jukeboxgraduate.com

farewell to the phantom

Danny Federici, for 40 years the E Street Band's organist and keyboard player, died this afternoon, April 17, 2008 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City after a three year battle with melanoma. [brucespringsteen.net]

safe journey, danny.

long live the e street band.

the highway is alive tonight

this is what happens when you don't get to the venue an hour before showtime and actually have time to REHEARSE and SOUNDCHECK.

i agree with those who claim that this trumps vedder; from what i can see, i wholeheartedly agree. outstanding.

Seattle review now up at brucespringsteen.net

Subject says it all. If you come late, you may need to scroll down a bit. (Philistines with no anchor tags.)

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.

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".

my kind of email

subject: Bruce in Asbury

Today they rehearsed several rarities and new things for the setlist. Including a few things that I believe neither of us have ever seen live.

welcome to the blimp nest.

J. Landau is fucking HIGH.

Six months in advance, on sale TWO WEEKS BEFORE CHRISTMAS?
You've GOT to be kidding me.

On the other hand, if we're talking something like 13 or 20 shows (and this is without the Yankee Stadium show plans), gotta start testing the water sooner rather than later.

11/19 blog on brucespringsteen.net

From our correspondents at backstreets.com: my piece on the second Boston show is now up on brucespringsteen.net.

the boston tea party: magic, part 3

Springsteen in Boston
11/18 & 11/19/07

So let's get a few things straight: Sunday was not the epiphany that people made it out to be. I know a lot of people who had fun on Sunday because they were with friends, or hadn't seen a show in a while, but let's call a spade a spade. Bruce was not feeling well, his voice had very little power, and the E Street Band was playing on different frequencies for more than a few songs. He mumbled the "Living In The Future" rap and forgot a key line (the one about "your circumstance") and then he trivialized (I thought) the end of it.

But, the good things: "Tunnel" was amazing to hear and "Jackson Cage" also a nice visitor, and it's hard to find anyone sane that's going to argue about "Jungleland," ever. The big difference that made the show for me was the crowd. The crowd is what made "No Surrender" into a goosebump experience instead of a shrug of the shoulders. MSG night 2 may have been a better show, and maybe a better "Jungleland" in terms of pure musical performance, but the crowd was flat and empty. In Boston, the crowd elevated the band, and Clarence nailed the sax solo with incredible power and precision.

But if I had had to fight for tickets to this show (they were put in our hands by yet another wonderful ticket fairy) I would have been pissed. There, I said it. I know, I know, every show is a wonderful gift and if I don't like it I don't have to go. This is an argument I am so tired of having. Going to multiple shows gives you the perspective of being able to differentiate between average and outstanding. Night 1 in Boston was average. Average in the Springsteen world is still better than many bands' soundchecks, but still a disappointment. It made me feel that the tour had not progressed one iota past the last time we saw the band, and made me wonder if the band being on what can only be termed "long rest" (to be tiresome and use a baseball analogy because I am lazy, and because it is the only other comparable thing) between shows is a very very bad idea.

And then we had night two, which came out of nowhere. The band was tight, Bruce was focused, and the setlist brought you shock after shock - to people who take a lot to shock at a Springsteen show. You want to think you're going to get some tour rarities at the last night of a leg, but no one expected every goddamn organ song in the world to make its way onto the setlist and be played with love and joy and energy befitting 10 or 20 years earlier. "10th Avenue" was a shocker but then again it shouldn't have been, not this night. But "E Street Shuffle" *and* "Kitty's Back" in the same show? And then "Sandy" for good measure?

(Astounding to me sometimes that I can say "20 years earlier" and be speaking from experience.)

There are other things to note, that "Working On The Highway" is retaining the water spray from Reunion, and I still like it as much as I did on Reunion, and that the redeemable thing about the performance of that song is that Bruce is channeling Elvis on the Louisiana Hayride, which can never be a bad thing.

We have decided that even with the Joe Torre benefit and Steinbrenner seats aside, that Bruce Springsteen is a fairweather baseball fan. No self-respecting Yankees fan would have given the Red Sox that kind of moment. And to bring back the Fenway shtick about "that team from - from- from - New - HAVEN" was silly. Except, of course, the Red Sox fans will cheer anything they can right now, and good for them to. MMmmmphf. (That's the sound of righteous indignation.)

There were about 20 enormous BIG MAN or CLARENCE banners behind the stage on Monday. Was there an anniversary I was unaware of? The winning signs were the person in the front row of the upper deck with the florescent "Be True" sign (that said "Thanks Bruce" on the other side), and the big bedsheet THANKS BRUCE, WE [heart] YOU that appeared during the encore, also in the upper deck.

And I know I am finally old, because the waving of the cell phones during the encore break just breaks my heart. The boyfriend blames Bono, but it is not entirely his fault. On the one hand I am glad we are not smoking so we do not have lighters in the profusion we did even 10 years ago, on the other hand I will go grumble about the good old days and go put on my first pressing of Wild & Innocent (with the yellow title). I will accept my curmudgeon-dom with good grace. Let me know if I am making room for you there.

(I am aware there are things I may not have touched on but I have another piece I wrote for Backstreets and until I know if it is to be published I do not want to recycle the ideas here.)

bruce at the joe torre benefit

(for those who don't know: it's not a benefit for joe torre himself, it's for his charity, which is a very worthy cause)

Bruce rewrites "California Sun" in honor of Torre going to manage the Dodgers.

There's a serious case of denial in this house.

those romantic young boys

I don't think I'm selfless enough to spend nine minutes holding a video camera 1) in the pit 2) through THIS song, but I'm awfully glad this person did. Incident from St. Paul.

bring back the tree and the bear while you're at it

Bruce and E Street in LA, 10/31/07. MUST SEE.

MAGIC, PART 2.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
Madison Square Garden
October 18, 2007

Wednesday night was spent in a drop line that was ultimately disappointing. Given the ginormous drops of Hartford and even Philadelphia - Philly! - MSG should've been a piece of cake. Wait in the line, put in the time. When security came out around 8:30 - when we were about 50 people from the front of the line - to tell us there would be no more tickets, we went home, grumbling, praying for a setlist full of things like the world premiere of the "My Lover Man" into "Reno", followed by "Mary, Queen of Arkansas" and Bruce being so enamored of the crowd response to "Out In The Street" that he did it twice in the set, a la U2 and "Vertigo." We didn't miss much, and kept hoping that the usual "second night is the best night" truism would hold.

