Brian Fallon and the Painkillers play two sold-out Somerville shows with Dave Hause

Brian Fallon brought the tour behind his new solo album, Not Bad For New Jersey, to Arts At The Armory in Somerville, just outside Boston. Demand was heavy enough that the evening show sold out quickly, prompting an added matinee that sold out as well. The 395-capacity independent venue, built inside a repurposed light infantry drill shed in a 130-year-old armory, recalls the church basement and VFW hall shows that raised generations of punks.

The Gaslight Anthem frontman hit the stage just before 9pm with his newest backing band, The Painkillers, featuring Nick Salisbury on bass, Kurt Leon on drums and Nathaniel Murphy on guitar. They opened with the title track from the new record and ran through eighteen songs over roughly ninety minutes, with no encore. The set covered most of Fallon's non-Gaslight catalog and included two Horrible Crowes cuts, "Ladykiller" and "Behold The Hurricane."

The full-band, plugged-in approach reshaped material that has typically been played acoustically, particularly songs from 2020's Local Honey. Fallon stuck with his signature Fender Custom Shop Telecaster all night and repeatedly noted how unusual it was for the lineup to have played two complete shows in the same afternoon and evening.

Dave Hause and his brother Tim opened with an all-acoustic set, starting with "Look Alive" from last year's Dave Hause...And The Mermaid. The pair worked through singalongs including "Damn Personal," "Autism Vaccine Blues" from 2013's Devour and "Cellmates," and debuted "King Of Madness," a new song slated for Hause's recently recorded next album and inspired by Sick Of It All's Lou Koller. The Not Bad For New Jersey tour rotates its support acts, with Ben Nichols, Tim Barry, Donovan Woods and Chris Farren each handling certain legs.