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windows are for cheaters

2008-03-29 Springsteen Seattle 1190
Originally uploaded by albabe.

I like to think that I am flexible, that my mind can change, given the right context or a good argument. On Friday afternoon, driving to Portland in what can only be described as blizzard-like conditions, I was all full of diatribes against the encore (omg do I still hate "American Land" with a passion not seen since my hatred of "Dissident" in Pearl Jam setlists), about how Bruce is taking things too easy, that I appreciate his need to spend time with his children but dear god in heaven, get on the f'ing charter jet one hour earlier and yes we all know that you don't go onstage at 7:30, but to go onstage at 8:40 is unconscionable...

...and no, I don't need to go to any more shows. I am happy to be here with my friends but the boyfriend can head down to the Carolinas, I will wait for the last arena run.

Famous last words.

Now, let's keep in mind that there was plenty of grumbling internally because of Friday's performance. It is very hard to find fault at a performance, of, say, a recitation of the Long Branch white pages when one is in the front row between Stevie and Soozie with your best Springsteen friends, but I also know that he turned up at 7:30pm and frankly, the performance felt like it. "For You" comes out of nowhere, has no context, but for this one he doesn't need the teleprompter and emotionally, he nails it. "Lost In The Flood" is grand and epic no matter what, almost, and I have seen him command the blimp nest that is Giants Stadium with a performance of it. Friday, he was fighting so hard to conduct and keep the band on tempo that he had to pace back and forth at one point to find the emotional space to return to the vocals. There were some serious trainwrecks going on... and "American Land" feels like the white carb emptiness that it has all tour, no matter how much fun people seem to be having (you know how much fun they would have to, say, "Seven Nights To Rock"? I bet just as much, and they wouldn't need the words on the screens to sing along after the first verse.)

But there were other moments, mostly during the Magic numbers, where the mastery and the concentration and the presence reminded you and made you angry simultaneously, because it IS a very good record with very good songs that deserve focus and attention. And being able to watch him conduct the band, direct Max, hold everything together from that vantage point (which is different now because I have done it a dozen times - not to sound greedy or spoiled, but the perspective is different when you have done it before because the first 10 times, trust me you are FREAKING THE FUCK OUT THE ENTIRE TIME).

Saturday I was exhausted, jetlagged, and feeling the difference between doing GA for Rising and doing GA in 2008. I was grateful for great seats and good friends and the ability to have a meal before the show, but I was equally envious of the folks on the floor of Key Arena below me. (I have only sat in a seat not on the floor at Key for a show once, and that was Black Sabbath, which I'll let you think about for a little while.) I was optimistic that this was going to be a good show, because Bruce wouldn't embarrass himself in front of the members of Seattle's heavy metal community (for those of you who remember "Almost Live") and because it was Saturday night and he wasn't commuting and maybe we would actually get a soundcheck and a good setlist.

I wrote about that show for brucespringsteen.net so you will need to wait for my thoughts on that show, but I came downstairs this morning in Seattle and asked the boyfriend, "So when are those shows again?" And it was a lot of things, but mostly that this is the stuff that reminds me of who I am, and that last night was my first Rosie with the boyfriend, and that we still haven't seen the E Street Band live together enough yet. And although Seattle was my 49th show (what do you do on 5 hour plane rides??), really, I am not done with any of this, and Bruce really hasn't done anything - "American Land," even, can be forgiven - to make me say goodbye just yet.

So I'll see you in the Carolinas.

IS THERE ANYBODY REALLY ALIVE OUT THERE?

rose garden, portland, or, 3-28-08
Happiness is: getting wristband #668 and having number #670 pulled as the start of the line.

good friday

on Gothamist today.

because the night

bruce springsteen & the e street band
nassau coliseum, 3-10-08

I feel like a lapsed member of my religion, not paying attention to setlists and show reports (at some point I realized I was in setlist blackout so decided to stay that way until Seattle and Portland). We weren't even going tonight, until the better half announced that we should, and found us two tickets behind the stage for under face. It was unexpected and I feel unprepared and a tiny bit out of place, until the band comes onstage and slams into "Night." Hey, ma, I'm home.

So I am still not consulting setlists, although I do know that tonight's rarities were not the rarities that sparked the purchase of tonight's tickets. However, needless to say that a setlist where I get "Night," "Adam," "Incident," "Jungleland" and "Because The Night," "She's The One" and (even) "Ramrod" certainly is well, well worth the money, even if the energy onstage was more than a little off. When Bruce came to the back of the stage for "Living In The Future" all I could think was how tired he looked. But, as we discussed on the way home, average performance + super-rarities = excellent. I would be feeling much differently, and much less charitable towards "Waiting On A Sunny Day" (hey, at least it wasn't "Out In The Street" as the family of five [two parents + 3 Bruce-bait] in the front row were requesting) if it had been this sloppy, out of sync performance with a very average setlist.

Moments tonight: "Because The Night" - Nils played a solo that Patti would have approved of. I was struck how this song was for so long the bridge between my two worlds. Bruce did it, Patti did it. It was the song that J. Michael Stipe guested on with Bruce during VFC for obvious reasons. This song was visible reconciliation at a time Bruce would go uncredited on Street Hassle to avoid guilt by association (as per Lou). I have written about this and spoken about this but it was a big, huge, enormous deal for me to have this tangible connection between two artists who were so vital to my existence at the time. Age 14.

Age 14. There was a young boy in the front row of the pit tonight who couldn't have been more than 14 or 15 and to watch this kid totally lose his shit when the intro to "Jungleland" started was a treat to behold. Not that I wasn't totally losing mine. "This one's for Nassau Coliseum" was the invocation - not that a set that opened with "Night" wasn't highly referential already - but he was doing his best to invoke the vibe. I never saw him at Nassau but I know this vibe, it is in my bones, it vibrates as part of my daily frequency. On good days it drives the car. On bad days it's sitting in the back seat but it's always there, reminding me of who I am.

"Jungleland," Bruce standing in the spotlight with the guitar aloft, that archetypal pose, the rock and roll warrior, guitar as sword, as instrument of battle. He faced the four directions, the four sides of the audience in tribute and in homage, to who he was and who we were, and then the song began. I think again, age 14, when allegiance to that record was a battle cry, a stake in the ground, a position statement. I hate the whole cell phones aloft thing at concerts these days (fuck you, Hewson) but the little blue lights glowing in the crowd that indicated that hundreds of people all over the world were listening to this moment with us was genuinely moving. Who do you call to play "Jungleland" to? Now there's a question.

All of this aside, the setlist still has pacing problems and thematic disconnects. He keeps doing this odd, fucked up trainwreck segue where he goes from something deeply spiritual into something trite, or vice versa. Tonight it was "Sunny Day" into "Incident." At MSG it was "Meeting"/"Jungleland" into "You Can Look..." For a person who is so invested in the art of the setlist this is inexcusable.

I do not like "American Land" any more than I did four months ago. We did the reprehensible, which is edge up the aisle towards the exits as though we were amateurs. Ah, the earth-quaking, booty-shaking, sexy-making E Street Band. See you in a few weeks. We're bringing a sign for "Hungry Heart".

saturnalia on location

look at the booklet for saturnalia, and then compare:

taken over a year ago, two blocks from my house.