On a balmy night at the Greek Theatre, a rockin’ triple lineup headlined by The Gaslight Anthem brought three and a half hours of exciting rock n’ roll.
The concert began with The Dirty NIL, a tight four person punk rock band all the way from Ontario, Canada. The band offered a lively set that veered toward the punk as the first opener at the Greek tonight. Lead singer and guitarist Luis Bentham was in strong voice and Ross Miller brought cheers for his robust bass work and wild stage leaps. Highlights included the terrific song “The Light, the Void and Everything.”
Joyce Manor, local natives out of Torrance, Calif., got the growing audience to their feet with a super danceable “My Tattoo.” Channeling a taste of Blink 182, they powered through a 45-minute set that also included the must-dance power rocker “Gotta Let It Go” from their new album, “as well as End of the Summer,” “Eighteen,” “House Warning Party,” “Stairs,” 2014’s sing-along “The Jerk,” and “Dance with Me,” along with many cuts from their 2022 album “40 oz. to Fresno,” finishing up with a raucous “Catalina Fight Song.”
Lead singer and guitar Barry Johnson totally brought it – including during a moment in which a “big f@&% spider” crawled across the stage – he’s not an arachnoid fan, but even the spider was probably dancing throughout the 45 minute set.
The Gaslight Anthem came on stage to a recording of Cindy Lauper singing “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and I think every girl and boy at the Greek had a lot of fun on the LA installment of the band’s History Books tour.
Offering strongly anthemic melodies with lead singer and guitarist Brian Fallon in fine voice, fans sure weren’t disappointed with a galvanizing, tight set that began with “45” and moved through 20 songs in a generous 85 minutes set, including the beautiful, lush, and romantic “The Weatherman,” from the band’s latest 2023 LP, History Books. The song’s titular narrator is just “trying to read you …” and the audience hushed in anticipation.
Every member of the New Jersey native band came ready to raise the roof – if there was one at the Greek, that is – Fallon who handles rhythm guitar as well as vocals; Alex Rosamilia, guitar; Alex Levine, bass; Benny Horowitz, drums; and Bryan Haring on keyboards.
There were many highlights , including the high energy “Bring It On;” a poignant “Film Noir;” and the lightly nostalgic “Here’s Looking at You Kid,” the latter of which was followed by a tender cover of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Soul to Squeeze.”
Then it was time to rock out again to a set that included the pounding drums of “American Slang,” as well as the location-appropriate blusey rocker “Mulholland Drive,” which concluded with delicately rendered blues-based guitar riffs.
Favorites like “Autumn” brought a vibrant Springsteen-like vibe (note: Springsteen himself played on their new album’s title track which wasn’t on the set list tonight) while a beautiful “Michigan 1975,” from the new album, led into a closing trio of songs that included “Mae,” crowd fave “Great Expectations,” and a rousing version of “The 59 Song,” as the finale that got the crowd clapping along and anyone still seated up on their feet.
Celebrating the October release of their new album after almost ten years on hiatus, the concert nonetheless focused on classic tunes which merge elements of indie rock, grunge, Americana, and blues rock that is at turns propulsive, sharp, and elegaic. It was a fine show under the starry sky tonight.
- Genie Davis; photos by Jack Burke