Gaslight Anthem at the Garrick Theatre, Winnipeg. Mike Latschislaw photo.

Review – Gaslight Anthem at the Garrick Theatre, Winnipeg, Oct 1 2009

– review by Eugene Osudar/photos by Mike Latschislaw

when the sounds
are big
and beautiful
when the sounds
are big and dig
right through you
when the sounds
smash lights
when the big sounds
construe you
into sweating,
pulsing mass
when your rattling chains
are dancing through you
when the sounds explode
by the lights
of memory
like songs
on the radio
humming you
when the sounds
dig and sing
and you gotta lift
just like
when you were kids
laughing
all the time
when you’re
big and bold and ready
to dance
and play
like you were
kids again
and you’re singing
like the few hundred
grown,up,kids
again
when the beat
of the bass
and drums make you
lift
when the sounds
of 59
make you give again
care again
be again
dream of your first love
your now love
your every love
your rawest emotion
love

let’s go to the rooftop
and shout again
I’m me!
see me

F(eel)
L(ove)
Y(oung)

to the stars
above
and to the moon

my pulse and heart beat
race down the streets
“daylight
smash
night”

let’s dream

these sounds
these big beautiful
songs and a few
more, before 650
people, singing,
dancing, sweating
lifting to the higher
ground, of the 59
Sound,

High Lonesome
Casanova, Baby
Old White Lincoln
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
59 Sound
We Came To Dance
Film Noir
Miles Davis and The Cool
Patient Ferris Wheel
Senor and The Queen
Meet Me By The River’s Edge
Great Expectations
Here’s Looking At You, Kid
Backseats
Navesink Banks (in there somewhere)

75 minutes

Gaslight Anthem at the Garrick Theatre, Winnipeg, Oct 1 2009. Mike Latschislaw photo.

“did you hear the rattling chains?”

i heard the big beat
the big sounds
the big voice
Brian Falloon
i heard the voices
i saw the singing
the dancing
i saw the corner boys
shouting and stomping
i saw the sailor
tattoos
Alex Levine on bass
the big drums
sending me/them/us/we
into
flight
Benny Horowitz
and the guitars
gearing up
sending us
propelling us
full,on,speed
to the finish line
Alex Rosamilia

Film Noir,
“i’m all washed out
by the side of the road
broken bones matilda
left a note…saying
baby honey child
i loved you so long
but
you deserve much better
than me…i lost so much
blood…and i,
i lit a fire
that wouldn’t go out…”

these are songs that
Jersey boys
bleed
and light
poetry by night
light
the bonfires
of the human heart,

now, that’s only a start
key in the ignition (of)
your heart
turn it over
and press
your foot down hard
through the floorboard
your breast bone
and spilt yourself
open, apart
and rattle the chains!
of your thumping
heart
gear down
and drive!

and then you lift
off the ground

Patient Ferris Wheel
cracking the electric light
fighting
and laughing
about it all
by the ferris wheel lights
it’s all colors
and spinning round
and round and the guitars
spin you round and round
on a ferris wheel ride
we’re sometimes just
spinning
round and round on a ferris
wheel
ride feeling so strange
in the rain
you could be a kid
with a Big Boss Sound
dream
in the Jersey rain
always spinning round
and round in the swirling
guitars
and the big drum
sounds.

Here’s Looking At You Kid,
you can call all the girlfriends
you can be on your way
with songs on the radio
a big star rising
you can recall
all the girls
who ever broke
your heart
you can write a song
you can write lines
of poetry
down your lover’s thighs
you can kiss every
comma
every drama
unfolding in your memory
light
you can feel the melancholy
nights
in your heart.

Old White Lincoln,
pluck bass
strings PopPing
you into writing
bones
memory of lost dreams
i miss her too
her high,top sneakers
and i’m running
with you
above the ground

“straight in my arms”

“i miss you sometimes”
yeah,
i know what you mean,
don’t we all?
it’s the Jersey
sound that sets
these big beautiful
dreams into songs
that imprint
straight into your
soul
the sky above
and constellations
and the moon
that you dream
of her every time
she’s there
in
the sky
same old stars
same old moon
same old
hurt
in the cold, cold ground
she’s buried in your
broken heart cemetery.

she’s not coming back.

Great Expectations.
every pore
is rushing goose bumps
and i’m falling into you
i’m dancing all the blues
o, these kittens
why did she do this
to me/to you?
“we had the greatest
expectations
i saw the daylight…
dream about my first wife…
everybody lives
why
why wouldn’t you…
we were always waiting
for something
to happen.”
wedding bells ring
and my heart
bursts
in this song
in this memory
in this heartbreak.

The 59 Sound
is there a feeling past
w
o
w
into the ether
into the arms
of your poetry
loves
these chains rattle
wrapping us round
in an everlasting embrace
we’re melting by the smashing
lights
we’re feeling the elation
of being kids
again
young again
born again
the gospel choir
singing your favorite
song
(insert it now)
“young boys
young girls
ain’t supposed to die on a Saturday night”

and this is what i sang
walking
L
i
f
t
ing
over the sidewalk
on my way to my car
in the cool crisp
autumn night
air
“the 59 sound
coming through
my grandfather’s radio
did you hear the rattling chains
in the hospital wards
did you hear the old gospel choir
when they came to carry
you over
did you hear your
favorite
song
one last time?”

The Gaslight Anthem
October 1.
Garrick Theater.
Winnipeg.