The Gaslight Anthem Band • Page 241

what is this, an Alkaline Trio show?

 

,,Hey,This is not Alkaline Trio show” Brian Fallon in Boston,2014.

 

Brian did not sound good tonight and the band had very little energy. His ranting in between songs is crazy old man energy and goes on way too long. They seemed to bring it for the last couple songs but overall pretty bummed by their show tonight.

 

That sucks. I saw them a few weeks ago, and had a similar experience. I was super excited (never seen them live), and it was one of the most "I guess that was fine" shows I've seen.

The ranting was just super incoherent and not interesting. I love listening to others, and storytelling, but his banter or whatever you want to call it was just not good. I've honestly never been to a show where I was continuously taken out of the moment by a band member sharing uninteresting/incoherent stories.

 

Brian’s always done that. It definitely was done a little more when I saw them the first night of the tour, but I found most of it pretty funny/charming. Plus they are playing almost two hours, in their 40’s and haven’t toured in a long 7 years. They need breaks to pace themselves lol

 

I mean he definitely seemed kind of drunk when I saw him but I thought it was a good show. He was for sure saying a lot of silly things

 

The bands gonna break up again cause people can’t handle the Brian siderants aren’t they

 

That and people complaining about them playing songs off of their most recent album instead of a bunch of old songs. Can’t wait until they have a new album to tour on that’ll piss people off even more. How dare a band play music they enjoy lol

 

I thought he didn’t drink?

 

Idk I think it’s a valid criticism to be annoyed at Brian’s rants. It definitely took away from the songs and the overall experience at the SF show.

I love Brian and TGA and have no complaints of them playing whatever songs they want. And I’ve seen Brian be super funny and on point with his banter at previous shows. But it seems other people have had similar experiences on this run which is unfortunate.

happy they’re back tho.

 

I think it’s dehumanizing to tell someone the equivalent of “shut up and play”, but that’s just me. Anyone that follows the band knows he likes to talk during shows, they’re not a jukebox

 

Yeah, the guy likes to mess around and have fun. Nothing wrong with that. He’s done this for years. Every time I’ve seen them since 2009 he has talked a good portion of the set. This isn’t a new thing and when I saw them in Portland most of it was giving the crew time to change instruments and give the band a breather. It’s his band and he can do whatever he wants. The entitlement from fans is what ruined this band the first time around, it’s going to be very sad if this type of stuff causes burnout again. Just be grateful that they are playing shows and making music again. They still play 20-22 songs a night, you’re not missing out on anything by him talking an extra 5-10 minutes.

 

He’s literally giving y’all a chance to go to the bar or hit the bathroom without missing a song. Are we all 20 still and just want to jump up and down without stopping for 90 min?

I haven’t been able to catch them on the reunion tour yet but it’s hard for me to imagine his banter at all affecting my enjoyment of the show. (I still loved Bright Eyes when I saw them in Mar lol, enough said)

I get why people aren’t as into Get Hurt and I’m not either, but the album isn’t gonna just go away because we don’t like it as much. And complaining about covers or b sides is weak shit. The banter complaints are the most baffling tho, at least as someone who hasn’t seen them since 2010

 

I’ve seen them/Brian around 8 times and this is the first time the ranting has been out of hand. There is a difference between a little banter and non stop rambling which is what happened last night. All energy was sucked out of the room. I’m talking about 5 minutes between EACH song.

That wasn’t the real downfall of the show though, it was his voice. It just wasn’t there.

 

I’ve never seen Brian live (solo show was cancelled) or TGA live so I’d spend good money just to hear Brian talk to me for a few hours.

 

I love Get Hurt and love Brian’s talk.I’m that one happy fan haha

 

That seems to be a strawman of the argument being made here. I haven't seen anyone say "shut up and play".

I can only speak for myself, and say that at my show -- the extent and topics of conversation took me out of the songs. There's no subtext that says "shut up and play", but rather the observation/feeling that the length and focus topics took me (and I guess others), out of the show. When I heard that he talks a lot, I thought it was cool, because getting to see that side of musicians typically adds to the experience. In this case, all I (and others) argued, is that it took away from our enjoyment.

I don't see how it's dehumanizing to simply assess a show.

 

Well a little disappointment over the way a singer/band sounds live is a different thing obviously. General caveats that touring is rough, ppl have off nights etc but I get that

 

Yup. If you wanna just hear the songs (in better quality) just stay home and throw on the album. Otherwise I go to enjoy banter, energy, personal experience.

 

Sounds like you want him to not talk, and play songs, dunno what you’d like to be saying if not that, because that’s what it still reads like to me.

 

You also may want to consider that he’s trying to pace his singing voice while playing a 20 song set considering they already had to cancel a show due to him losing his voice. If that’s what he has to do to be able to play that long of a set then people shouldn’t be complaining.

 

Taking what people said in here and calling it "dehumanizing" is a huuge leap.

He talks a lot while performing and some people don't like it as much as others. Voicing that opinion about someone's performance is no different than saying you don't like xyz subplot of a movie or any other artistic choice.

 

A subplot of a movie and someone talking don’t seem in the same ballpark to me. I don’t think a human being talking is the same as an artistic choice. It reminds me of telling athletes to just play, or keep politics out of ____, and beyond that I just find the idea of telling someone not to talk a certain way … well, I can’t think of a better word than dehumanizing.

 

Telling him to act unnaturally for your personal preferences is a bit dehumanizing if you ask me. He isn’t some actor or screenwriter. The dude likes to talk during his live performances, people need to get over it.

 

y'all have absolutely gotta get a life. you simply don't have to post about this for 12 hours straight