Photo Credit: Alex Brown

Following a four-year break, New Jersey rock band THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM reunited at the start of 2022. To the pleasure of the fans, the band disclosed during their reunion performances that they were working on new music and that it won’t be long until its release. After ‘History Books’ was made public a year later, the band announced their return to the UK barely eighteen months after their previous performance, promising fans a plethora of new songs as well as immediate hits from the past.

Photo Credit: Alex Brown

Excitement was in the air for the band’s maiden performance in the steel city as the lights went down. Honouring the largest band to emerge from the city, Def Leppard’s ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me‘ blasted over the PA as the collective took the stage. The band launched into their massive performance with ‘Positive Charge‘, the first of several songs from their most recent record, as the applause started to die down. To everyone’s delight, TGA immediately revived a number of beloved classics from their beloved album ‘The 59 Sound‘. The fully occupied audience responded well to ‘High Lonesome‘ and ‘Old White Lincoln‘ as well as ‘We Came to Dance‘ from their younger days, was also included.

During TGA performances, Brian Fallon is accustomed to striking up conversations with fans and using his pent-up energy to observe who was present, especially the young fans he always enjoys seeing get into it. Midway through the evening, Emily Wolfe reappeared on stage to continue the show. Her renditions of ‘The Weatherman‘ and ‘Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts‘ were a welcome and relaxing touch.

Now that the second half of the concert was underway, ‘Mulholland Drive‘ and ‘Mae‘ both got the best out of the crowd. The hits kept coming though, with the powerful ‘45‘ continuing to be a crowd favourite and a song that makes everyone in the room sing together. Just as the venue started to empty, TGA played ‘The 59 Sound‘ as a fitting way to end their warmly received UK homecoming. They then stepped off stage to applause and cheers, as ‘The Boys Are Back in Town‘ was played through the sound system.

Photo Credit: Alex Brown