Night two we were ticketed and said our blessings to the drop line as we walked by them on our way into the Garden. Once inside and on the floor, it was crystal clear why there was a miniscule drop: the guest list. After a while, we stopped counting the passes that were initialed BS and JLM and the gazillion people who were likely sponsors or advertisers for Stevie's Underground Garage, and that's before Sony and the attorneys and the accountants and the random corporate whoevers, like the investment bankers to our left that had no less than 16 seats, all together, 4 rows of 4 seats. If you think that sounds like your worst nightmare come to life, let me assure you that it was and it wasn't: for the most part, they STFU, and their worst offense was taking photos of themselves being the High Fiving White Guys with their iPhones. No, I'm not kidding.

I haven't talked about the calliope yet. I love that it's a tribute to Terry, but I think it needs to be the last thing on stage as the band leave, and not the first thing we see. It does not fit and without the audience knowing that it's a tribute to Terry, and understanding who, exactly, Terry was, again, it makes no sense.

Am I the only one who wishes Bruce would come out with Nils and do "Open All Night" into "Radio Nowhere"? I know it's obvious, but opening with "Radio Nowhere" is already the superhero of obvious.

"Night" in the #2 slot and it's clear that Bruce has found his groove 9 shows in. The set is baked. This is where I'd like to talk about the imposter who looks unmistakably like Sugar Lips Miami Little Steven Van Zandt, the guy singing harmony and playing guitar - wait, let me try that again - PLAYING GUITAR. The curmugdeons always gravely insist that Patti's guitar is not miced, blah blah blah, when in reality it was Steve's guitar that was low in the mix most of the time. During Reunion, we were just glad he was back onstage. During Rising, we expected a little bit more, but were okay that it was mostly color he was providing up there. This time around, if he hadn't plugged in and practiced - well, most of the fan base still wouldn't care, but his presence onstage would start to be a joke.

"Lonesome Day" and now it's my turn to talk about Clarence. When Rising finished, we all talked in low, hushed tones about how tired he looked, how bad he looked, and the fact that the Big Man is easily 10 years older than a group of guys who are already in their 50's. It did my heart good at CAA and in Philly and now, again, here, to see him owning the stage not just by right but by active claim, to own it energetically, for him to be the Big Man.

"Gypsy Biker" is stronger but still needs work. "Magic" is the chatterbox song, but no one seems to be leaving the arena yet, which is some kind of miracle. The energy level is odd, and flat. I know we had the investment bankers in large number but to my right the entire 100 section from the front of the stage onward seems to be sitting on their hands, here we are now, entertain us, while the other side is going apeshit.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

"Reason To Believe" is still a powerhouse. It's funny to watch the audience - a little confused at first, with some recognition of the technique (not the song) from anyone who saw Devils & Dust, and then when the band careens into the bridge and that "La Grange"-ish knockoff, there's a cheer that's almost as loud as would be later for a certain setlist rarity, proving my point that the high fiving white guys that make up 80% of a Springsteen audience are suckers for any 8 bar blues riff. It's a delight, though, to see them successful wrangle a Nebraska song into something that still fits the song but also fits the setlist, unlike that trainwreck known as Johnny 99 on the Rising tour.

END SPOILER.

"Candy's Room" into "She's the One" and all I can offer as theory about the Darkness slot is that it's the sex slot. Magic is such a dark record, none of the other relationship songs would really fit into the set.

"Living In The Future" is next, complete with Bruce testifying about all those great American attributes:
"The Jersey Shore!"
*cheer*
"Cheeseburgers!"
*cheer*
"The Bill of Rights!"
The two of us cheer loudly and lustily, revealing ourselves for the colossal dorks that we are.
"C'mon! The Bill of Rights has got to get louder applause than cheeseburgers, I'm sure."
*feeble cheer*
"Damn, people? New York City?"
*cheer*, mostly because they're cheering New York City, even though most of the people in the room probably have zip codes from outside of the five boroughs.
"What else do we love? The Statue of Liberty!"
*cheer*
"Technically in New Jersey of course..."
"Great," I say to the boyfriend. "I see where this one is going."
"It's not in New Jersey any more."
"Thanks, you tell him that."
Bruce: "The NY football teams, the Jets and the Giants!"
All I can think is: Wow, we're really going to reprise the MSG Reunion tour rap for 'Light of Day'? Because, you know, no one was at those shows, no one bought the record, no one bought the DVD or saw it on PBS.
All of this was forgiven, however, with this excellent addition/clarification:

"Now, because of the color of your skin, or your circumstance, or your religion, you may feel that these things don't have much effect on you. But all of these things are an attack on our Constitution, which means they are an attack on our very selves. On who we are, and our moral authority, and the pride that we have when we get to stand up and say, we are the Americans. So this is a song about sleeping through things that shouldn't have happened, but happened. So we're going to do something about it right now - we're going to sing about it! It's a start, the rest is up to us."

Memo to Mr. Springsteen: if you're going to put your face up to the camera and sing right into it, please 1) take some lessons from Mr. Hewson about how to do it correctly, and 2) GET BIGGER VIDEO SCREENS. If you are going to charge $90 for the 400 level seats, they shouldn't need binoculars to see the screens.

"Are there any lovers out there tonight?" "Tougher Than The Rest" is something I never get tired of seeing, and on this tour, in the "Patti spot," it's touching, and appropriate. I love watching Bruce and Patti up there playing guitar together, and if I say something about shades of Johnny and June all sorts of folks will keel over at the sheer blasphemy of it, but it IS, and it's nothing but wonderful, and I'd like to see the two of them do a tour, together, with his stuff and her stuff and stuff they both love.

"As I was saying to the folks last night, patti's got a new record out, on sale at the concession stand, along with some lovely t-shirts, and a new line of E Street Band sexual toys. What we use in the comfort of our own home, you, too, can use in the comfort of yours. Go on out there and check it out."

It's kind of refreshing that he's still a horndog at age 58, isn't it?

