Pop Break Live: The Gaslight Anthem Performing the ’59 Sound at The Stone Pony Summer Stage (Night 1 of 3).
It’s the summer of 2008. The writers strike changed the television landscape. Katy Perry kissed a girl and liked it. And Robert Downey Jr. announced to the world that he is, in fact, Iron Man.
It’s also the same time that a rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey released their second studio album. It was an album that would end up on the radar of Rolling Stone, NME, and Pitchfork. It would also attract the attention of the very artist that inspired the band’s sound in the first place, Bruce Springsteen. The following summer, The Boss would join them on stage at both Glastonbury and Hyde Park causing the sale of the album to double.
The band is The Gaslight Anthem and the album is The ‘59 Sound. The breakout album is celebrating its 10 year anniversary and after playing a highly anticipated reunion set at Governors Ball back in May, the band announced a tour with each stop featuring the album played in full. The tour culminated with three nights back home at The Stone Pony Summer Stage.
Night 1 took place during a hot summer night in Asbury Park with a sold-out crowd Brian Fallon and co. wasted no time chit chatting and went right into a handful of TGA songs including “Handwritten,” “Drive,” “The Spirit of Jazz,” and “The Queen of Lower Chelsea” before jumping into The ‘59 Sound. Fans have been waiting years to see the full band play together again, and Fallon blasted through track after track only stopping to talk to the crowd before the last track off the album, “The Backseat.”
They closed the first night of their residency with tracks from their entire discography from 2007’s Sink or Swim all the way to their most recent album, 2014’s Get Hurt. Fallon brought up the two opening acts for the final songs of the night. Jared Hart joined TGA for “We’re Getting a Divorce, You Keep the Diner” and Philly’s own Dave Hause helped close out the show with a rendition of their hit song, “American Slang.”
Check out the full setlist and more photos below!
Setlist:
Handwritten
Drive
The Spirit of Jazz
The Queen of Lower Chelsea
The ‘59 Sound:
Great Expectations
The ’59 Sound
Old White Lincoln
High Lonesome
Film Noir
Miles Davis and the Cool
The Patient Ferris Wheel
Casanova, Baby!
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Meet Me by the River’s Edge
Here’s Looking at You, Kid
The Backseat
Boomboxes and Dictionaries
The Diamond Church Street Choir
Underneath the Ground
45
Howl
Wooderson
Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts
We’re Getting a Divorce, You Keep the Diner (with Jared Hart)
American Slang (with Dave Hause)
