Adam KeysBrian Fallon @ Boiler Shop, Newcastle 8th March 2018
Solo success has come quickly for Brian Fallon following The Gaslight Anthem’s acrimonious split / break in 2015. Two albums in, hundreds of sold out shows and a man that looks happier than ever on stage; Fallon’s career appears to be going from strength to strength, and his song writing is seeing the benefit.
His latest album Sleepwalkers which landed last month, received widespread critical success, and judging by last night’s Newcastle crowd, fans share similar enthusiasm. Taking to the stage in Newcastle’s beautifully hidden, hipster esque Boiler Shop, the New Jersey singer opened on the keys with the title track from his new album.
From the very first note, Fallon had the crowd eating out of his hand, and surprisingly kept chit chat to a minimum – not saying a single word for the first five tracks of the night! This early full throttle approach more than warmed up the crowd on a close to freezing Thursday night, with tracks like Forget Me Not, If Your Prayer Don’t Get To Heaven and Forget Me Not, proving to be instant fans favourites, despite only being out for a short time.
With the set heating up, the crowd interaction started, and Fallon displayed his happy go lucky personality, with plenty of light hearted exchanges. This was rewarded by a pair of NEW Spiderman socks being thrown from the crowd, which the sock enthusiast gleefully accepted, thanking the crowd by playing Newcastle penned favourite Sultans of Swing.
As the set breezed by, with Fallon at ease throughout, fans were treated to first album favourites Rosemary and Smoke, which were undoubtedly two of the songs of the night. Both tracks raised the tempo and energy in the Boiler Shop, before he took the piss out of encores, pretended to leave the stage and returned after around… 10 seconds.
Upon his swift return, he positioned himself on the piano once again, had a bit of a chit chat before delivering a beautifully intimate, key led rendition of 59 Sound. The Gaslight Anthem favourite was adored from the crowd, who roared back every word, lapping up every second his most iconic song in its new form.
As the rest of the Howling Weather returned to the stage, Fallon opted to finish the show with U2’s With Or Without You – a strange choice considering his incredible body of material. The track received a warm response from the track, which saw Dave Haus join him on stage, delivering an incredibly powerful vocal performance.
Closing the show with such an odd choice of track didn’t go down the best with the crowd, with many discussing the great tracks he’s written himself that he could have finished with instead. But, despite this, Brian Fallon put on one hell of a show, and his return to the North East can’t come fast enough!
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