Last night at the Newport Music Hall I had the pleasure of seeing one of my favorite artists, Brian Fallon, for the first time in a long time. The songwriter and frontman of the Gaslight Anthem was on tour with a group of friends dubbed The Crowes (but not quite the Horrible Crowes), performing songs from his upcoming solo debut Painkillers, as well as songs from The Horrible Crowes lone release Elise. Braving the frigid temperatures a jam packed crowd saw the show, originally scheduled for the A&R Music Bar but moved to the Newport due to demand, and I struggle to imagine many were disappointed.

The sole opener was Memphis, Tennessee’s Cory Brannan. I personally discovered Cory after his appearance on the 2012 edition of The Revival Tour, the all-star collaborative tour put on by Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan. This was my first chance to see him live, and he did not disappoint. He had no backing band, just himself and an acoustic guitar, leaving some of the songs sounding a bit rough or sparse, but the solo arrangements allowed his lyrics and his raspy, almost howling vocals to shine through. I’ve often described Brannan as “a more country Brian Fallon” to those who have never heard him, due to his propensity for meandering, zany storytelling, as well as his poignant, ripped from his life lyrics. He went deep in to the playbook for the show, turning out rare songs from as far back as his first record, and even a strange number about KISS taking off their makeup in the 80’s. I’m not entirely sure I can do it justice.

After Brannan’s 45 minute set the Crowes took the stage, beginning with “Red Lights”, my personal favorite song from Brain’s side project Molly and the Zombies, which never saw a proper release. I’m hoping it is on the upcoming solo record. He played a mixture of Horrible Crowes songs, two or three Molly and the Zombies songs, and the rest from the upcoming Painkillers. There was no Gaslight in sight, and to my surprise no one in the crowd shouted for any. At one point there was a shout for Freebird, however, leading to a classic Brian Fallon rant culminating in a reference to the film Elizabethtown, and him asking Cat Popper, bassist from Molly and the Zombies and the Crowes if she had seen the film. Her reply?

“I played on the soundtrack for the film.”

The crowd “oooohed” appropriately. Brian was in rare form, in regards to his well known propensity for long winded, borderline incomprehensible storytelling in between songs. He seemed loose, at ease, and smiling more than I had seen him smiling on stage in some time. It was good to see.

The new songs, which made up a little over half the setlist, were mostly solid, sounding more like The Horrible Crowes than The Gaslight Anthem. I was most struck by how apparent Brian’s musical influences were, from the straight from the E-Street Band first single “A Wonderful Life” to the 90’s college rock radio sounding “Nobody Wins”.

My only gripe with the night was the decision to do a slowed down “acoustic break” in the middle of the set. For a few songs the drummer left the stage, followed shortly by Cat. While usually I’m a fan of this sort of thing, on a night where the crowd already didn’t know more than half the songs it was a bit of a momentum killer. The songs were all solid, but kind of blurred together.

The show rallied, however, with “A Wonderful Life” getting the crowd going again, followed shortly by Horrible Crowes favorite “Crush”. After explaining that there would be no encore, because he found them “dumb”, the show chugged on to its conclusion, the Horrible Crowe’s most well known song “Behold the Hurricane”. It, like most of the Crowes songs done, sounded even better than on record due to the added oomph from the extra people on stage. It was a rocking way to end a fun evening.

As usual at the Newport the sound quality was good but not immaculate, a bit too bass heavy at times but never muddy. The crowd was well behaved for the most part, with the usual exception of a few who decide to make the show more about them. But there was no crowd trouble, no fights, and in general everyone seemed excited to be there, the band most of all. It was definitely a great first show of 2016 for me personally, and a great way to get folks excited for Brian’s first solo record.