Where the Bands Are (The Gaslight Anthem, 16 March 2024, Utrecht, The Netherlands)

The Gaslight Anthem is a band I listened to quite much some years ago and I always wanted to see them, but never had the opportunity before. When we saw they were coming on a weekend to Utrecht, a cute city in the Netherlands we fell in love with last year when staying there for Springsteen, we had to grab the chance.

I arrived from Gothenburg to Amsterdam quite late on Friday 15 March. Travelling from Schiphol Airport by train to Utrecht is really easy. When exiting the airport you come to the train station and there you “check in” with your credit card, catch the train you want and “check out” when leaving the station at your destination. Utrecht is about 30 minutes with the train from the airport.

Oliver, who had travelled by train from Germany, met me at the station Utrecht Centraal. We went to the hotel that was situated in the large shopping mall only two minutes from the main station and quite close the venue.

Tivoli Vredenburg is a pretty cool venue in the centre of Utrecht. It contains five main stages, each with its own unique atmosphere and capacity. These stages include the Grote Zaal, Ronda, Pandora, Cloud Nine, and Hertz. The Gaslight Anthem was going to play in Ronda.

Ronda has got its name from its round design. In front of the stage there was a normal flat standing area, and on the sides there were ramps, that also served as stands, that lead to the upper level. We decided to stand on the upper level and had a really nice view from there.

It was a concert that gave the audience what they wanted in terms of a setlist packed with 21 hits from seven albums. In the middle of the set, support act Emily Wolfe was invited back on stage to add a fourth guitar and vocals to the new track The Weathermen and then Blue Jeans and White T-shirts.

“Young boys, young girls, ain’t supposed to die on a Saturday night”

Front man Fallon – with longer hair and a burlier body since the band’s heyday, but with the same raspy vocals and charisma – was jovial and giggly. Sometimes talking gibberish a-mile-a-minute between songs and waving awkwardly to the crowd. For the most part, though, the songs made the talking.

Apart from Great Expectations, which was played in the first part, my favourite section was the ending. They closed with two of their strongest numbers; 45 and The ’59 Sound, where Fallon really unleashed his sandpaper growl. By then we were all pumping fists and dancing.

It was a solid and sincere rock concert- The Gaslight Anthem in all their glory. I’m glad to have finally caught them.

Setlist: