Dustin Douglas & The Electric Gentlemen bring down the house in rooftop show

WILKES-BARRE — Like the Beatles playing atop Apple Records in 1969, Dustin Douglas & The Electric Gentlemen took to a rooftop ahead of the release of new music.

The only differences were that this rooftop concert was in Wilkes-Barre and not London, and the blues rock trio rocked a lot harder than the Beatles did that fateful day.

The Wilkes-Barre-based band took to the roof of Park and Lock East on North Washington Street downtown on Friday evening, playing a set to celebrate the release of their newest single, “Broken.” A video for the song, shot inside the Irem Temple building nearby, was also released on Friday.

Friday’s rooftop concert was only open to reporters, but it was streamed online for fans — and, if you were downtown at the time, you almost certainly couldn’t have avoided Douglas’ soaring electric guitar parts, funky, grooving bass from Matt “The Dane” Gabriel and driving drums from Tommy Smallcomb.

Before the set while the rest of the band was getting things set up, Douglas took the time to speak with some of the reporters in attendance, saying it was exciting to take a page from the Fab Four’s book.

“I always wanted to do it,” he said of the rooftop concert.

Douglas said that he was a bit worried about how the weather would hold up throughout the set, but he remained hopeful.

“We have a short set, so I think we’re gonna be OK,” he said. “I think we’re gonna get ’em in.”

It turns out he was right: While skies were gloomy until just before the band started to play, the clouds opened up and sun shone down on them, with only a few raindrops.

Douglas said it was great to be able to be performing again, even if it was in this slightly different capacity.

“It’s nice to be back; it was a tough couple months, for sure, a tough year,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to play some music, some music we haven’t been able to play in a while but we’ve been looking forward to playing.”

The band opened their raucous set with the new single “Broken,” a heavy blues rock track that sounds like what would happen if Stevie Ray Vaughan turned his amps way up.

Douglas told reporters that “Broken” comes ahead of an album that will be coming in the fall, the first since their 2018 full-length “Break It Down.”

“Broken,” which was recorded at 8 Days a Week Studios in Northumberland, is now available to hear on major streaming platforms.

The band is scheduled to perform on May 30 in Karl Hall’s Out back at Karl Hall concert series, set to take place in the parking lot behind the venue on North Main Street downtown. They’ll be supported by The Tribe, Bob Lewis and the Brendan Brisk Band.