The stage darkens, and Bruce starts with "This is a special dedication tonight to an old friend of mine," and my first thought is OH MY GOD PLEASE LET IT BE ED NORTON, because the last time Ed Norton made a setlist request it resulted in "The Promise" and "Incident" and "For You" at the Staples Center (and suspicion is high that the "Ed" getting recent setlist dedications is the same one.). I've got the world's tallest men in front of me, so I don't have a 100% clear vantage at all times, so when the boyfriend grabs my arm and murmurs, "There's a double bass onstage, and there are only two songs that feature a double bass," my mind immediately goes to the one song I am still chasing, and I clench my hands and pray hard and also pray just as hard that the bozo crowd doesn't ruin whatever this is going to be.

Bruce starts talking about his friendship with Peter Boyle, which is touching, and completely random, and when he dedicates the next song to him you know that it's not going to be some random Seeger Sessions song that they reworked with the double bass, fooling us all. And I know that they soundchecked "Jungleland" and I know it's been on setlists, but if you expected to get "Meeting Across The River" into "Jungleland," let me get your stock tips, too.

I have seen them before, too, and when the boyfriend was giving me random tour updates I was all, "Well, sure, okay," but it's not like it's on my active list, and if that sounds jaded, it's because there are only so many tours left and so many songs I still need or want to hear, and the magic required to invoke Meeting/Jungleland isn't exactly around in droves. It doesn't mean that I didn't stand there with my eyes closed, willing myself to absorb the song in through every pore of my body. I didn't want to watch this one on the screens, and didn't want to do the swaying-back-and-forth-on-tiptoes thing required to give me a vantage of the stage. And - Meeting! It's a favorite for me, because the lyrics are so sparse but yet so vivid, completely economical but yet paint a complete picture in your head. Their impact has not lessened one iota since the first time I listened to Born To Run, sitting on my purple carpet in my purple room, back against the door, Radio Shack headphones on, album open to the lyrics on my lap.

Of course, there was no guarantee that they would go into "Jungleland," and when the first notes sounded, it was the sound of 18000-some people being relieved and delighted and excited and every other possible emotion. Even the ones that didn't get the exact, precise significance of this song being on the setlist still know that it's "Jungleland" and it's a fucking great song. And for the rest of us, it's, well, "Jungleland," and I realized that until you are standing there listening to it you don't realize how deep it will hit you, how profound the experience truly is, especially in New York, especially at MSG. It makes you feel alive and sad and enlightened and brave and the same tumult of emotions I felt the first time I heard it, mixed with some level of OMFG, JUNGLELAND, and Jungleland with the boyfriend for the first time. The investment bankers look bemused and kind of stop with the high-fiving for a little while, because they are surrounded by people who are clearly enraptured and they don't know why, and suddenly seem a little sheepish more than anything. For me, it is the rallying cry of the tribe, and the rallying cry of my tribe, and who I am, and who I chose to be the first time I heard that record and let the words paint the pictures for me. I have tried to write about "Jungleland" for years and have always fallen flat on my ass each and every time. It is the ultimate example of one of Bruce's key traits, the ability to raise the mundane to the sacred.

We get like half a second to catch our breath before being thrown into "You Can Look But You Better Not Touch", which is odd, and bemusing, and I grumble that if they were going to trainwreck us like this they could have done "Crush On You" or "Held Up Without A Gun," but with the next song it's clear, because "Devil's Arcade" becomes the beer run song, and he didn't want that to happen immediately after "Jungleland." Okay.

I've discussed the end of the set before, and while I think it holds up thematically, I think there is still too much sludge there, that there is probably another order in which to present those songs. And "Badlands" as the set closer is fine, but "Last To Die" or :"Long Way Home" would be equally strong IF THEY WERE MOVED TO THAT POSITION because they would have no choice but to become strong enough to close the set.

Before I go and trash the encore again, let me say that I liked "Thundercrack" being there, and that it works in the back of the house, that people paid more attention to it than they did to the Magic material, and there are enough random people to keep it moving energetically. So I hope it makes it through Chicago and Minneapolis and everywhere else. But the rest of the encore is just a trainwreck. I don't[ care that Bono thinks "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" is the hit of the record, get it out of the encore. And dude, Brian Wilson called.

Waiting for the floor to empty out after the show, the boyfriend looked on the floor and found a $20 program lying there, discarded by someone. We happily picked it up and gave it a good home, only to discover that it's probably the worst program ever. It's a glorified, overgrown Magic cd booklet, and my word, we are heartily tired of Danny Clinch.

Walking home after the show, I couldn't escape the feeling that 1) the set is baked and 2) the band is baked and 3) I am not sure how many more of these I need to see. I know I was thoroughly disappointed by the energy level at MSG, which is part of the problem, but was not all of the problem. I am concerned that it's going to start being like D&D where people were chasing shows in ridiculous multiples because Bruce was cracking open the back catalog and you'd sit through a set for one or two miracles, but it wasn't like the rest of the set was evolving or expanding as the tour went on. I don't see the place in this setlist for the band to expand or evolve; on Rising, you had things like "World's Apart" and "the Fuse" where they had to find a way to enliven and develop the material or it would have had to get killed from the setlist. There are songs on Magic that could serve that purpose, but the songs on Magic are also not as challenging for the band as the Rising songs were; Bruce already admitted he wrote the Magic songs with the band in mind.

The encore has got to be reworked. i know bruce likes American Land, but the energy it's generating is artificial and forced, they're relating positively to the music because it's some kind of macho Irish jig and it's an excuse to jump on chairs and act like fools after 2 1/2 hours. I don't mind the party encore, but I also kind of still want the serious encore, too, and this is where I'll talk about how some ways I feel Bruce shortchanges the set - the band introductions seem like an afterthought, for example, and while I don't need an 18 minute 10th Avenue to accomplish that, the introductions for a 9 piece band are necessary and a tradition I do not want to lose in 2007 just because we're trying to keep the show shorter. On the other hand, there are parts of the show that could be tightened up - the instrumental end to Radio Nowhere, for example, doesn't need to play out to the very last note, and there are other parts of the show where things could be tightened up for economy of time and space and attention.

The encore is high fructose corn syrup, empty calories. As much as I like "Thundercrack" getting out of Asbury, I think that it's a random catalog pull and not, let's treat the rest of the world to something special. The encore is not solid, it's not constructed with the same detail and care as the set is, it's everything jammed together into 30 minutes and there is no City of Ruins or other anything thoughtful to inspire you or make you think. I understand that we're done with City of Ruins and If I should Fall Behind but there's a missing gravitas that is not doing the audience any kind of favor. It's unfortunate. I'm thankful I have the Boston shows before we move onto the stadiums, because I can't see this problem being solved there. And let's remember, the stadiums got City of Ruins too, it's not a case that the stadiums can't take the serious encore.

Ultimately, who knows. It's just a rock and roll show, 12 shows into the tour. Maybe it all works just fine for everyone in the audience except for the trainspotting geeks like yours truly. It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it.

--

Coming next: Boston

MAGIC: Première partie

State of the Union: Two nights on the Magic Tour

NIGHT 1, REHEARSAL SHOW, Continental Airlines Arena
Friday, September 28, 2007
"E Street Boot Camp!"

This is the first tour since I've been back east that I've missed the Asbury rehearsals, which was nail-biting regretful until this show popped up on the horizon. It was downright surreal to walk into the expanse of CAA and find it 10 percent full, to stroll across the floor and assume a spot at the stage with no effort at all whatsoever. Multiply that when the band walks onstage.

Once again, these 9 (okay, 10) people are together and there are things that happen when they are together that just do not happen any other time. The only other connection that goes back further in my life is my family.

The new songs are still in need of work and growth, they are still Bruce's, the band does not own them yet, but that's just a function of time. It is nice to genuinely like the new album, and not have to pretend, or count the minutes until an old song is presented. The raw spots and the scars are interesting to a geek like me, the evolution is always fascinating, which is why I love the early shows. And the early shows are key for something like the acoustic version of "Town Called Heartbreak," because by the time I see it on Philadelphia one week later, has morphed into a full band version, much to my dismay.

My first reaction when they started the song in Jersey was for my jaw to hit the floor, and then, immediately: THEY NEED TO DO MORE OF THIS. It was real and honest and adult, and the performance spoke volumes about their relationship. I liked it because I knew it would piss off many, many people who consider the E Stret Band stage to be their personal sacred ground. "Fuck the sacred cows" is what my notes say from that night. In any event, by the time we get to Philly, it wasn't what it was a week ago, and that's too bad; now it's just another song in the set. However, that may prevent the inevitable beer exodus this way - which is simply not preventable no matter how hard Bruce tries.

You would think a 3/4 empty CAA would be devoid of the legendary Jersey yakkers, the people there to see and be seen, but alas, they were not, and wanted to chat behind us for all of the new songs. The advantage to the empty CAA was that they took the hint after a few glares, and moved somewhere else just before I was about to walk over and explain to them that we paid for our tickets.

What I didn't know, and wasn't expecting, was the finale of "The American Land," which would be like stopping at McDonald's for a Quarter Pounder after a delightful meal at your favorite steakhouse. He's got this thing about the encore, and the type of crowd participation that has to be there for it to be successful, but - he HAS it already. Either work up a new song, get a cover or work up an E Street version of the song (and not just a juryrigged Seeger Sessions version). The only time I want to see two accordions onstage is if Wild Billy is in the house.

Afterwards, I'm trying to piece together the story arc, and pieces of it fit - "Radio Nowhere" into "Ties" into "Lonesome Day" makes sense, "Livin' In The Future" into "Promised Land" into "Reason To Believe" also makes sense. But it's the last five songs of the set where the theme is about as subtle as the proverbial flying mallet: find me someone who can't follow BITUSA into "Devil's Arcade" into "The Rising" into "Last To Die" into "Long Walk Home" into "Badlands"? The previous five songs are nicely summed up in the last five lines of that song in case you didn't have a lyric sheet at home.

NIGHT 2: Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA
Saturday, October 6, 2007

I wasn't even supposed to be here today.

No, seriously. Despite the fact that I haven't seen Bruce in Philly since Tunnel of Love aside from VFC, I had never made it to the city of Brotherly Love for a show in recent times, and this time we had to skip it due to a baseball playoff calendar that got yanked out from under us. The tickets were offered to us on Thursday, and we took it as a sign we should go.

For this show, we were in the first row behind the back pit barrier, almost dead center, somewhere I never get to stand, which made up for missing the pit by one person. And night two in Philly will make up for just about anything, the band coming out and careening into "Night" as an opener, before heading into "Radio Nowhere." As much as it irritated me when I first heard it, it's growing on me now and it fits nicely. The crowd is starting to know the songs, and I forget that most people haven't had the album for a month already.

The story arc feels more scattered tonight, and I can't believe BITUSA is out of the set, although the set closer seems to be cast in stone now. The "Darkness" interlude feels like just that (Friday night they got the one-two punch of "Candy's Room" into "She's The One" we had at CAA). It's making more sense, but not enough yet. Then again, we're on show number 6.

The Philly special: the inevitably delightful "Incident on 57th Street." And, the thing is, knowing that it's coming isn't going to detract the experience for me. At CAA we were sidestage enough that I could read the setlist perched on the monitor board, and it didn't matter. I liked knowing that "She's the One" and "Candy's Room" were coming, because I could enjoy hearing them instead of spending the first three minutes freaking out that they were being played. "Incident" is a Philly setlist chestnut, thanks to Ed Sciaky (of blessed memory).

When "Incident" started, I wanted to extract myself from my spot against the back barrier and go find a spot in the back of the arena so I could just kind of hug the song and the moment to myself. "Incident" is instant bliss, you cannot help but be transported, it patches the cracks in your soul for a little while and makes you whole. The last time I heard "Incident" was on a crazy 24 hour trip to Montreal from Seattle where I took a non-Bruce friend and sat behind the stage and even though there was no way she could completely understand what it meant to hear "Incident," the song and the music and the audience reaction made it easy for her to get it. Imagine "Incident" at your first Bruce show.

On the note of sacred cows, let's discuss the reinvented "Reason To Believe." This didn't surface until the CAA rehearsal, and is the best of both worlds, the Devils & Dust bullet mic and amped distortion, with a hard rocking blues version sandwiched in the middle. It makes you wake up and pay attention and remakes the song completely. The bullet mic instead of an acoustic guitar lets him be physical and move around the stage, and the one thing I liked about the Seeger Sessions band was that he had the ability to dance around and shake his ass. (Note how I said "the one thing". I saw one Seeger Sessions show, plus the Good Morning America gig, and I was quite fine with that. Still am, for all the noise I made about needing to see 'the phases of the evolution of Bruce's career.' Feh.)

I was pleased "Living In The Future" retained its full pre-song rap about the woes of America even on the Today show, and while the boyfriend thinks the "What are we going to do about it? We're going to sing about it, right now," has to go, I think that's the critical message here. Bruce already tried direction action in 2004. This time around he's going to do what he does, which is sing about it, a fine tradition that goes back to "What can a poor boy do/cept to sing for a rock and roll band" because sleepy America is no place for a Street Fighting Man, either.

I expect to hear "Thundercrack" in Asbury because, well, that's where you can find 2000 people who are pleased as punch to stand in place for 8 minutes and 28 seconds (usually longer live) and participate in a call and response that is much needed, and is an essential component of the performance. One could argue that "Thundercrack" could be brought out at any special Springsteen moment (say, the last night of Devils & Dust in Trenton). Pulling it out at CAA kind of made sense, because it was a benefit and a rehearsal and we're still in Jersey and there are likely to be some of the usual suspects present.

But hauling out the angel from the innerlake on the road is a decision I am a little concerned with. Even on Saturday night in Philly, getting the pit to chime in when they needed to was a little tentative, and I have no idea what it was like in the back of the house because I don't know anyone who sits in the back of the house. And Bruce needs to be concerned about what the back of the house is going to do for 10 minutes during the encore. I like the fact that he's willing to slay another sacred cow by taking it out of Asbury, and I like the idea that he's trying to set it up as special and rarely played (but let's lose the 'never played' intro, dude, because anyone can go to your web site these days and find out that it was more than a bit of poetic license). Time will tell what happens with this chestnut.

So if you got an encore that consisted of "Thundercrack," "Born To Run," and "Dancing in the Dark," wouldn't you go home happy, sated, delighted? Of course you would. Why we needed "American Land" thrown in for good measure made it feel like the party guest that overstayed its welcome. Where is "Seven Nights To Rock" when you need it?

Still to come:
3 & 4, MSG
5 &6, BOSTON

Why Bruce Springsteen on MySpace is a bad idea*

*(and not just because the Springsteen children are so embarrassed they can never go online again)

Let's start with the easy out: MySpace is no longer relevant. Tastemakers are not hanging out there, looking for musical suggestions. Bruce being on MySpace feels like the out-of-place, afterthought that it is.

On the one hand, I can see the utility of a MySpace promotion. MySpace is good at being a virtual billboard of HEY, THIS NEW THING IS OUT! PAY ATTENTION! But it's a totally obnoxious, in-your-face kind of way, and for some things, that's completely appropriate. It could even have been appropriate for Bruce, but not just by setting up a page, and bragging that Tom friended him first. That joke was old five years ago. Please tell me Sony has more money in their ad budget than that, and that there's someone at Sony who understands online marketing beyond "let's set up a page on myspace".

To add insult to injury, the front page blurb on myspace.com reads:

"The man himself Bruce Springsteen FINALLY gave in and started his very own MySpace Page for his new record coming out called Magic! Go to Bruce’s Page today and show him some respect, add him as a friend, leave him a comment, and thank him for so many good songs."

Let's see how many ways this is probably the worst music ad copy written since "The Man Can't Bust Our Music":

1) "Thank him for so many good songs"? Are we promoting the new album, or trying to remind people who Bruce Springsteen is? First of all, I really don't think we need to do that, and to take the condescending position that people need to thank him is already going to alienate any new fans who already think he's not relevant to them.

Is the point of the page to promote the record (which is actually really fucking good), or to remind the "kids" that Bruce and E Street are touring and you should find $95 to go see him? Or is it both? If it's both, then do it with respect to the audience. Don't pander or lecture to them. The MySpace demographic will already give props to Nebraska and Tom Joad. The rest they think is totally hokey.

2) "Show him some respect!" : While I'd argue that "Born To Run: is relevant to just about anyone who loves rock and roll, I'm not sure that we can command that the denizens of MySpace owe Bruce any kind of gratitude, nor do I see that as any kind of valid promotional spin that will attract attention.

"Show him some respect"? You know, there was a whole fucking musical revolution that kind of destroyed the idea that the new generation owed the former generation any kind of respect. If Sony really wants a new generation to listen to the record, then get some tastemakers in the target market to write about the record thoughtfully. Even - gasp! - give them access to interview Bruce themselves, and not through the usual filters.

I also gotta say - although I think this record is actually excellent, I'm not sure that a new generation is going to find this record particularly relevant TO THEM. And you know what? That's okay. I mean, I don't find Daft Punk relevant, and I'm pretty okay with that. I'm not sure I'm supposed to.

4) "Leave him a comment": well, considering how many people on MySpace believes that David Wright from the New York Mets has about 12 "official" MySpace pages, I'm quite sure that people on MySpace, as well as Springsteen fans who still think it's 1995 in terms of the internet, will come and leave a comment believing that BRUCE HIMSELF is going to see it and give them the "BEST FAN EVER" award.

Now that that's done (and that was really so easy it's almost unfair):

Is this an attempt by MySpace to attract Bruce's demographic? Possibly. However, Bruce's demographic will largely get on MySpace and not find it useful or relevant to them. The overblown Geocities-type graphics generally turn off the older demographic, who are also more task-oriented when they do go online - they might waste plenty of time on the internet, but it won't be hanging out on MySpace looking to increase their friends list. (Then again, these are the same people who use the same 16x16 signature graphic EVERY TIME they post on the Backstreets Ticket Exchange message board, even if it's a dozen or so times in the same thread, so maybe I am underestimating them.)

If Sony wanted to use MySpace to promote Bruce, they would have been better off running an ad, or going whole hog and taking over the main page of the site for a week or two. The idea is to get people to listen to the record and see that it's valid and relevant and that Bruce can still write great songs. Let's face it; the MySpace demographic going to find a torrent somewhere to download it, and you're not going to lose money on them because THEY NEVER WOULD HAVE BOUGHT IT ANYWAY. If they download it and like it, there's a chance that they might pony up the bucks for the tour - which won't make Sony happy, but will line the Springsteen pocketbook, so Bruce should STFU about that.

If Sony wanted to use social media to promote Bruce, they would have created a Ning site, or some kind of proprietary, easy-to-navigate, tastefully visually designed community that would attract the thousands of fans that are involved in the various message boards, newsgroups, private message boards, secret mailing lists, and other discussion forums. They would have had ready-made content available immediately, and then they could have promoted that community via targeted ad buys online and off. Stop trying to make Bruce fit into the existing channels, and create a channel that fits Bruce. Create a channel that's innovative and has some interest and meaning and integrity.

