and I. It was a "bud light presents" event, and at the end, Brian said "we'll be back next year", we were skeptical, as bands often skip over us on their way from Boston to Montreal (including this falls tour).

Now, I apologize if this is off topic, but it seems fitting: The last time we saw them (June 22), was absolutely amazing. We saw they were coming again, and of course, immediately purchased tickets- the reschedule was not an issue for us. So, my girlfriend has a form of muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair, but this does not (will not) deter her from being up front for any show that isn't super rowdy (we saw GWAR last year, needless to say, we stayed pretty far back). They let us in early, but by the time we got out of the bathroom, people had already started filing in. We made our way to the front with no problems, as people are generally pretty nice and understanding (also, she's so low, you can see right over her head no problem). There were some younger kids in the very front, who made no effort to allow her to get to the front. No matter, we were as close as we were getting, pretty much dead center, and were pretty happy with it.

Not very long into the show (4-5 songs, maybe), Brian looked down and said "you can't really see can you? I don't think I like that, can we move her to the side of the stage?" The people parted, and a security guard lead us behind the curtain, right next to the stage, and from there we enjoyed the same view that the sound guy has. Personally, I think it speaks volumes to the kind of guy Brian is (or seems to be, I don't actually know him).

As the show came to a close, the sound guy (whose name I wish I knew) handed her a set list that he had scribbled "Burlington, VT 6-22-14" on. When we approached the merch table, the merch guy (again, I got no name) said "are you the person he had moved?", and when she replied, sheepishly, "yeah", he said "here, have a sticker pack".

I only share this because it is a rare thing to see bands (and their staff) be so kind and accommodating when they really have no reason to be (nor do either of us expect them to be), and I thought if anyone would enjoy this story, it would be you all.
Wow, this got very long, very fast. I apologize if that causes anyone any sort of issue or inconvenience.

What a wobderful story! Thanks so much for sharing! And I totally agree that the band as well as their crew are all very down to earth, lovely and caring people.

My first show as Dec 9, 2012 at the Asbury Convention Hall.  It was a Christmas present from a friend.  It was a pretty amazing night and I've been hooked ever since. :-)

My first show was Leeds, March 2013. They played my favourite song (I'da Called You Woody, Joe) and when I managed to get a setlist from a security guy I realised that it wasn't even on the setlist for the night. I also managed to meet brifal afterwards, so it was a pretty unbelievable night. The signed setlist is framed on my wall now and it's definitely one of my most prized possessions.

Danny the merch guy - Legend.

I saw them at Call The Office in London, Ontario.

It was the first real rock show I had been to.

I went to Edgefest, but big festivals like that really don't compare to the small show atmosphere.

It was the first time I crowd surfed, and it was to The Backseat, which would become a tradition of mine, doing it the next three times I saw them.

The first time I saw them was at the Area 4 festival in Germany in 2010. It was also my first festival ever, and my then boyfriend had won the tickets (woohoo!). I remember it was raining by the time TGA came on, and everyone in the crowd was wearing bright orange Jägermeister rain capes they had given out for free. Brian unfortunately didn't say much during the show, but he did ask about the rain capes. I also remember watching a broadcast of the show on TV a couple of weeks later. I hope I recorded that somewhere.

It is on Youtube too! Check xavi18fa's account, its on there!

Thanks, I'll check it out!

Brixton Academy 2012. Was upstairs though so the atmosphere wasn't that great.

Seen them twice since, last night and at The Troxy, which was probably the best out of the 3.

Stalls_Standing wrote:

Quote :

2:16am – My alarm goes off, wake up a bit. Go downstairs, eat, pack, remind Liam (brother) to wake up. Then we leave, just before we pulled up to pick Phil and Rob up, Liam said something 'What the fuck are we doing? It's 3 o'clock in the morning'

I concurred but there was no turning back. So got Phil and Rob, and I drove us all to Stansted Airport listening to The Gaslight Anthem all the way there.

Parked up, got the train to Stansted and checked in. Cleverly, I'd left my car keys in my back pocket walking through the Security metal detector thing, I got lovingly felt up by a good old chap, and then got my Red Bull and Lynx confiscated because apparently terrorists love 'em.



