by Sean Reiter
The Gaslight Anthem’s founder and lead singer Brian Fallon brought his “Not Bad for New Jersey” solo tour to San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop for a concert that leaned away from visual frills to focus on the work of a songwriter deserving of a spot on modern alternative writing Mt. Rushmore. The concert focused only on his proflific solo songwriting and did not dip its toes into any of Gaslight Anthem’s songs. For fans of his solo work, it was a great chance to hear them presented in an intimate setting with his backing band The Painkillers behind him.
Fallon’s set list was spread nicely across his solo albums and focused on most of his best, well-known songs. After opening for “Not Bad for New Jersey”, he went to the title track (and band origin song) “Painkillers.” In all, he would play 21 songs with 7 from “Painkillers”, 5 from “Local Honey”, 4 from his 2026 release “Not Bad For New Jersey.” 2 from “Sleepwalkers” and “Elsie” and 1 from U2’s “The Joshua Tree”.
While Fallon’s songs explore the deep emotional challenges and trying times of life, anyone who has seen Gaslight Anthems or Fallon live knows that he is actually quite lighthearted and funny in between songs. As his guitarist struggled to get things in place for the cover of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, Fallon took the opportunity to have an extended (and I dare say “silly”) interaction with the audience that found him blowing kisses to the crowd.
Tuesday, Fallon proudly wore a Brock Purdy jersey on stage in the 49ers town – not a gesture to the city, but in keeping with his rooting interest. While he made light of not really knowing or explaining why on Tuesday, in the past Fallon has let it be known that he is a longtime Jets fan who was forced to adopt another team to root for in order to reduce his suffering. Thus, he landed on the 49ers as his secondary favorite team.
Tim Barry provided an energizing and electric opening set. Armed with only an acoustic guitar and his deep passion, the Richmond, Virginia native began the night dedicating the song “Dog Bumped” to his friend serving time in a Virginia prison. The song centers around a man who goes to prison after he falsely admits to killing his sister’s abusive boyfriend (when in fact he has shot him).
Though Barry only performed 7 songs Tuesday night, each was performed with a passion and intensity that was captivating live. He also connected with the crowd when he talked about the need to prioritize efforts to fix things. Focus first on building the strength of the family and the neighborhood, Barry advised the crowd. “Then, we can go after the greater good.” Barry paused a second – as though contemplating the ramifications of that – and then added a final middle finger to the current political situation. “But here’s the thing. We are going to f@#king win!” He shouted to loud cheers and applause. And with the two strong performances on this night, indeed everyone at Rickshaw Stop DID win.