I mean, what next, a Facebook group?

SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE.

is anybody...

...really alive out there?

Here's a hint: maybe you could SEE if anyone was alive if you used some LIGHTING in the video. I mean, maybe.

And, uh, Stevie? The sunglasses.

hey ho, rock and roll, deliver me from nowhere

this isn't the link you're all looking for

p.s. Jonathan Richman called

tick tick tick tick

t-minus 12 hours and counting.

we hope.

the carnegie hall springsteen tribute

Damon Gough is my new hero. No, wait, I'll explain.

Listen: Patti was, well, Patti, and there's no way in hell Steve Earle could fuck up "Nebraska". The Bacon Brothers were passable. Joseph Arthur played a "Born In The USA" with strength and guts. Pete Yorn made me like him despite my best intentions, mostly because he was more than happy to give us a pre-show interview and because the interview was lacking artifice on any level. M. Ward was unfortunate, as the band was playing the full band version while he was playing a solo acoustic version of "I'm Going Down" and it was a little bit of a train wreck. I thanked the deities for a piano-only version of "Serenade" and wanted to shoot the Low Stars, whoever they are, for butchering "One Step Up". Jesse Malin and Ronnie Spector was well-intended, but poorly executed, and it just made me sad. The Jersey Guys made everyone around us say the same thing: Why is someone playing a Tom Waits song?

My top five performances:

1. Badly Drawn Boy aka Damon Gough: Thunder Road. The only Born To Run appearance. More below.
2. Odetta, "57 Channels": may I some day be this cool.
3. The Hold Steady, "Atlantic City": and I don't even like them. At all. (That might change.) Noted that I DO NOT SEE ANY SPRINGSTEEN COMPARISON WHATSOEVER except that once upon a time Bruce used a lot of words in his songs.
4. Josh Ritter, "The River": a musician not even on my radar grabbed my attention with the Springsteen-esque introduction and heartfelt (but not identical) performance.
5. Marah and "The Rising". Major props for playing something recent. Kudos for accomplishing what Bruce could not, using bagpipes onstage. And Adam Garbinski clearly knows every single word to "Rosalita" and doesn't care who knows it.

Special props to Elysian Fields for "Streets of Fire" (hell, Bruce doesn't even do it any more) and the chops to be the house band all night in front of a very tough crowd.

But Badly Drawn Boy was something else altogether.

We wanted to talk to him before the show, because he's on record as being THE Springsteen fan of all Springsteen fans, the musician that wears his Bruce heart on his sleeve shamelessly. He's obsessed. He's one of us. All of this was clear. And he was the only musician with the guts to not just take something from Born To Run but take THE song from Born To Run. "Thunder Road" is Bruce's touchstone, it's his doppelganger, it's his nemesis, it's his salvation. It's the one song - to him.

And Damon knows this, I mean, there is no way he doesn't know it because he's a songwriter and because he's a fan and he's read everything there is to read and knows everything there is to know, and hell, he may have read my article in Backstreets from the Somerville shows in 2003, where Bruce laid it on the table for us in re: "Thunder Road".

At Carnegie Hall. In New York City. Across the river from New Jersey, full of people who sincerely applauded every time the state was mentioned, not the usual knee-jerk "Bruce is from Jersey so we applaud New Jersey" response, but people with actual pride in being from the state. Fans who had "Stand On It" as their ringtone (it was funny the first time it went off behind us. Not so funny the second time.)

Forget the audience, look at the musicians onstage. You're playing with a diverse group of accomplished folks, including Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees - okay, fuck that, you're playing with Patti Smith and Ronnie Spector and Steve Earle to start with, and other people who are hardly small shakes.

Badly Drawn Boy walks out on the Carnegie Hall stage, harmonica in hand, a little uncertain: "I'm thrilled but I'm terrified," he said. That was when we realized he was doing the full band version, none of this wussy singer-songwriter acoustic "Thunder Road" crap for Damon, no, this was his chance and he was going to go for it. All the accolades in the world, all the positive reviews, all of the stars in Q and Melody Maker don't matter much now. This is the culmination of a lifetime (and I realize this is a dramatisation, because the guy has a rich and successful songwriting career, but there's no way this wasn't a monumental thing).

He began tentatively, almost like a guy in a bar singing karaoke with his friends, and then relaxed into it some more, he realized that he could do this and that we were with him, and as he sang, I got goosebumps. It had to be the rawest, most naked thing I'd seen on stage in years. Not raw as in unpracticed, but raw as in honest and true and real and unadorned. This was a fan singing Bruce for Bruce and for himself and for us. In that moment, more than anyone else who had been on that stage, or was going to be on that stage, he was one of us. I am rooting for him to kick ass and take names and I don't even know him or know his music all that well, but it didn't matter. This was the kind of feeling I had when Patti or the Ramones or the Clash got inducted into the Hall of Fame: one of us finally makes the big time.

He could have picked any other song, he could have picked "Mary, Queen of Arkansas" and played it safe, done it acoustically, kept it standard. But he didn't.

I'm still kind of dazed about Bruce showing up. Of course, the problem was that, for me (and for probably 1/4 of the audience) the jig was up once we spotted Kevin Buell (Bruce's roadie) onstage. (And to be fair, I did know ahead of time, because we were at the press reception - but it wouldn't have been the first time Bruce was unofficially slated to appear and then changed his mind for whatever reason.)

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad and all (beyond all possible gladness) but it was so - unexpected - and so much had happened onstage and now, here he is, singing a version of "Rosalita" that will go down in history, and not just because of the attempt to summarize the song during what would have been the bridge.

The encore: Was a cast of thousands coming on the stage, Dave Peterson (who plays drums in Marah) bringing out his relatively new baby to be part of it all.
"Volunteers for verses?" Himself asks.
Badly Drawn Boy steps forward before the words are out of his mouth.
Craig Finn steps up next, raises a hand.
Jesse Malin comes up last.

And it's "Rosalita," again, but it's like the last day of class in the auditorium, it's that Phoenix 78 version come to life with a dozen Bruces being goofy and abandoned onstage. Everyone is going crazy and dropping veneers of cool, jockeying for the front, dancing around like crazy, unabashed geekiness, people goodnaturedly jockeying for position at the microphone with Bruce and knowing that they were doing this because they don't ever know when they'll do it again, and the crowd is of course almost louder than the stage at this point, three hours of sitting quietly and behaving (for the most part, thank you) are now over. "I ain't here on business, baby, I'm only here for fun." I get to sing "Rosie" with the boyfriend, and with Bruce, and with Marah, and everyone else on that stage.

