Red Bull Sound Select Brings You Gaslight Anthem and Dave Hause (FO FREE!)

The ringing in my ears hasn't subdued and yet here I am, sitting down to my nice air conditioned house to write about a show that was in a city trying to kill me with heat!  Tonight I had the opportunity to rock the press pass a the Red Bull Sound Select show at the Iriving Plaza featuring The Gaslight Anthem, Dave Hause, and two artists selected by Brian Fallon of Gaslight.   

When I first saw the page for this event, I'll admit, I was incredibly confused.  It seemed like a lot of hoops to go through to get free tickets to a show.  I've never been a fan of connecting through Facebook to get free stuff, but this time, it would have been worth it.  Basically you become the street team for the shows.  Your reward for promoting this is a ticket to the show.  Seems fair, seems simple.  And it's packed the room with the most enthusiastic fans.  Pretty awesome to see.  I give you lots of credit Red Bull Sound Select people, this was a fantastic show to be at.  For the launch weekend, I don't think the group could have planned a better turn out.  

The evening started off in the afternoon as I met my friend, Cathleen, in Penn Station and proceeded to get lost.  Twice in midtown Manhattan.  Finally getting to where we were supposed to be, we settled in to our spots for some music by the first band selected by Brian Fallon, a trio out of Nashville, Frances and the Foundation.  

 With a slight inward groan, I braced myself for weird indie rock with haunting vocals by lead singer Samantha Frances and then proceeded to eat my tongue as she and the rest of the band blew me away.  Here's the truth, despite being raised on a heavy rotation of women in rock (Benetar, Jett, Ford, Hynde) I have this weird dislike of most female vocalists of today.  The ones that I've been exposed to?  They are either part of the manufactured bubblegum pop/twee/quirky sound OR they are trying so hard to prove that they are unlabelable.  Just go out there and fucking rock.  You could be singing the ingredients to my soda, just be awesome at it.  And that is what Frances and the Foundation were.  Hard, loud, powerful, the band came out like a force.  They weren't like anything I've ever heard.   Seriously, go get their album like right now.  Here. 

Before I was ready to say goodbye, Frances and The Foundation's set was over and The Scandals took the stage.  Apparently everyone in the audience had heard of them but me, which is really sad seeing as they are a Bayonne, New Jersey band (Bayonne is feet from my house).  The Scandals are my kind of band.  Loud.  Jersey-centric.  With at least one guy being a fan of The Lawrence Arms.  Random Tom Petty "American Girl" interlude.  However, I don't know if I'd ever go see them live again.  What an amazing band to see perform, what a terrifying crowd they have though.  I have no problem with a rowdy group of people, that's sometimes half the fun, but this damn pit couldn't decided if they wanted to mosh, skank, or swing.  It was too many limbs for me to deal with.  I spent too much time bracing myself for a hit than I did paying attention to the music, which is a shame because the guys were talented.  Find their music here. 

Finally I gathered up the nerve to use my press pass to get into the photographers' corral as Dave Hause got on stage, or as he's more commonly referred to by me "Nugget".  (Big shout out to the security guard manning the photo entrance, he reassured me I was supposed to be there and made sure I didn't miss a single moment of the show from that angle.)

I love Dave Hause for two reasons: 1) The Loved Ones ranks as one of my favorite bands.  2) he is the Nugget Prince, second only to Mike Ness in adorable proportions.  But that's neither here nor there.  This happened to be Hause's last show supporting his 2011 release "Resolutions" before he releases/tours for his new release in October, "Devour".  Two really awesome moments from his set?  Everyone with a cup/can/bottle in their hand was required to "raise a toast to Saint Joe Strummer", as he covered The Hold Steady's Constructive Summer.  And then when Hause gave a shout out to his sister and brother in law in the audience, expecting parents, and had the crowd serenade them with the chorus of C'mon Kid.  But even better?  To hear a born and raised Philly kid (Hause) if he could perform in NYC every night.  To hear someone from Philadelphia say anything nice about NYC was mind blowing.  The hate goes far beyond our sporting teams.  Dave Hause, and your impossibly difficult last name, I salute your awesomeness but please, never ever change your lyrics: "We'll eat a load of vegan food, and stay up all night." should not be a thing.  No matter how loud the straight edge kid in the crowd is.   We take a load of bad drugs, not tofu!  

The Hause set seemed to go on forever.  Every time he attempted to step off the stage, someone pushed him back on, but finally The Gaslight Anthem took the stage.  Now I know I reviewed their show two months ago, so I'll keep this brief.  Gaslight: Amazing when you aren't shivering in 40 degree rain/snow mush.  So good in fact, they lead the audience on a Nelly sing along (Ride Wit Me), a song to prove how many people in the room were over 30, Lady Gaga (Bad Romance), Bon Jovi (Livin On A Prayer), and a very failed attempt at Avril Lavigne (I'm With You).  The band managed to do what was severely lacking last time, interacting with the audience.  Whether the cold got to them last time, or the booze was more free flowing tonight, you would have never guessed this was The Gaslight Anthem's third show in just as many nights.   The laughing, the joking, the stories, and the energy was all there.   Nothing was going to stop these guys from putting on a memorable show with great up and coming artists with their friend Dave Hause.  

What an unbelievably fun night.  Four fantastic groups.  Two new bands for me to obsess over.  Two old bands I got to see again.  Just really all around six thumbs up.  

With that being said, I have some give aways from the show, so stay tuned for later this week.  I'll give out some fun things for y'all.  

Until then, turn up the music.  

PS: So I didn't jam up this post, most of the show photos are here.  Feel free to flip through them or not.  Also this: