Standing on a Manhattan rooftop last week, I was talking with a fellow music media type. I mentioned that I dug the new, to which she exclaimed, “People love that band!” I confirmed that yes, they are to be adored: wrenching hearts and rocking hard, the boys from New Jersey capture something special -- as is the case with ‘Teenage Rebellion,’ in which frontman Brian Fallon spills his guts with care. Fallon is a raw dude.

He has penned four albums of misty-eyed myth-making, sometimes fast and loud, sometimes soft and slow. Full of midnight strumming and predawn pianos, 'Teenage Rebellion' is the troubadour's melodic-tragic bonus track to 'Handwritten,' their fourth full-length. While Fallon did perhaps “spill too much blood on the page” in ‘Handwritten,’ the record was still mostly howling electricity. In contrast, ‘Teenage Rebellion’ is pensive, heartwrenching, drunkenly mystical, with Fallon, in a verse, describing that “in the last hours before sunrise, I’m not sure if I passed out of closed my eyes,” and he “woke into a dream” where “somebody else got their claws in you.” Visions aside (and included), the lyrical themes are Gaslight standards, with Fallon beseeching his muse for the umpteenth time that “if you’re gonna break my heart / It might as well be tonight.” That is to say, then, that the band knows what they do and they do it well: making rock that’s as yearning as it is burning.

Jul 24, 2012 - For Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon, Springsteen-esque tales of New Jersey dreamers was enough narrative grist for three exuberant.

The Gaslight Anthem It was not your typical early Monday night (03.04.13) in early March in Cleveland. Yes, it was cold. Yes, the Cavaliers played. Yes, the Cavaliers lost. But just a short walk away from the house that what’s his name used to own, the little band that could from New Jersey was busy making a name for themselves on the House of Blues stage. Over nearly two hours, the boys from the Springsteen approved, entertained a sold out house with sing-along after sing-along of rough and tough punkish-rock songs about love, lost love, and the rest. At around 10:00pm “Jump” by Van Halen hit the stereo and the boys took the stage to kick off a special night.

The kids on the floor danced, moshed, and sang along to every song, while the stiffs in the seats sat with their arms crossed, looking disinterested and out of place. Perhaps they missed the memo that this is not a “plant your ass and sit” type of show. What happened on stage would have got the dead out of their graves, or at least tapping their feet underground. From opening song “Howl,” The Gaslight Anthem hit full stride right out of the gate, even after this writer witnessed a not-so-great start two nights earlier in Chicago, and despite playing the night before in Detroit. “Casanova, Baby,” and “Old White Lincoln” kept the kids dancing below and the crowd singing along. The band spent time digging back into their latest release, 2012’s ‘Handwritten,’ with B-side “Blue Dahlia” and album starter “45.” Playing all the standards for a Gaslight Anthem show means covering their arguably best record, ‘The ’59 Sound,’ and that they did with hits starting from “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” “The Patient Ferris Wheel,” and the very Springsteen-esque (although it can be argued many of these are “Springsteen-esque”) “Meet Me By The Rivers Edge.” The band also sprinkled in some gems from their first release, 2007’s ‘Sink or Swim,’ with “Wooderson,” a clear crowd favorite. With so many sing-alongs, it’s really hard to pick out any particular crowd favorites.

Sure, the rarities hit the spot, and so did new singles such as “Handwritten,” and “Here Comes My Man,” but when the guys finished the set with “The ’59 Sound,” “Desire,” and “Great Expectations,” easily three of the band’s best, they were just teasing the crowd by walking off the stage after an 80 minute set. After a short five minute break backstage to take a leak and probably reload with some fresh beers, the boys hit the stage again. A little slow tune to get the encore started, “She Loves You,” and yet another crowd sing-along (as if nobody saw that one coming).