The best part of it all is this: it was a GREAT night before he walked out on that stage.

photos from last night

From the lovely and talented Debra L Rothenberg.

Badly Drawn Boy is my new hero.

bruce-bielanko bear hug

Marah at Light Of Day, 12/2/06


Originally uploaded by The Girl Who.

saying goodbye to the casino

asbury park, nj

SIGNS OF THE APOCALYPSE

EXHIBIT 1:

Yes. That's Chris Cornell gracing a NYC bus shelter, doing a John Varvatos ad.

EXHIBIT 2:

Bruce admiring the wave, at the House of Evil, sitting in George Steinbrenner's personal seats. Ya called off the public rehearsal shows for this?

*sigh*

that daring young man on the flying trapeze

Bruce Springsteen & The Seeger Sessions Band
Convention Hall
Asbury Park, NJ 4-26-06

So, Bruce is now out on tour with the Seeger Sessions Band. I don't know if you're going or not, but you need to think about going, if it comes to your area. Even -- especially -- if you don't like Springsteen with E Street.

The essential concept to understand is this: This show is not, at all, what you think it is going to be. Not only is it not what you think it is going to be, it is a million times more than you could have ever imagined it would be.

Don't judge it on the record; in my opinion, the performances on the record are flat, and with a few exceptions, probably won't resonate with you strongly unless you've seen the live show. Don't worry about needing to listen to the record before you see the show -- this is one show you don't need to do your homework for. The songs, along with the exuberance onstage, are inviting enough.

is it a straight-ahead rock and roll show? no. it's not Bruce solo, it's not Bruce with the 92 band, it's not Bruce with E Street. You can't compare it to any of those things because it's nowhere in the neighborhoods of the above. You can't expect to react to this show the same way you do to a Bruce Springsteen show in the past simply because his name is on the ticket. It is not the same animal. The band does not possess the dynamics of longevity present in E Street, and the material doesn't provide the emotional touchstones you are accustomed to. This can end up feeling disconcerting if you focus on their absence, instead of looking beyond that to what is going on onstage.

Bruce gets to be Bruce; as he astutely pointed out at the last rehearsal show, the whole reason Frank Bruno Jr. is on that stage is so that when he's out front shaking his ass, someone is actually playing the guitar. And that comment tells you a lot about why Bruce embarked on this project: they're not his songs, so there are no sacred cows to worry about slaughtering. There are 17 other people on that stage for you to look at -- there is a LOT going on, besides the aforementioned ass-shaking. Compare that to Devils & Dust where you could, sometimes, hear a pin drop (by royal command). He doesn't have to hand out little flyers as you walk in the door insisting that you engage in all nose-blowing before the show starts, lest your coughing disturb the maestro. And (also very much unlike D&D) it is the kind of show for which cold beer at a reasonable price is almost a downright necessity.

You will know these songs. I know them from Girl Scout camp and from my father (who learned them at Boy Scout camp); Bruce mentioned that other people have told him they'd learned them in Sunday School. If you have never heard them before, one of the beautiful tenets of folk and gospel is true: they're written for everyone to sing. And everyone can sing along, without ruining any part of the experience, unlike the off-tune bozo who feels the need to belt "I got a 69 Chevy with a 396" (or name the equivalent, before you start arguing with me about how many times, exactly, Bruce has played "Racing In The Street" in the last five years) into your left ear, every single time.

When I was relating the show to the boyfriend, I slipped and said, "You've got to hear this cover of 'Cadillac Ranch'". Now, it can't really be a cover when it's his song, but the subconscious error was telling, because it feels like a different song. "Cadillac Ranch" works (even if he was singing it in the wrong key and was gently but firmly corrected by Patti walking over to him in the middle of the song and gratuitously displaying the chord her fingers were forming on the fretboard. Oops.). It is bigger, grander, bolder, and it makes me wish he'd bring out the map of Mesopotamia from the BITUSA Stadium leg because that would fit here like it was invented for this show.

"Johnny 99." What is it about this song, in particular, that he turns to it for reinvention? We're on the third incarnation now. I like this one so much better than what got presented on the Rising tour, but it was not the strongest of the revised originals presented. Same with "If I Should Fall Behind." If he needs a love song, and the show does, then bring out "Valentine's Day" or "Tougher Than The Rest" or pick some lovely Johnny Cash/June Carter duet.

"Open All Night." I was listening to a Chuck Berry compilation on the way down to the show, and not that this is new news or a revelation or anything, but I was drawn to once again affectionately observe how much "Open All Night" is an almost "Tweeter And The Monkey Man" homage to "You Can't Catch Me," and therefore, by extension, for it to be part of this show's setlist was nice synchronicity. However, I did not expect it to turn into a 40's swing number, complete with Andrews Sisters intro from Patti, Soozie and Lisa Lowell. It's fucking legendary. Were we in Convention Hall or at the Brooklyn Paramount?

The other -- see, I wanted to type 'covers' again -- rearranged originals -- varied wildly. Of note, "Adam Raised A Cain" was not too far from a recent version, but still filled with fire and ice, and owed an awful lot, I thought, to Johnny Cash, and "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" -- both songs that have been reinvented before, but the latter closes the set and it felt like I was watching the closing number from "Oklahoma". A throwaway song becomes grand and encompassing and while it feels completely unfamiliar in one sense (because the new arrangement turns it inside out) it is still the song you know.

The songs are big, and the arrangements are broad, and sometimes there might be too much instrumentation (at one point toward the end, Bruce yells, "Did the glockenspiel make it?" and all I could think was - my god, enough already! But there it was, stage left.) They are flavored with everything, folk twang and gospel shouting and swing and jump blues and funk and cajun and rockabilly. It is like watching the Mad Professor experimenting with musical test tubes, and trying his hand at leading a BIG band, and from that perspective it is not just enjoyable, it is fascinating. I realize, however, that I am in the trainspotter minority on this.

So, now let's talk about the band, this cast of thousands (seriously, we're approaching Solomon Burke territory here) onstage with Bruce this time out. They are all strong and competent musicians, some stronger than others, but the clams weren't coming from them.

