Nine months ago, Against Me! made what will go down as one of the biggest returns in history. Many die-hard fans had fallen off the boat when the band switched to a major label, and it became somewhat uncool for those fans to still get down with the once-underground Gainesville, Fl. punk band. But after frontwoman Laura Jane Grace made her gender transition public in 2012, the band was literally reborn with energy and purpose. Transgender Dysphoria Blues, which was released in January of this year, married the emotional grit of the band’s early discography with the musical clarity of their past few records (the “uncool” ones). The record, like Grace’s coming out, was well-received. After some solo touring this spring, Grace and the band hit the road with The Gaslight Anthem.
The most shocking thing about this lineup wasn’t the distinct clash of styles; it’s that these two bands actually experienced similar trajectories. Most Gaslight fans will tell you that their most recent albums pale in comparison to their first few (Sink or Swim, The ’59 Sound). Similarly, even longtime AM! followers diss White Crosses and New Wave, while praising the lyrical and musical rawness of Reinventing Axl Rose. But Gaslight proves that critical reception doesn’t always mirror public reception.
Which is why the New Jersey rock band sold out two nights at the 9:30 Club. Clearly, despite what critics may say, the band is as popular as ever, hot on the tail of their newest record Get Hurt. Notably, however, the average age of the audience was about 30. Despite Gaslight’s continued activity, for whatever reason they haven’t gained new, younger fans.
Their set featured a pretty even balance of old versus new, bursting out of the gate with Hurt‘s hit “Stay Vicious.” Which is ironic, since the band’s sound has evolved to be anything but vicious since their mid-2000s breakout of gutsy hooks and growly vocals from frontman Brian Fallon. In “Stay Vicious” he sings, “I have bills for this / Tabs for that / Something that used to resemble a soul / So won’t anybody take my hand / And won’t anybody ease my ache / And I still love rock ‘n roll.” They opened their stay at 9:30 with what was objectively an apology; a justification for their not-so-great recent developments.
This was a hilarious juxtaposition to Against Me!, who certainly also changed their sound but never felt the need for an explanation. Just examine the difference between the female characters in Gaslight’s “1000 Years”and Against Me’s “Thrash Unreal:” whereas Fallon “heard about a woman once / Who did everything ever asked of her / She died last week and her last words were / It wasn’t worth it,” Grace’s heroin-riddled heroine “wouldn’t change anything for the world.” Grace writes about accepting the past and living for the present, whereas Fallon seems cursed to reminisce forever.
The lyrics may be more discernible now, and they may have traded an acoustic guitar for an electric one, but Grace & Co. are performing with the same grit and honesty as if they were touring to promote Reinventing Axl Rose. Opening with Transgender Dysphoria Blues’ “Fuckmylife666,” Against Me’s set was a barrage of soul-searching punk without pause. Grace smiled from the bottom to the top, never losing that I-can’t-believe-this-is-my-life look. She ruthlessly flung her lion’s mane of hair, often singing into the microphone while her entire face hid under a brunette wave.
“Don’t Lose Touch,” from 2005’s Searching for a Former Clarity, felt fresh thanks to Grace’s decision to sing the harmony, rather than the melody, allowing the crowd to sing the notes they memorized almost ten years ago. Also, it was impossible to miss the bite behind the lines (“Manipulation in rock music, fucking nausea”) when just the day before U2 dropped the most obvious corporate sponsorship bomb in history.
But there were relatively few selections from the new album. “Walking is Still Honest” was clearly a fan favorite, with the mosh pit reaching whatever highest level 9:30 felt like awarding that day. “This is fucking fun!” Grace quipped after seeing the reaction to the classic song. They closed out the set with “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong”/”Sink, Florida, Sink” transition, as if to give the encore they couldn’t provide as an opening act.
Besides the fact that the mosh pit consisted almost entirely of beefy 30-year-old men, it was problematic in other ways. One man, clearly insistent on “protecting” his girlfriend, got way too aggressive towards another fan during “True Trans Soul Rebel” and put his hand on someone else’s throat. The masquerade of masculinity could not have been more poorly timed. As Grace sang about the turmoil of a gender identity crisis, two husky dudes went at each other’s throats because one pushed another’s girlfriend.
What’s better? Playing for 40 minutes twice as an opening band at 9:30 Club, or playing one sold out night at Black Cat as a headliner? This concert reeked of missed opportunity. When Grace toured solo earlier this year, she made sure to promote socially-conscious performers, often hosting non-cis people as her opening acts. On this Wednesday night at the 9:30 Club, all her efforts for education about gender fluidity felt lost on a crowd mainly just waiting for The Gaslight Anthem.
Grace’s sexy swagger during “Don’t Lose Touch,” her gut-wrenching revelations in “Black Me Out”—these elements could have been enjoyed by so many more of their fans had the pioneers of folk-punk booked headlining gigs. Few people are going to pay upwards of $40 to see a band they love play an opening slot. So, 9:30 Club ended up with a bunch of Gaslight fans politely waiting for Against Me!, a band with the power to be socially influential, to end. Or, for some, what ended up happening was that The Gaslight Anthem closed out a great Against Me! show.
