Mondays aren’t supposed to be awesome. Mondays are supposed to be weird little bitches you spend the whole day trying to get away from. However, Brian Fallon, the lead singer of The Gaslight Anthem, decided to embrace the oddness of the evening and put on a really unique and casual performance. The openers Northcote and Sammy Kay embraced this long before The Gaslight Anthem took the stage and, all of a sudden, a random Monday night became something special.
The night began in the usual way—The Depot attendees flocked, talked and drank to very loud extents. The men were dressed like tired casual golfers (Flatcaps galore) and the women dressed like they were on first dates (Modest with hints of fun). A few gentlemen with their hats backwards looked lost (Limp Bizkit never showed) and for the first time in rock history audience members actually chanted, “Sit Down” to anyone having a good time (This also irritated the bands because they kept asking the audience to, “Get up!”).
That all seems very Monday-like, right? Then the red and blue stage lights come on and voila, the Monday miracle began.
Sammy Kay was a fine definition of the New Jersey blue collar work ethic. They stepped out onstage and got right to it. They engaged the crowd with tidbits of banter here and there and warmed into their set as the audience warmed into their music. By the time they played the fantastic song “Memory,” feet were tapping in abundance. The band was very personable and grew even more charming as the lead singer sang away, despite his sore throat. By the time they played “Sweet Misery,” the crowd was hooked and, as Sammy Kay walked away from the stage that evening, they politely reminded us to brace ourselves for the next band because, “We were in for a treat.”
Lead singer/songwriter Matthew Goud flashes a big smile, launching into one of the most amazing, fun and real opening sets I’ve ever witnessed. He actually stepped away from the mic to talk to the audience for added conversational appeal.
You know a band is killing it when the idle chit chat around you becomes, “Who’s this,” and “Golly, I don’t have enough service to tweet that.” Northcote hailed from Canada and sounded like they grew up in Joe Cocker’s basement (Bruce Springsteen if you’re lazy). The beautiful brunette to my right kept saying how impressed she was with this band she’d never heard of and I was sadly reminded of so much of our unheard and wonderful rock scene. After the catchy lead riffs had subsided, Northcote wished us all farewell and once again we were reminded of the future goodness to come.
Something about hearing a good set makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something. In this current productive state I looked around and saw the “Sit Down” crowd was actually standing. No longer inhibited by lackluster ambition, the audience seemed to have finally forgotten it was Monday. On that note, The Gaslight Anthem took the stage. Fallon says, “It’s Monday night in Salt Lake City.” This didn’t dampen the spirits, however, because Fallon is fucking cool. Not rock star cool—though he is one—his is more of a, “I want this guy to be my best friend ‘till I die” kinda cool. Subtleties aside, he’s incredibly enjoyable to listen to. He talked in-depth about our Gateway shopping mall’s female SLUT T-shirts and his concerns about them. He then explained that New Jersey was better than Utah because New Jersey has city-specific coffee mugs.
What followed next is poorly represented by words. The night had already taken this odd and wonderful turn. I thought, “How fitting for Utah—we excel at wonderful and odd things.” The Gaslight Anthem played into that vibe and it was … fun. Concerts are impressive and occasionally magical but this was old-fashioned, kids-on-a-playground fun. The set wandered wildly from previous shows and previous performances. It was like nothing I’d ever seen, and it’s not like The Gaslight Anthem was trying to make it unique … it just started coming out that way. Lead guitarist Alex Rosamilia rocked impressively and he had his collection of Skeletors stacked on his speakers to keep him company. Alex Levine grooved and danced the night away on bass (representing with fantastic hair) and Benny Horowitz thumped the drums with David Grohl–like enthusiasm.
On this Monday, The Gaslight Anthem played hits, they played a mash-up, they played stuff you haven’t heard in a while, they just played and played … whatever they wanted.
It was perfect—a perfectly awesome Monday. Thanks to those that stood. Thanks to Lindsay the waitress for being great. Thanks to everyone involved. Just thanks.