Jeff Rosenstock rocked the room at the Virgin Hotel’s 24 Oxford on January 10th, 2023. Las Vegas doesn’t get treated to too much touring bands other than Punk Rock Bowling but Jeff made it clear they were a town too special to skip. Cheekface opened up the show and delighted the crowd with hilarious, quip-filled […]
Jeff Rosenstock rocked the room at the Virgin Hotel’s 24 Oxford on January 10th, 2023. Las Vegas doesn’t get treated to too much touring bands other than Punk Rock Bowling but Jeff made it clear they were a town too special to skip. Cheekface opened up the show and delighted the crowd with hilarious, quip-filled songs that are just too catchy. The perfect show to kick off 2023.
Jeff Rosenstock and his very rad band kept the crowd jumping and singing along through the entire set. A perfectly paced show filled with heart, enthusiasm, and choruses you just have to shout along with.
Cheekface, or “America’s Local Band” opened the show with their patented witty, lyric-driven indie rock. This band is incredibly funny and smart, with a very sweet community.
Check out a bunch more shots from Jeff Rosenstock’s perfect set here, and Cheekface’s down below!
Jeff Rosenstock and Laura Stevenson have released a new EP titled Younger Still. It features the duo’s take on four classic Neil Young songs, and you can check it out below. This is the second EP of the sort these two have collaborated on. Rosenstock and Stevenson previously released Still Young in 2019.
Jeff Rosenstock and Laura Stevenson have released a new EP titled Younger Still. It features the duo’s take on four classic Neil Young songs, and you can check it out below.
This is the second EP of the sort these two have collaborated on. Rosenstock and Stevenson previously released Still Young in 2019.
I’d had the weekend of October 7 marked off on my calendar since last March when The Gaslight Anthem announced that they would be coming out of their self-imposed hiatus and would be touring both Europe, The UK and most importantly (to me at least), the U.S. That U.S. leg of the tour would be […]
I’d had the weekend of October 7 marked off on my calendar since last March when The Gaslight Anthem announced that they would be coming out of their self-imposed hiatus and would be touring both Europe, The UK and most importantly (to me at least), the U.S. That U.S. leg of the tour would be coming to a conclusion with a Friday show in Philly and the final show of the tour in Gaslight’s backyard at Holmdel, NJ’s PNC Arts Center (for those of you as old as me, FKA The Garden State Arts Center). Needless to say both dates were etched firmly in my plans. That is however, until an NYC date was finally added to the tour a month or so later. I have to admit that when PNC was announced as the NJ venue, I was not happy. The idea of seeing Gaslight (and Rosenstock) in that cavernous and seated outdoor tin shed didn’t do much for me. So once I knew that I would have the opportunity to see them at the beautiful Pier 17 in Manhattan, PNC was dropped from my plans. Philly, however, I was super stoked for. I’d heard great things about The Met and of course the presence of a GA pit made all the difference in the world.
Jeff Rosenstock at The Philly MET
Jeff Rosenstock hit the stage promptly at 8 PM and when I say “hit” I mean he and his band of John DeDominici on bass, Mike Huguenor on guitar, Kevin Higuchi on drums and Dan Potthast on guitar, sax and keys hit it running! Opening up with “SCRAM!” off their most recent album No Dream (most recent if you don’t count the ska reworking of the same album SKA Dream which came out during pandemic times). I will be the first to admit that I am a huge fan of Rosenstock and while I thought there would be some logical crossover between his and TGA’s fanbases, it didn’t always appear to be that way during Jeff’s set. One place where the set was 100% appreciated however was front and center in the pit where a decently sized circle pit was active throughout “Death Rosenstock’s” rapid fire 10 song set.
As an aside, Jeff did mention midway through his set that shortly before he and the band hit the stage, he discovered that he and a whole bunch of his friends had been laid off from their day jobs. Rosenstock was the musical director for The Cartoon Network’s Craig of The Creek which evidently was uncerimoniously canceled. Nonetheless, this soul-crushing news did nothing to damper Jeff’s energized and exhilarating set. Needless to say, good luck to Jeff & the entire Craig Of The Creek staff; hopefully something pops up soon on the employment front for all of them.
Alex Rosamilia
The Gaslight Anthem came on shortly after 9 PM and opened things up with what has become their opener for most of the tour, “Have Mercy” followed by another tour regular in “Old White Lincoln”. It appeared right from the get-go that Brian was in really good spirits, coming off even more chatty than what has become the norm for him. But when I say “chatty” in this instance, I don’t necessarily mean his going off on wild tangents (don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of that throughout the evening) but I mean his literally being very conversational with the crowd, especially those at the rail. His back and forth with the newlywed upfront about their request for some never mentioned song dedicated to his wife who wasn’t there that night but would be in attendance the following evening at PNC was priceless. I wonder if the band added the song to Saturday’s setlist as promised.
