While watching this professionally shot clip of the Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon rocking “No Surrender†with the Boss at last year’s Hard Rock Calling Festival in London, put aside for a minute the fact that Fallon fronts a band that is constantly being compared to Bruce Springsteen (the latest, from the TGA’s Sunday Times profile: “The obvious touchstone is the mid-1970s period of Mr. Springsteenâ€) and appreciate how tricky it must be for anyone, anywhere, to hop onstage with the E Street Band’s relentless, finely honed live presence and make any sense at all up there. Understandably, things start off iffy, with Fallon clapping spastically, off by himself (like he’s Amber Rose at a Kanye studio session) while the band gets rolling. It’s a little better when Fallon comes in for the first chorus, even if he seems to be afraid to make eye contact with Bruce while sharing a microphone. And then, his own verse, and validation: He’s gesturing; he’s screaming; he’s maybe even tearing up a little bit. And he knows all the words! That looked like fun.
