Spotlight: Gaslight Anthem and Heartless Bastards

March 28, 2009 at 4:26PM

GASLIGHT ANTHEM AND THE HEARTLESS BASTARDS

Saturday: Terrific two-fer shows are all too rare, and this one happens to feature a pair of bands fast on the rise. Jersey boys the Gaslight Anthem (pictured) are garnering tons of press and radio play for their classic-styled, Springsteen-meets-the-Clash album "'59 Sound," the title track of which is in heavy rotation locally at the Current (89.3 FM). They just finished a U.K. tour and will be headed back over the summer to open for the Boss himself in London's Hyde Park. The Heartless Bastards, led by smoky-voiced singer/guitarist Erika Wennerstrom, had a marathon run at last week's South by Southwest festival in Wennerstrom's newly adopted hometown of Austin, Texas, where the bluesy garage-rock band wowed audiences with the powerful tracks off its new Fat Possum Records release, "The Mountain." Good Old War opens. (9 p.m. Sat. Sold out. Varsity Theater, 1308 SE. 4th St., Mpls. www.ticketmaster.com.)

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

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