Alex Levine
Moving forward were a pair of songs which were not part of the set which I’d seen 2 weeks prior in NYC, “Wooderson” and “Biloxi Parish”. Now seems like as good a time as any to mention that one of the major complaints on the various TGA facebook groups which I pay attention to was the lack of variety in the night-to-night setlists. Well I for one came out of the show at Philly feeling none of that. Without actually comparing song-for-song the setlists to the 2 shows which I attended, I definitely left The Met feeling like I’d seen a very different show from the one I’d seen in New York a couple of weeks prior. Well it turns out that my gut feeling was 100% spot on. In doing the research to put this piece together, I found that the Philly show contained a total of eight songs which I had not heard at Pier 17. Out of an average set consisting of 21 songs or so, to me 8 is a pretty good number to define variety.
Along the way, we did hear Brian go off on a number of tangents, only one which could be defined as being a little too long, but personally I enjoyed his monologues quite a bit, particularly the one where he suggested to a couple of out of town fans who were traveling to NJ after the show to go out the next morning and find someplace where they could get an authentic pork roll breakfast sandwich…”it’s pork roll, not Taylor ham! Don’t be calling it Taylor ham.” Now I know quite a few Jerseyites who would argue with this pork roll vs Taylor ham verbiage but hearing Brian explain to a couple of out-of-town newbies, the culinary delights of NJ was absolutely hilarious.
Benny Horowitz and Ian Perkins
But back to the music, with a mix that encompassed virtually the band’s entire musical catalogue. With songs from ’59 Sound and Handwritten dominating the remainder of the set, we still were treated to a smattering of selections from Get Hurt (“Get Hurt” “Halloween”, and “Stay Vicious”, Sink Or Swim (” We Came To Dance”) as well as American Slang (“The Spirit of Jazz”).
After making sure that the crowd knew that there would be no “lame walking off the stage and coming back for an encore”, the band finished the night off with none other than “59 Sound” to which they brought out Philadelphia’s own Brit Luna from the band Catbite to help on vocals (Catbite just so happens to be one of my favorite new ska bands).
It was a triumphant return to the stage for Brian, the two Alex’s, Benny and Ian. Each and every member of the band seemed to be having fun being back onstage. And sure as hell, they all sounded fantastic. I know Brian had some voice issues earlier in the tour, having to cancel a show in Denver, but his voice sounded fantastic in Philly. Now the only thing that I can hope for is that they don’t take too long to get back out there again, and if there is a delay in touring again in 2023 I hope it’s because they are busy in the studio working on a new album. Welcome back TGA, it’s great having you back.
The Gaslight Anthem made their triumphant return to Boston, Massachusetts, last week, on the tail end of their widely anticipated resurrection tour. I know that it might be a bit of a tired journalistic trope to use a phrase like “triumphant return” but I’m nothing if not a tired journalist and the event legitimately felt […]
The Gaslight Anthem made their triumphant return to Boston, Massachusetts, last week, on the tail end of their widely anticipated resurrection tour. I know that it might be a bit of a tired journalistic trope to use a phrase like “triumphant return” but I’m nothing if not a tired journalist and the event legitimately felt like nothing less than a triumph. Gaslight’s last stop in the area was their hiatus-interrupting 2018 The ‘59 Sound anniversary show; their last pre-hiatus Boston show was on the Get Hurt tour in September of 2014. Both of those shows happened at House Of Blues, a modern 2200-capacity venue on the iconic Lansdowne Street in the shadows of Fenway Park’s Green Monster. Obvious Red Sox/Yankees bitterness aside, it was the type of venue that Gaslight had settled into somewhat nicely prior to putting the machine on pause for a few years; big enough to demonstrate that they’d long-since outgrown the sweaty basement punk rock clubs of their earlier days, but not so big as to totally lose that feel. So when news of Gaslight’s return to being a full-time working band in 2022 brought with it the announcement that the Boston date wouldn’t be at House Of Blues, yours truly found it a little curious; even more so when it was announced further still that the gig would take place at the brand-new, even-more-modern MGM Concert Hall facility, which, at 5,000 capacity checks in at well more than double the capacity of its across-the-street neighbor House Of Blues (and also shares a common wall with Fenway Park itself).
And so it was that we found ourselves at the massive and pristine if slightly frustrating MGM on a rainy early October Tuesday night while the Red Sox were winding down another wildly underwhelming season mere feet away. The band took the stage to the sounds of the Aerosmith mid-career classic “Crying” and, as they have been for the bulk of the shows on the resurrection tour, the band kicked things off with “Have Mercy,” a b-side from the Get Hurt sessions which has also become a bit of a favorite amongst the diehards in the fanbase. It’s a slow, powerful and atmospheric song which, to me, is a bit of an awesome choice to start a set with and, I think, a sign that the band are genuinely back ‘for good’ and not just ‘for now.’
