The Gaslight Anthem and the American rock canon at the Midland

​As “Old White Lincoln,” the second song the Gaslight Anthem played to the 900 or so (total guess) folks at Saturday’s show at the Midland, drew to a close, frontman Brian Fallon improvised a vocal tease of the Neil Young classic, “Long May You Run.” Maybe the Beach Boys have got you now / With those waves singing ‘Caroline, no’, he sang softly, as the song faded out and the lights dimmed. It was the first indication of what many of us in the crowd already knew: that this would be an evening filled with subtle, and, often, not-so-subtle, nods to the American rock canon.