The Gaslight Anthem at the Firebird, 7/13/12: Highlights

10. Fallon and opening act Dave Hause both employed variations of the rakish-guy-who-cares-about-fashion-without-actually-caring-about-fashion plaid shirt look. Fallon's shirt flapped openly over a grey tee, while Hause's was fully buttoned and slim fitting. For this reviewer, Fallon was the winner.

11. The Firebird already was packed by the time opener Dave Hause took the stage around 8 p.m. Having seen Hause only with his punk band the Loved Ones, I was surprised that the crowd knew as many solo Hause songs as they did.

12. Hause paused between songs and said, "I don't know what I'm playing." An audience member to his right made a request, and Hause responded, "Yeah, I'll play that for you." Hause launched into the Loved Ones' "The Bridge" before playing "Pray for Tuscon" for the audience member and calling him out. "You're not even singing, man!"

13. Hause really didn't like following a playbook, as he later rolled his eyes and asserted, "Fuck it. I've got a playlist, but I'm just going to play whatever."

14. Imploring the audience to get their phone cameras ready, Hause prefaced Hot Water Music's "Trusty Chords" with "I didn't write this, but I like it."

15. Before his final few songs, Hause thanked the audience for coming early to see him. "There's a ton of other stuff you could be doing. Dining on calories or something. Watching TV. I don't know."

16. Hause brought out Gaslight Anthem's bassist Alex Levin and drummer Benny Horowitz for The Loved Ones' song "Jane," cautioning the audience with "We only rehearsed this once." A few minor missteps aside, I really couldn't tell.

17. PBR tallboys were the drink of choice at The Firebird, and audience members dutifully used them to salute both acts. At 9:51 p.m., I overheard one girl lamenting, "They ran out of cans." Pity.

Overheard: "How are you?" "Eh, went to a funeral today." Generally speaking, the audience was well behaved for both acts, listening raptly and pulling out their phones only for quick photos. This wasn't the typical douchebaggy texting crowd, to my happiness and amazement.