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Show Review - The Gaslight Anthem/The Loved Ones

Posted by Ian Lashbrook on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 5:14 PM

The Gaslight Anthem, Murder By Death, The Loved Ones, and The Measure at The Double Door (Chicago) 10/28/2009



By: Matt McClure

Check out photos here!

After playing the TGI Friday’s of rock clubs (Chicago’s House of Blues) the night previous, The Gaslight Anthem and tour mates Murder By Death, The Loved Ones, and The Measure took to the more intimate settings of Chicago’s Double Door. Based both on the venue, and by virtue of the fact that the Double Door is a 21-and-older establishment, a far different vibe of show was in store from even just 24-hours prior. Adding to the embience of the show were the recognizable faces of such Chicago punk rock luminaries as producer extrordinaire Matt Allison, Red Scare label owner Toby Jeg, and Alkaline Trio front man Matt Skiba, all of whom could be caught milling through the crowd. 

The Measure, who I was not familiar with prior to the show, took the stage promptly at 8:00PM, and delivered an energetic set to those who arrived early. Though it could have been affected by a sparser crowd in the early going, their set was somewhat plagued by a poor mix, which gave very little low end to their sound. And although it might be viewed as a lazy comparison due to both acts sporting a female vocalist, their sound to me was reminiscent of The Forecast.



Following The Measure were Philadelphia punk stalwarts The Loved Ones, who ripped through their songs while bantering with the crowd, keeping an eye on their beloved Phillies in game one of the World Series, and polishing off bottles of wine.  While the club had only a few more patrons at that point than The Measure, the majority of them were at the front of the stage, feeding off of the energy of such songs as “The Bridge” and “Louisiana”, as well as front man Dave Hause’s interactions with the crowd. Hause  cracked wise with back-sassing pit dwellers, blamed Toby Jeg for getting he and his bandmates far too inebriated the night before, and even pulled Matt Skiba on stage to assist in a song.



With a rapidly filling in crowd now buzzing after The Loved Ones setting the tone, Murder By Death then cooled things down a bit with their gloomy brand of country-tinged indie rock, which while excellent in its own right, seemed an odd choice to be sandwiched in between The Loved Ones and headliners Gaslight Anthem. Now with late-comers filling in the remaining pockets of the club, a noticeable din of chatter began to overtake the latter songs of Murder By Death’s time on stage, and their evening closed rather uneventfully.



Following Murder By Death’s set, Gaslight Anthem hit the stage and drove right into their set, kicking things off with the “High Lonesome” before acknowledging the crowd and how much they prefered the more intimate settings of the Double Door to those of the House of Blues. And while that may have been the case, they continued to plow through airtight versions of both hits and deep cuts off of their more attention-grabbing latest release, such as “Great Expectations”, “Old White Lincoln”, and “Miles Davis and The Cool” to a receptive crowd happily singing along with the band. For all the lip service the band payed to enjoying their surroundings for the evening, they neglected the opportunity to perhaps dive a bit deeper into their back catalog and reward long-time fans with former staples such as “Wooderson” or “Drive”. Even a rousing cover version of Hot Water Music’s “Trusty Chords”  during the encore was predictably followed by show-closer “The ’59 Sound”, again met in full throat by those on-hand.  So while there was nothing inherently wrong or bad with the show The Gaslight Anthem put on, it was simply a mild disappointment to see the band pass over some of their crowd-pleasers from years past, particularly when they had the smaller venue and an older (and presumably more vested) demographic to do so. But, such is the nature of a band with a rising profile, and Gaslight’s profile certainly has been since the release of The ’59 Sound last year. Their live shows are certainly taking on a higher profile as well, and they’re still worth catching when they swing through your neck of the woods, but don’t expect much outside of a heaping helping of The ’59 Sound.