Today's 2015 Reading Festival performance marked The Gaslight Anthem's final show before the group goes on an indefinite hiatus to focus on side projects. The New Jersey band first announced their bittersweet decision to take time off back in July, sending TGA fans into a state of shock.
"We wanted to let everyone know that we'll all be taking a break from The Gaslight Anthem after this next European tour in August. We're all going to do other projects and stay active in some way or another, both in and out of music, but we'd like to step away from the band until we decide what we'd like to do next," they wrote on Facebook.
Trailing their performance at Leeds on Friday and a Shepherd's Bush Empire show last night in London, the August 20th Reading performance marks the last gig on the band's itinerary. Although the closing concert held significant emotional weight, Brian Fallon and company kept the sadness to a minimum and disregarded any farewell speeches. They kicked off with an earnest delivery of Get Hurt's "Have Mercy" before launching into fan favorites including "Rollin' and Tumblin," "Handwritten" and "The Patient Ferris Wheel."
The group managed to skate around talks of their hiatus in between casual conversations such as "You've got The Libertines, one of the coolest bands ever" and mentioning the Gaslight Anthem had "a couple more songs for you then we're going home."
The set was wrapped up with performances of "45" and "Break My Heart," which I'm sure some fans in the crowd took quite literally. The group has seen wide success over the span of releasing five albums, starting with their 2007 debut of Sink Or Swim and coming to a close with 2014's Get Hurt with The '59 Sound, American Slang and Handwritten released in between.
Last year, the band announced that their latest album was inspired by Fallon's divorce from his wife of ten years. "Sometimes, I don't even know how it happened. I don't even know how it got like this," Fallon explained of the break-up, NME notes. "All I know is that it did. And I now have to figure out: What do I do now?"
The same mentality can now be applied to his music career. Whatever the group decides next, there will be an entire fan base ready to welcome them back with open arms.
