Tour Poster: Photo Credit: - events.longisland.com
The songs from the hymnal tour featured solo sets from Craig Finn (The Hold Steady) and Brian Fallon (The Gaslight Anthem). The back end of 2018 saw the tour hit many American and Canadian cities. The European edition took place in February. I was lucky enough to attend two gigs, Bath (Komedia) and Dublin (The Academy).
The tour was billed as songs and stories and that’s what we got at both shows. Craig Finn is an artist that I knew a little bit about. Craig has a distinctive voice. It works extremely well in this intimate setting. There was one song I was really looking forward to; Preludes. He played it towards the end of the set and it was fantastic. From the reaction of the crowd, I wasn’t the only one looking forward to it.
He told many stories throughout his set. His tales about drinking beer in the morning and watching 9/11 unfold before his eyes and what it takes to become a real punk, entertained both crowds in Bath and Dublin. Out of the two sets, I felt that the Bath set was better, due to the fact he excluded Preludes in Dublin. Craig Finn has a new album called I Need A New War and is going on tour on for it and it will include a Dublin show and will be worth checking out.
The Komedia in Bath - Photo Credit: ents24.com
Then it was time for the main event. At both shows, I got talking to people and everyone was deeply excited to see Brian Fallon. It was just Fallon with a guitar and a piano; yet there was a fever in the air at both shows, there was great anticipation. How could one singer with just a microphone, a piano and guitar generate such excitement? It’s down to the fact that Fallon is one of the best song writers of his generation. His rendition of Get Hurt (The Gaslight Anthem) in Bath was beautiful. She Loves You (The Gaslight Anthem) was played at both shows and it was utterly fantastic. A beautiful song that pleases crowds everywhere. Another song that was played at both shows was "Sleepwalkers" and here is a snippet I recorded.
There were surprises as well at both shows. "Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?" is a track from The Gaslight Anthem's EP Senor and the Queen. I was surprised to hear this and took a short video of it.
In Bath, there were some annoying drunk hecklers, the Dublin crowd were more respectful, but eventually let loose towards the end of the set. In Dublin, a shout came from the crowd “Do you know Bruce Springsteen?” Fallon replied “Dude, have you seen the internet?” Later on in the night, Fallon was talking about his wife and how he sometimes “forgets” his anniversary with her and told the crowd “it’s May 9th, I should write that down, maybe, I’ll put it beside Bruce Springsteen’s phone number.” The crowd erupted with laughter. At these intimate shows, the crowd can sway the setlist, thankfully in Dublin, one on looker shouted out “Forget Me Not” and it led to this.
Both shows were memorable and enjoyable. It wasn’t an extravagant set, there weren’t many bells and whistles. They weren’t needed. Sometimes all you need are the simple things; good music and stories. At both shows, there was a plentiful amount of both.
The first two live videos were recorded by me and the third was found on youtube. This is being submitted for a college assignment.
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