Review: The Gaslight Anthem at HMV Picture House, Edinburgh
Every once in a while a band comes along that grabs your soul and you instantly know they are destined for great things, and so it will be for The Gaslight Anthem, I predict.
The New Jersey four-piece remind me of The Clash in their heyday and it was very apt that they took to the stage at the HMV Picture House, Edinburgh, to the strains of Straight To Hell.
They then proceeded to fire through a set lasting around 90 minutes of non-stop folk-punk, totally satisfying the sell-out crowd in the capital.
Barely pausing to take breath, the band play a host of memorable songs, including The Spirit of Jazz, Stay Lucky, Blue Jeans and White T-shirts, The 59 Sound, Film Noir, Boxer and The Queen of Lower Chelsea.
Frontman Brian Fallon tells the crowd he doesn't often praise his audience but is impressed by the noisy hordes who fill the venue.
Meanwhile, bassist Alex Levine cuts some striking moves akin to former Clash bassist Paul Simonon.
However, The Gaslight Anthem are a band in their own right, with their own individual sound.
They have been compared to Bruce Springsteen and appealing to 'blue collar workers' but that detracts from what are one of the most exciting and pulsating bands I have seen in a long, long time.
Coming off stage after an hour, Fallon and drummer Ben Horowitz play their first encore with support band, the two-piece Chuck Ragan, and then storm the proceedings with blistering versions of Boomboxes and Dictionaries, Orphans and the title track of their latest album, American Slang.
Fallon is a brilliant songwriter, his tracks telling of life working in factories and crime-ridden streets, and he is ably backed by three musicians very much at the top of their game.
The Gaslight Anthem walked off the Picture House stage to a great ovation and I'm sure we will hear a lot more about them in the coming months.
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