Brian Fallon - London - Review - April 2016
“This place is creepy. It’s old and it’s creepy, I feel right at home here,” Fallon muses to the congregation of fans at St Pancras Old Church in London.
Growing up on gospel music, it’s no surprise that he feels at ease in this setting, more so that the 1,200 capacity venue down the road, that he also managed to fill the other day. Sat on a throne, with a guitar. That’s how folk music deserves to be played.
It’s a short set, with Fallon running through a select number of tracks from his solo debut, “Painkillers”. Stripped back, songs such as “Open All Night” and “Steve McQueen” take on hauntingly subdued guises, befitting tonight’s backdrop of candles and crosses.
Usually, Fallon’s live performances can only be described as sloppy, however, he’s well rehearsed tonight; it’s a big deal. He’s been working towards today for about a month, he explains, before delivering one of his finest homages – a fitting tribute to Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.” Complete with a harmonica hung around his neck, it’s clear he learned from the best; he is, after all a modern carbon copy.
Then, what ensues, knocks everyone for six.
In the wake of The Gaslight Anthem’s hiatus, Fallon maintained in various interviews that he would never play any of their songs. Unless the band were finished for good.
It’s no surprise that, after rattling through not one, but two, Gaslight cuts, jaws were on the floor, eyes got weepy, and the 120 people inside that tiny church swept to their feet.
Maybe this is the beginning of the end for The Gaslight Anthem? But judging by the fans’ reaction, maybe that’s not such a big deal after all?
This is how folk music deserves to be listened to. Not by thousands of people. Not in your club venues of this world. Not casually. Intently. With a drink in your hand and open ears.
