Gaslight Anthem Review

Gaslight Anthem, an American rock band from New Jersey, are one of my favorite bands.

This band has released three albums. "Sink or Swim," my favorite "The 59 Sound" and their most recent "American Slang." They have also just announced that they have began recording songs for their fourth album which they hope to release later this year. I personally feel "The 59 Sound" is the bands most successful album to date, due to their ability to combine rock n'roll with definte elements of hardcore, pop-punk and classic soul.

If you are a fan of artists such as Frank Turner, Bruce Springsteen and Brian Fallon, than Gaslight Anthem are a band you should check out!

I saw this band last year at the 02 Academy in Birmingham, UK. The two support acts Shark and Twin Atlantic, were nothing special and did little to warm up the crowd. Despite this, when Gaslight Anthem finally came onto the stage, the crowd instantly warmed up and sang along to all their songs. I have to admit, I was pretty surprised to see the wide mix of people that turned up to see them live.

The set which Gaslight Anthem performed was very good. They opened their gig with American Slang and progressed with the songs Great Expectations, The 59'  Sound, Boxer and Stay Lucky. I must add they gave an exceptional performance of Queen of Lower Chelsea and Blue Jeans & White T-shirts.

My personal highlight was watching the lead singer, Brian Fallon on stage. He looks completely in his element and sings with so much confidence and passion that the entire crowd is left captivated. 

The gig was very good and I would certainly suggest people to go and see them live.

Tour dates:
26th July. Hudson River Park - NYC
28th July. Hudson River Park - NYC
31st July. Upstate Concert Hall - NYC
8th September. The Paramount - Huntington, NY

For information regarding tickets or the rest of their tour check out:  http://www.songkick.com/artists/550811-gaslight-anthem/calendar?page=1

The Lumineers Review

10 out of 10. I loved it.

I was fortunate to see The Lumineers live at O2 Academy Brixton, London last month with my friend. I cannot stress enough how fantastic they were. I have previously posted about The Lumineers: The Lumineers.

The evening started with support act Langhorne Slim, a country folk singer/songwriter from Pennsylvania, US. Langhorne Slim did a tremendous job of building the crowd up before the main headliner came on stage, and even came back on stage during The Lumineers set to accompany them for one song. Having never heard of this artist before I would certainly suggest folk fans to check him out - he was great!

Langhorne Slim (Support)

With the 5,000 strong crowd closing in around the stage, the atmosphere soon became electric with anticipation and excitement. As soon as the five piece folk band stepped on stage the party began! From start to finish, The Lumineers frontman Wesley Shultz had the sold out crowd eating out of his hand, and on their feet, singing and dancing along!

The evenings set list was: Submarines, I Aint Nobody's Problem, Flowers in Your Hair, Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bob Dylan Cover), Ho Hey, Classy Girls, Dead Sea, Slow It Down, Love, Love Love (new song), Charlie Boy, Stubborn Love, Big Parade. The encore: Morning Song, This Must Be The Place (cover), Flapper Girl.

Jeremiah Fraites, Neyla Pekarek, and Wesley Schultz together with the rest of the band delivered a flawless performance of upbeat, soulful and raw folk music. For me, one of the highlights of the evening was Wesley Schultz singing the first half of my favorite track "Slow it Down" all stripped back and acoustic.

Musicians to the core, this band is all about the music. As the crowd sang and danced in a frenzy to their hit single "Ho Hey" Wesley mid way told the crowd to "put away cameras and recording devices and just be human with us for a while." If anyone was on the fence about this band before that statement, it seemed clear they were sold! A huge cheer rang out from around the venue as people put away their phones/recorders and let themselves get lost in the music.

As the show came to an end, the crowds cheers and applause was huge. Wanting to show their appreciation (and hear more), the crowd knew they had just been treated to a joyous evening of live music.

If I ever get the opportunity, I will certainly buy tickets to see them live again. This group proved to London that they are by no means a one track wonder and are here to stay.

Pictures from the evening:

Langhorne Slim joining The Lumineers on stage

Tour dates: 

7th June.CMAC - NY

8th June. Mountain Jam - NY

9th June. The Grovernors  Ball Music Festival - NYC

13th July. T In The Park - Scotland, UK

27th July. XPoNential Music Festival - Camden, NJ 

23rd August. Leeds Festival - Leeds, UK

25th August. Reading Festival - Reading, UK

For more information regarding tour dates and tickets check out: http://thelumineers.com/tour-dates/

Bloc Party Review

When I saw Bloc Party last month, it was confirmed why they are one of my all time favorite bands.

To put it bluntly, they were: AMAZING!!

I was fortunate enough to get tickets to their sell out show at the O2 Academy in Birmingham. The evenings set list was: Octopus, 3x3, Hunting for Witches, Positive Tension, Kettling, Waiting for the 7.18, Song for Clay, Banquet, Coliseum, The Prayer, V.A.L.I.S, We Are Not Good People, Real Talk, One More Chance, Flux, Helicopter. Encore: Ares, This Modern Love.

One thing that I appreciated was the diversity of the crowd. There were the older fans, the twenty/thirty years old who remember the bands original music from the albums "Silent Alarm" and "A Weekend in the City," and finally the younger folks who were into the mosh pit and sounds of their latest album "Four."Just a note; due to the intensity of the crowd (and the mosh pit) it was virtually impossible to take any snaps of the band so I am afraid there are no cool shots of the band in action..sorry!

Kele as ever was great on stage.  A hugely charismatic guy, with distinct deep vocals, Kele effortlessly worked the whole crowd. The atmosphere was electric, with every soul in the venue squashed together with the hope to get closer to this epic foursome. It came as little surprise to me that the loudest response/applause from the crowd came when Bloc Party played their older tracks; The Prayer, Banquet, This Modern Love and One More Chance. For me the highlight was when they performed Banquet. I may be slightly bias due to it being one of my favorite songs but the packed out venue crowd seemed to be in a frenzy - everyone singing and dancing and quite frankly not caring who the hell was watching. It was brilliant.

I can honestly say if I had the chance to buy tickets to see Bloc Party again I would do so in a heartbeat. Although a long time coming, I can finally say  I have seen this awesome band live - and boy were they good!! 

Tour Dates:
4th Dec. Apollo - Manchester, UK
11th January. Wellmont Theatre - NJ

For more information regarding tickets and tour dates (N.America and European tour) check out: http://blocparty.com/#live