Brian Fallon & The Crowes, Wedgewood Rooms, Southsea

Bruce Springsteen recently told the BBC that if he was the Boss of New Jersey then Brian Fallon was the Assistant Manager. During a rare, intimate performance at Portsmouth’s Wedgewood Rooms it was easy to see why.

Taking to the stage with his backing band the Crowes, the Gaslight Anthem frontman launched straight into a raw reworking of the title track from Fallon’s debut solo album, Painkillers.

Entertaining from start to finish and a natural showman, Fallon explains to the crowd that he talks a lot. He’s not lying, but ‘his nonsense’ as he calls it is almost as entertaining as the music. A Brian Fallon gig is best described as part stand up, part rock show. Regaling the crowd with tales of his trip to the polling station, his love for Blondie, at which point he launched into an impromptu cover of ‘Maria’ (because it’s their best song) and plans to ask Boy George for intravenous coffee over Twitter (complete with brief Karma Chameleon cover).

As brilliant as Fallon’s idiosyncratic banter is, the music is the real star; From the Cohen-esque ‘Lady Killer’ to the country-tinged ‘Smoke’ and plain fun ‘Other Foolish Things’, there’s a power to both his writing and raw vocal talent that shines through when you see him live that makes it almost impossible to pick out a clear highlight.

Let’s put it this way; most artists wouldn’t even attempt to tackle both Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Atlantic City’ and Dire Straits ‘Romeo & Juliette’ in the same set, yet Fallon managed to make both feel like they were his own.

Closing out a superb performance with Wonderful Life, Fallon and the Crowes blew the roof off of the Wedge as Fallon asserted his position as one of the world’s best singer songwriters.

GARETH NEWNHAM