Dear Brian,

You did something this weekend that very rarely happens. You made me embarrassed to be from New Jersey.

I’m talking about Gaslight Anthem’s set at Coachella, which I watched on the live video feed. Here you are, at the height of your career, the heir apparent to Bruce Springsteen as the reigning embodiment of the Garden State’s music scene, and you performed a set that was at best listless and uninspired, and at worst simply awful.

Wes Woods of the Inland Newspapers syndicate wrote, "The Gaslight Anthem performed a smooth set despite performing under the sun at the main Coachella stage to an underwelmed and more than likely tired festival audience on Sunday afternoon.” He was being kind. The crowd looked bored because you were boring.

Was it the 3 p.m. set time? Was it the sun? Was the crowd smaller than you expected? Did you get a bad fish taco from craft services?

Guess what? Don’t care.

There were thousands of people there watching you, and God knows how many more tuning in via the video feed around the world. Those people are your fans. They deserve an amazing, mind-blowing set each and every time you set foot on a stage. To do any less is to violate the convenant between performer and audience.

And you didn’t deliver.

You don’t deliver a lot lately, guys. Even your set at Bamboozle last summer seemed uninspired. You were much better the year before at the Stone Pony Summerstage, when Brian put down his guitar for a song or two and moved around the stage a bit. At that point, you were still feeding off your audience’s energy.

Now you just take it for granted… an unpardonable sin for a rock band.

In 2009, back when Gaslight Anthem was still lean and hungry, you performed at Coachella for the first time. The set included songs from all your early records as well as snippets of some inspired covers like “Stand By Me,” Tom Waits’ “Downtown Train,” and Jimmy Ruffins’ “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted.” This year, on a bigger stage and at a later set time, seven of the 13 songs in your set were from your new album (which isn’t even that new anymore;) no covers, no new songs, nothing that distinguished this set from a Tuesday night in Peoria.

Have you really become that jaded? I saw Gaslight Anthem for the first time in a New Brunswick basement show. I remember when you guys were thrilled to playing Maxwell’s for the first time. Now you have a set at the biggest destination music festival in the country and you just phone it in? Shame on you.

If you can’t get excited about playing Coachella, it’s possible you’re simply not excited about being in a band anymore. So do us all a favor and go do something else. There are ten thousand bands in this country that can’t even imagine having an opportunity like this. Yes, it was hot, and yes, it was the middle of the afternoon; but just watch the sets by Cloud Nothings or Toxic Airborne Event that took place at around the same time as your Coachella set and you’ll see bands that are having the time of their lives. Dylan Baldi nearly ripped his throat out, he was singing so hard. The Toxic Airborne Event danced and smiled and jumped around throughout their entire set; they covered the Clash covering Sonny Curtis’ “I Fought The Law” and did a great job. You barely moved. Honestly, you looked slightly annoyed at having to be up that early.

Again, shame on you.

You have one more chance to get it right. Coachella gives you a do-over; everybody plays again next week. We here in New Jersey will be watching. Get your act together, dude. Don’t let us down again.

I don't pretend to speak for your fans, or for the state of New Jersey. I just speak for myself. But I couldn't be more serious when I say that both your fans and New Jersey deserve better from you.

Sincerely,

Jim Testa
Editor, Jersey Beat

You can watch the Gaslight Anthem’s 2013 Coachella set here.