Recap The Gaslight Anthem at Turner Hall

When The Killers aped Bruce Springsteen on 2006’s Sam’s Town, it was a fucking disaster. There was something contrived, unconvincing, and gut-wrenching about NME’s “Best Dressed” man of 2005 spewing up fake grit and “conceptual” lyrics about living a blue-collar lifestyle. Where Brandon Flowers flopped as an innocuous charm salesman, New Jersey’s The Gaslight Anthem has flourished, taking The Boss into a mustache-free zone of sincerity, storytelling, and melodic punk blasts that appeals as much to cranky audiophiles as it did to the pit of shirtless alpha-males that opted to slam-dance and give each other piggy-back rides through the young quartet’s set Sunday at Turner Hall.

James Brown’s “I Feel Good” blasted out of the house speakers as the Jersey punks entered the stage. Thankfully, they kept their cheesy rock-star entrance short and blasted into “High Lonesome” from last year’s much-loved The ’59 Sound. “I always kinda sorta wished I looked like Elvis,” howled baby-faced, goopy-haired vocalist-guitarist Brian Fallon as he ripped into his Les Paul guitar. Meanwhile, the textured guitar work of Alex Rosamilia seemed to connect Fallon’s Americana-infused songwriting to the punchy rhythm section of bassist Alex Levine and drummer Benny Horowitz. Rosamilia’s diverse playing found him switching between simple bursts of melody on tunes like “The ’59 Sound” to blues runs on the waltzing “Even Cowgirls Get The Blues.” He even pulled out some bonkers finger-tapping on “We Came To Dance.”

The modest Fallon seemed to be in a state of disbelief over what a big deal his band has become. (After all, they were the only band with a backdrop that night.) The crooner’s forehead often scrunched in both delight and surprise when he heard the audience belting his lyrics back at him. Additionally, Fallon not only gave individual plugs to all the opening bands, but also plugged a band that didn’t play last night. “Come back and see Lucero,” Fallon ordered, pointing to a banner on the wall. “Not much music worth buying these days, but you should buy their new one.”

After wrapping up its proper set with “The Backseat,” GLA came back out with a generous four-song encore. “You should all call off from work tomorrow,” Fallon advised before sending the audience into a final frenzy with “Blue Jeans And White T-Shirts” (the chosen attire for Fallon and Levine that night) and “I’da Called You Woody, Joe.” After the band finished up with “Say I Won’t,” Fallon thanked the audience before sending them walking toward the exit over a sea of empty Pabst cans.