A couple weeks back, Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon put out his latest solo record, Not Bad For New Jersey, easily his best release in a decade. Accompanied by his newest backing band, The Painkillers (Nick Salisbury on bass, Kurt Leon on drums, Chicago Music Exchange’s Nathaniel Murphy on guitar), Fallon has been out on a US/Canada tour that included not one but two shows at Arts At The Armory, a concert venue just north of Boston that makes its home inside the repurposed light infantry drill shed in a 130-year-old armory. It’s a unique spot to see a show in 2026, an independent multipurpose stop that harkens back to the church basement/VFW hall shows that generations of old punks cut their collective teeth in. Because the evening show at the 395-capacity venue sold out so quickly, a matinee show that subsequently also sold out was added earlier in the afternoon. Due to a prior commitment, DS was only in the building at the evening installment. Two shows is a lot in a day once you reach a certain age; like the old punks that they are, Fallon & Co were more than up to the task.
The quartet took the stage at just prior to 9pm and immediately launched into the title track from Not Bad For New Jersey, an uptempo singalong that evokes the best of Gaslight run through an 80s album-oriented rock (read as: Bryan Adams) filter. The four Not Bad For New Jersey tracks fit nicely with the rest of the eighteen songs (no encores!) over the course of the next hour-and-a-half. Armed with his signature Fender Custom Shop Telecaster for the duration of the set, Fallon and Friends rocked through a set that spanned the bulk of his non-Gaslight oeuvre, including a couple Horrible Crowes tracks (“Ladykiller” and “Behold The Hurricane”) that some among us thought we’d not get the chance to hear live again. The plugged-in nature of the set created an interesting texture for some of the tracks that have traditionally been more acoustic in nature, particularly those from his last solo record (not counting the Christmas one), 2020’s Local Honey. The Painkillers are a trio of heavyweights. Salisbury creates an unassumingly intense groove. Leon is immensely fun to watch, effortlessly creating a compelling groove with octopus-like dexterity as he incorporated numerous percussion instruments into his traditional drum setup. And Murphy…well, he’s Nathaniel Murphy. If you’ve got a guitar and/or the internet, you’ve no doubt come across Murphy’s virtuosic videos. (Side note: it was a little strange to see Fallon backed by a band that didn’t include Ian Perkins for what I think was my first time ever? Maybe? Though he did apparently jump on stage for a few songs in Toronto a few nights later.) Ever the guitar nerd, Fallon seemed in great spirits throughout the night, making repeated reference to the special nature of this particular band having played two full-band shows in the same afternoon. He seemed especially happy watching – and guitar dueling with – Murphy and his iced tea burst Les Paul.
The Not Bad For New Jersey tour features a bunch of openers doing a week or so each; Ben Nichols and Tim Barry and Donovan Woods and Chris Farren all occupy the opening spot on certain legs; the northeast brought longtime Fallon friend and tourmate Dave Hause and his brother/wingman Tim to town. The Hauses opted for an all-acoustic set that started with “Look Alive,” one of a handful of cathartic singalongs from Dave’s latest full-length, last year’s brilliant Dave Hause…And The Mermaid. It was pretty much all singalongs, all the time for the Hauses and the crowd who seemed up to the task, especially on “Damn Personal” (inspired by and dedicated to Dave’s longtime friend, the late Mike Gill), “Autism Vaccine Blues” from 2013’s Devour, and “Cellmates,” also from the latest record. We also got treated to the new track “King Of Madness,” slated to appear on Hause’s recently recorded next full-length and inspired by his old friend and mentor, Sick Of It All’s Lou Koller. It was a heavy and unifying set that did a perfect job of setting a high-energy bar for Fallon and his merrymakers to meet.
Check out a bunch more shots from Brian Fallon and the Painkillers and the brothers Hause below!