Anywho, so we were all through security and we found some really cool chairs and sat there reading/talking till the gate number for our flight came up, when It was up we had to get another train all the way to gate 1094191 or something, I may be exaggerating.

Ryanair.com somehow gave us priority boarding and we got seats right at the front, muchos leg room After managing to make the stewardess crack up when she was informing everyone how to stay alive in the event that Red Bull and Lynx are mixed together.

The flight went very quickly most of us slept, but it wasn't for more than 10 minutes or so. We got off the plane and we were in Berlin. Hoorah! After some great wikipedia research I blagged my way through getting a family day pass on the S-Bahn (Berlin's Tube). Whilst sitting on the S-Bahn we popped out these Lucozade Carbo Gel things that are supposed to give you energy, they were horrible and I left mine on the side, then Rob decided to just use me as a bed, and when he got off me I was covered in feckin' sticky carbo gel. Great start!

Anyway so we had absolutely no idea where to go. So we saw Alexander Platz was written in bold, so y'know we though that was the place to be. It wasn't. It was dead, hardly anyone around so we thought, lets get some food. Where you ask? Where else, McDonalds. We ate then left again and went to a few more stops before we got to some decent place in Berlin where we saw the Reichstag and some bits of the Berlin Wall that were cool. Nicely whoring their history about my having some guy in a guards uniform stamp your passport for 2euro with a East Berlin stamp.
We then found a rare spot of grass in the sun and we just sat and slept there for the next hour or so. By this time it was about 4 o'clock time so we decided to sit down and have an early dinner. After dinner we text some companions (Carl, Nadine) and managed to get hold of some street names and the likes so we took the S-Bahn to Rosa-Luxemborg Plaza and tried to find the club from there. It didn't work, 1hour 30minutes later, we were back at the same point we started. So we went and has another look at the map to realise it was upside down, and we'd been going in the complete opposite direction. So we turned around and walked another 45minutes and finally made it to the venue. We sat on the steps outside drinking our Budweisers in .5l bottles (hardcore) and then about 4minutes into our rest, who comes and ruins it Brian Fallon and his wife. I introduced us and he said that he'd heard about us and we talked for maybe 5 minutes before he left to go get some Chinese food. We decided to move to a bench rather than clog up the stairs and Brian and Hollie walked by and stopped and chatted to us for longer, then Hollie left and we must have spoke with Brian for nearly an hour now, talking about tonnes of things such as $200 Gaslight Anthem vinyl, Joe Strummer and The Clash, lots of talk about England too. He then went inside to get some coffee and said he'd see us in there. We went down the road to find somewhere to watch the football and then Phil and Rob got themselves a Chinese and then we walked up to the venue. I showed our ticket to the guy on the door and he said ID Card in a scary German accent, I showed him my passport and Liam's passport and Phil's passport. Then he said you have to be 18. Phil was not.

So we got up at 2:16 in the morning to fly all the way over to Berlin to see a band, on no website and on no flyers did it every say anything about being 18+. We pleaded and pleaded then said OK, but you must leave by midnight. Gaslight Anthem take the stage at 00:30. We pleaded some more and in the end they confiscated Phil's driving license and said as soon as TGA finish playing he must pick it up and then leave. So we were in by the skin of our teeth and thankfully because of all the fuss we made about Phil, Rob wasn't ID'd and he is 16. We got in walked around, saw Brian and Hollie again and explained what went down and he said he was under the impression it was an all ages show, but alls well that ends well!

We got some beers, not Phil and Rob though! And watched the support band Miyagi. Miyagi, who listed in The Guardian: The Guide. Played in Edinburgh the other day for £26 a ticket! So we watched them and they were average. They weren't bad, but they were all a bit samey and every song has the same breakdown and they must have played for almost an hour!

So the dancefloor emptied and we walked to the front and we waited, not long, for TGA to take the stage.

Over £100, no proper sleep in over 48 hours, hours of walking in circles, all for this next 60 minutes. They kicked off with 'Drive' and I immediately noticed two things.

-->This is going to be epic

-->I'm surrounded by people from England, there were at least 10-12 of us and it felt like home!

