The Gaslight Anthem (Posted Date: 20 Jun 2008, 17:01)

The Gaslight Anthem / Just Us And Jonas

18.06.08 Gleis 22, Münster

I discovered Sink Or Swim, The Gaslight Anthem's debut album quite late but it immediately won my heart and easily became my favourite record of 2007. Meanwhile they've released an EP and finished recording their second cd and found time to visit Germany for an extensive tour.
But before I could finally enjoy my current faves for the first time live I had to endure about 30 minutes of local Jimmy Eat World clones named Just Us And Jonas. I don't want to slag them off but they didn't play too well as they seemed to be very nervous so I suggest to them spending more time in the rehearsal room.
The Gaslight Anthem are from New Jersey and there are always Bruce Springsteen references in articles or reviews about them and I have to admit that Brian Fallon on stage really reminds me of The Boss when he was much younger. The whole band is bursting with energy and you can see in their faces how much they enjoy the crowd responding to their songs by singing along and partying. Münster made no difference. As soon as the first chords from Drive resounded the people started to dance around, throw their fists in the air and shout out the lyrics as if they were their own. The band thanked them by playing every single tune from both Sink Or Swim and Senor And The Queen and also presenting some new songs from the forthcoming album The '59 Sound. As a first encore Brian returned alone to play Red In The Morning and Red At Night on his own before the whole band finished their set with two new songs.
The cd should be out in August and will definitely be a contender for my personal album of the year award. Until then I'm still singing "It's alright, man / I'm only bleeding, man / Stay hungry, stay free and do the best that you can" to myself.