From there, the remainder of the encoreless nineteen-song set (encores are silly anyway when everyone knows you’re coming back out…) was culled from the band’s four most recent studio albums (2008’s breakout success The ’59 Sound, 2010’s American Slang, 2012’s Handwritten and the 2014 masterpiece Get Hurt). Touring as a six-piece unit with the core foursome being joined by “fifth Beatle” Ian Perkins on guitar and Bryan Haring on keys/backing vocals, the band not only sounded great but also looked like they were enjoying being back in the saddle.
Standouts from the set included a killer rendition of “Old White Lincoln,” massive guitar sounds on “Get Hurt” and “Stay Vicious,” crowd favorites like “The Patient Ferris Wheel” and “Great Expectations,” and a slowed down, melodic take on the normally up-tempo, riff-heavy rocker “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” making its first setlist appearance since the before times. Standout banter moments included riffs on Batman supremacy (I agree, Brian…Christian Bale is vastly overrated) and Mark Wahlberg and Bring It On (the epic 2000 cheerleading movie, not the Gaslight song of the same name) and Not Another Teen Movie, the Jets sucking for forty-plus years and how much the crew enjoy Boston. The one-two punch of “45” and “The ’59 Sound” brought things to an epic close. It’s really great to have The Gaslight Anthem back on a personal level, but also I think it’s great for the scene.
Support on this leg of the tour came from none other than Jeff Rosenstock. In the interest of full disclosure, because of the aforementioned traffic perfect storm of rain, Red Sox game and, frankly, Boston and because of the chaotic check-in procedure at the new venue – methinks there are some kinks still being worked out – we made it into the actual concert hall in time to shoot a grand total of one song. Together with his longtime Death Rosenstock bandmates John DeDomenici (bass), Kevin Higuchi (drums), Mike Huguenor (guitar) and Dan Potthast (guitar, keys, saxophone), the band ripped through about a dozen uptempo singalongs including “State Line” and “Hey Allison” and of course “We Begged 2 Explode.” The set was well received, inspiring the first of what became a surprising number of over-the-barricade crowd surfers.
Check out a bunch more pictures from both bands at this immensely enjoyable evening in the slideshows below!
When I think of ska, one of the first names that comes to mind is Mike Park. You might know him as the founder of an iconic label called Asian Man Records; a venture he has operated out of his mom’s garage for over 25 years, helping break bands like Alkaline Trio, Less Than Jake, […]
When I think of ska, one of the first names that comes to mind is Mike Park. You might know him as the founder of an iconic label called Asian Man Records; a venture he has operated out of his mom’s garage for over 25 years, helping break bands like Alkaline Trio, Less Than Jake, and The Lawrence Arms. You may also know of his work as a brilliant singer, songwriter, and performer who has played in bands like Skankin’ Pickle and The Chinkees.
As of late, Mike Park has returned to his role as frontman of The Bruce Lee Band, a project which had been mostly dormant since its 1995 self-titled debut LP. In 2014, Park revived the band seemingly out of thin air with Jeff Rosenstock‘s help, releasing a ska-punk masterpiece titled Everything Will Be Alright, My Friend. And while I’m sure following up an excellent album like that can be a daunting task, the Bruce Lee Band’s all star lineup passed the test with flying colors on 2022’s One Step Forward. Two Steps Back.
The band’s new record boasts a 12-song track list ranging in style from bouncy keyboard infused two-tone songs like “Did You Find the Money Farm”, “So Nice for Me and You”, and “Dance Dance Revolution”, to up-tempo anthems in “Lie Big and Do it Often”, “Putting Up With All My Crazy”, and “I’ll Feel Better”. This is a quintessential ska-punk album that will have you skanking from start to finish if your stamina permits. I loved the last Bruce Lee Band record, and I can say with confidence this one will be staying in my regular rotation for a while.
Mike Park’s soothing baritone voice sounds as great as ever, and after all these years, he still has quite the knack for writing great choruses. His All Star caliber backing band featuring Rosenstock on bass, keys and the saxaphone, MU330‘s Dan Potthast on guitar, and former Chinkees bandmate Kevin Higuchi on drums delivers the goods as well. There is not a skippable song to be found on this record. Keep an eye out for One Step Forward. Two Steps Back. on plenty of “Top 10 Albums of 2022” lists; it has definitely earned a spot on mine.
Listen to One Step Forward. Two Steps Back. below, and head over to Asian Man’s webstore to grab the LP.