A couple of songs into the set, I see a guy I recognised from AM! Forum and quickly introduced myself to Scott between songs, he was American but I made him an honourary Englishmen for the show. They played amazingly, nearly every song they have including a promising new one called Backseat, 'For Scott!' said Brian before playing it.. Finished the main set on We're Getting a Divorce, You Keep The Dinner' and then Brian came out on his own and played Red at Night which was a great performance. The band then joined him for the final song which was Say I Won't (Recognise) and it was perfect end.

Scott then invited me backstage so I said Yes, and told Liam I'd 'be right back'. Which wasn't really true. Albeit I was only gone for 15 minutes, it didn't help my phone had died and then Phil was worrying about his drivers license. But anyway Scott got me in backstage, where no-one was, and then we headed to the after party bit and he bought me a Beck's and then TGA started loading the van and Scott introduced me to each of them and they were all really appreciative of the effort we made to get there and we all really interested in playing in England. I announced that I had to leave and then Scott organised the guys to get a photo with me in the van which I haven't seen yet, but I'm sure it's awesome. I thanked each of the guys for the show and Scott for the beer and then left to go meet the others. We got our stuff from the cloakroom and headed to try and find a taxi. Got one, 35euro to the Airport, pretty sure he rinsed us silly but we were too tired to care. We found some corridor and 4 of us just slept on the floor in our sweaty clothes.





The show was incredible, the guys were incredible, I wasn't sure what to expect when I rushingly booked the flights but I was amazed at what we got. Was it worth it? Every day of the week.





Setlist (roughly)



Drive

Wooderson

Boomboxes

We Came To Dance

I'da Called You Woody, Joe

Angry Johnny and the Radio

Senor and Queen

Where For Art Thou, Elvis

1930

Navesink Banks

I Coulda Been A Contender

Blue Jeans and White T-Shirts

Backseat

We're Getting A Divorce You Keep The Dinner

Red at Night

Say I Won't (Recognise)

Bumping a super old thread because this photo is awesome.

Debonair wrote:

I actually kinda of realized I never shared in this thread. My first actual ever Brian Fallon related show was The Horrible Crowes in NY 2011. (THCs first show) So I was coming off the biggest rush after such the amazing show that was. Then the 2011 conventional Hall show was announced, which was a no-brainer, I had to go. But I definitely felt pretty spoiled after seeing the awesomeness that was The Horrible Crowes. I knew TGA was going to be awesome, but I figured it was just going to be a normal show with nothing out of the ordinary happening. But as Im sure you all know now, that was the show that Bruce Springsteen made his second appearance on stage with that band. The two, arguably, legendary moments in TGA/THC history and I saw both of them consecutively. Then after the show I met Benny who took my THC poster to get signed by Brian and mailed it back to me. Which was crazy on its own.

good times. Man i was spoiled   

man you really were spoiled!!!! so jealous

First time i saw them was in 2008 (during EURO 2008) at cafe the stage, Arnhem, Netherlands. On a bill with around 8 other mainly local punkbands.. But also Annihilation Time (!). I remember skipping the first 4- 5 bands. They both headlined the show but most people came out to see TGA who played first.
Don't remember a lot from the show but I do remember they played one new song by then, which was of course a song from the '59 sound (but no clue which one)..and also that there wasn't a real stage so all bands played on the floor. Another detail I remembered was they helped loading on and off their gear from the stage themselves.

Frenzal wrote:

First time i saw them was in 2008 (during EURO 2008)  at cafe the stage, Arnhem, Netherlands. On a bill with around 8 other mainly local punkbands.. But also Annihilation Time (!). I remember skipping the first 4- 5 bands. They both headlined the show but most people came out to see TGA who played first.
Don't remember a lot from the show but I do remember they played one new song by then, which was of course a song from the '59 sound (but no clue which one)..and also that there wasn't a real stage so all bands played on the floor. Another detail I remembered was they helped loading on and off their gear from the stage themselves.

That show as awesome! They played Great Expectations that night. I got a part of it on tape with really poor video quality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt5zbYIJG34

This was also my first time seeing them. I bought Sink or Swim on vinyl and asked Alex Rosamilia to sign it. He took it to the other guys which signed it. That copy is currently hanging on my kitchen wall