When it was announced that Brian Fallon would be making a quick stop at the Church on a brief acoustic run, it was almost too obvious that it would be the hottest ticket in town on that Sunday night. It was. Packed to the brim, Fallon and tourmate Dave Hause got down to basics with a Revival Tour-esque collaboration and their own sets.
I usually have mixed feelings on Dave Hause, but after the Loved Ones recent slot opening for Fallon’s band (the Gaslight Anthem for the ill-informed), I was starting to get swayed. Last night solidified it. Hause mixed up Loved Ones songs (“Pretty Good Year,” “Living Will (Get You Dead)”), solo tracks from his upcoming record (“Pray for Tucson”) and covers (Kathleen Edwards’ “The Cheapest Key”).
Hause took a break after a brief cheer from the crowd in support of the Dallas Cowboys, saying “If there’s anywhere there’d be a fight at an acoustic show, it’s in Philadelphia,” before quickly adding “not that I support that.” He started strumming a lonely D, fast and furious. There was no way that anyone could have known he was about to cover “God Bless The S.O.S.” by the late, great Explosion. Even on an acoustic guitar, it brought back memories of the last Explosion weekend in that very same room, bodies flying overhead and kids screaming their throats raw.
Fallon, the obvious main attraction, came to the stage quietly with a can of soda before picking up his guitar to cheers from an audience made up primarily of Gaslight Anthem fans. Starting with the title track from the band’s 2008 breakthrough, The ’59 Sound, the kids in the crowd sang along, sang backup vocals and seemed to be involved in a catharsis on par with an energetic rock show.
“High Lonesome,” “We Came to Dance,” and “The Navesink Banks” came next, in that respective order. While some in the crowd kept screaming random Springsteen songs (loud guys love the Boss, no matter if Fallon isn’t actually the man himself), Fallon played it cool and kept to his setlist of TGA songs.
