The foot of a mountain is certainly an odd place for a rock n’ roll show, but a crowd had gathered at the base of Loon Mountain on the night of Saturday the 25th for exactly that reason. For the majority of Friday and Saturday, attendees of the Nor’Easter Festival in Lincoln had been treated to great sets by bands like Dr. Dog, !!! and the Walkmen and sampled a lot of ski and snowboard gear along the way. The revelers were tired and cold, and many looked about ready to head home around 9:30 p.m. That is, until festival headliners The Gaslight Anthem took the stage.
The Jersey gentlemen strode out onto the stage for a crowd of no more than one hundred people and jumped right into things with the blistering rocker “High & Lonesome” off of their 2008 album “The ’59 Sound.” Gaslight frontman Brian Fallon looked dapper fighting off the chilly air in a corduroy jacket and gray skinny jeans, while also appearing a little too cheery for the decidedly odd circumstances he was singing under. Considering the weather, poor turnout and odd festival bill it would have been understood, maybe even expected, for Gaslight to crank out the greatest hits, phone it in for a night and skip town.
Fortunately for the attendees, Fallon and Company do not have the words “phone it in” in their vocabulary. The Gaslight guys were a blur of tattoos and guitar strings as they passionately chugged through fan favorites from “The ’59 Sound” and their latest opus “American Slang,” while also throwing in a few more obscure cuts like “Wherefore Art Thou,Elvis?” from their “Senor & the Queen” EP for the old school fans. The frontman even let loose from his beloved six string to focus solely on singing for “Old White Lincoln” and “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.” Fallon has mastered relating to the crowd over the course of his career, and he took the time in between songs to jovially make cracks about skiing, sales tax and New Hampshire’s “Live Free or Die” slogan. He commands the stage with a style, grace and affable attitude that is rare in modern rock these days. The man can stand onstage and rip your heart out with his soulful voice and an unflinchingly sincere performances, but when he chats with the crowd in between songs he just seems like the kind of guy you would like to have a beer and watch the game with.
After cruising through set staple “Great Expectations” and taking a short break, The Gaslight Anthem responded to calls for an encore with a quick extra three songs, ending with the one two pull on the heartstrings of the soul crushing ballad “Here’s Lookin’ At You, Kid” and perennial Gaslight closer “The Backseats.” Brian Fallon proved to Lincoln, New Hampshire as he does in every city, night after night, why he is the future of rock n’ roll.
After telling the concertgoers to “be sure they got home safe” and letting the last notes ring out from his battered white Fender Telecaster, Fallon gave a parting smile and wave to the people who had watched him sing his songs for the last hour and a half. He seemed genuinely grateful to have had the opportunity to play outside on a cold, damp New Hampshire fall night to only a handful of people, and that small handful were certainly grateful to have had the privilege of hearing his tales of fast cars and fast women sung to them, despite the overpriced food and poor bathroom accommodations.