Brian Fallon solo NJ bar gig turns full Gaslight Anthem show

Imagine you don’t have tickets for the upcoming Gaslight Anthem reunion tour that begins in August. But you hear frontman Brian Fallon is doing a solo gig at a bar in Garwood called Crossroads. It’s only about a 200-seat little club and it’s Fallon alone so it won’t have the same energy. But you go, because you’re a fan. And it will be plenty good enough.

You get there. There’s a buzz. Something is going on you’re just not sure what. Then, the luck of all luck for a Gaslight Anthem fan, it’s not just Brian Fallon. The entire band comes out. And stays out.

This really happened Saturday night. And hey, why not? The band formed in New Brunswick. Might as well get a local gig in to prep for the big tour.

But this was intimate. And this was a surprise. Fallon knew it was huge for diehard fans and afterward posted this.

According to the Asbury Park Press this was the setlist:

Howl
Great Expectations
Old White Lincoln
Mae
We Came to Dance
Handwritten
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
1930
Mulholland Drive
Stay Vicious
Film Noir
The Patient Ferris Wheel
The Diamond Church Street Choir
Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts
Come As You Are
American Slang
45
The ’59 Sound

OK, opening with “Howl” has me nerding out because not only do I love that song and its energy it’s also what we use every day as the opening of our Deminski & Doyle Show (along with the Jersey-centric movie drops).

What an incredible night this must have been. That world tour starting in August? Local stops will include Philadelphia at the Met on Oct. 7 and PNC Bank Arts Center here in New Jersey on Oct. 8. Yes, tickets are on sale.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

You can now listen to Deminski & Doyle — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite afternoon radio show any day of the week. Download the Deminski & Doyle show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now.

Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.