The horn section: I had serious complaints about the new horn section not having a stage presence.
the boyfriend: "Is that they don't have a stage presence, or is it that they're just not La Bamba and Pender?"
me: "They have negative stage presence AND they're slobs."

I realize that I am holding them to an impossibly high standard but I expect my horns to be sharp dressers and have the choreography down. They certainly played well, but not exceptionally, but I have hopes that might improve.

Chocolate Genius is Bruce's new male on-stage foil and HE NEEDS TO DO MORE THAN HE DOES RIGHT NOW. Because when the two of them click, it is compelling and just this side of breathtaking. Keep this guy around and let him re-arrange an original of his choosing.

After running down the stage presence of the remainder of the band (give the band a name. it will give them an identity and they are entitled to that. Think about the Ex-pensive Winos for an example.), it's clear that the people who have presence and personality are the ones who have played onstage with Bruce before, and so feel comfortable. It'll be interesting to see the evolution of the band as the tour goes on: will the band develop a personality, or will it just become this slick collection of very competent professional musicians? (Which is where LaBamba and Pender come in; yes, they are slick, but nothing can be too serious with them around.)

I know it was a rehearsal but I thought "We Shall Overcome" was flat and a serious anticlimax, "Eyes On The Prize" (where Chocolate Genius was mindblowing) was far more moving. "Johnny 99" (as previously mentioned) and, surprising, "Adam Raised A Cain" didn't do that much for me. It's not that it's my favorite song and so he can't touch it - by all means, take it apart and put it back together again as many times as you want - I just think he could have pushed the envelope in a different direction, or perhaps chosen another song.

A ticket fell in my lap and since it was Convention Hall, I didn't much care where I sat. But I ended up not near anyone I have ever known or met, and, gratefully, was not surrounded by people introducing themselves by their screen name or by whatever message board they hung out on. (I long for the days where people at shows introduced themselves by name and where they were from.) In other words, normal, average fans, people who cared enough to spend $100 and get out of work early to make the 5:30pm show time. People who the stereotype might dictate would be there to yell for "Born To Run" and be going on beer runs all night.

Except they didn't. People were entertained. People were amused. People were moved to standing ovations for numbers like "Jacob's Ladder," and to sing along wherever they could. People knew the songs, applauded when they recognized them. I witnessed little impatience and a great deal of attention paid to what was going on onstage, far more than I ever saw as a result of the artificial gulag of silence created during the Devils & Dust tour. I still think the ticket price is too fucking high, because the people who should see this tour won't be able to afford it, but I think people will come, and people will enjoy it more than they would ever expect they would enjoy a non-acoustic, non-E-Street Bruce Springsteen tour.

This show is part summer stock, part revival tent, part Vaudeville; it owes as much to Sister Rosetta Tharpe as it does to Elvis and as much to Garrison Keillor and Prairie Home Companion as it does to the Grand Old Opry or the musical numbers of every Elvis Presley movie ever made (even, and especially, the really bad ones). It is Americana, pure and simple, it is based on a common denominator designed to appeal to a wide group of folks, just like its influences of origin were. All we need is a Chautauqua tent and you'd have everything you need. Knowing Bruce, that might just be next.

Seriously, this show isn't a reinvention, nor is it a drastic departure, but it is uplifting and joyful and at times contains as much fire and intensity as you've seen him evidence in a more classic rock and roll format. Like anything the man does, if you're willing to go along for the ride, he can take you to some amazing places. I look forward to seeing where this journey takes us and how it might inspire him next.

SLEEP DEPRIVED GMA RAMBLINGS

Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band
Good Morning America
Convention Hall, Asbury Park 4-25-06

It was very, very early.

You can wax rhapsodic about the beauty of the early morning hours, and the tiny slim silver crescent moon that hung over the ocean as I drove south on the Garden State Parkway was beautiful, but it was ridiculously EARLY. I left Brooklyn at 4:00 am.

You don't go to these things for the performance aspect. Not just because of the television factor, of course, but mostly because what true rock and roll icon is a morning person? No, you go for sights like the one we were treated to, Bruce shuffling onto the stage about three seconds after he arrived, that sleepy reluctant foot-dragging walk you may have witnessed your children or young relatives performing, *major* pillow hair, big sunglasses he probably swiped from Bono. Every bit of his body language indicated that when he opened his mouth, it would probably be to yawn into the mic. The audience cheers loudly.

"This is awesome," he says.
We cheer again.
"I salute you early risers."
I cheer again, but I am already starting to get tired. It is just after 7 a.m. I am quite sure he just rolled out of bed, into his car, and drove down the road. I had been awake since 3 a.m.
"I must REALLY wanna sell records," he giggled sleepily. He mumbles something about putting on his stage clothes (which he did... not that I noticed any kind of major difference) and stumbles off the stage.

The off-camera moments were the priceless ones, of course. Bruce joking with the horn section, stage directions: "We need a shorter version, due to the gods of television" (in reference to "Jacob's Ladder") and promising the horns, "And I will remember the outro" (which had obviously been forgotten at a previous performance). (Hey, there's a reason the current APCH shows are referred to as rehearsal shows.)

"Throw that fiddle solo back in the middle -- that's why we got - confused - last night," Bruce mutters, as the 17 piece ensemble (this band needs a name. more on this later.) gets ready to perform "O Mary Don't You Weep," just what suburban housewives want to be watching as they get their kids off to school. Or maybe they do. What was fun to watch was Bruce turning from bruce, when the cameras were off, into BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, once the cameras were on. There was nothing artificial or inauthentic about it -- that's why they call it performing, after all -- but it's rare that we get to see it happen in front of us.

He had no internal monologue this morning, either. Holding up two plastic cups, he informs us: "I drank into one of these, and spit into the other."
Pause, regards the cups, tilts them into the light, clearly attempting to discern which is which. Not calling for another cup from Kevin. Not keeping this information to himself.
"There should have been a red cup and a blue cup." He squints into the cups again, makes a choice, swallows.
"I should have picked the other one."

After watching two versions of "When The Saints Go Marching In" (I preferred the one you didn't get to see, the more plaintive, unadorned one), he looks at the crowd.
"So what are your plans for the rest of the day?"
People yell various nonsense.
"I'm going back to bed." Pause. "I actually have my pj's on under these pants--" and then proceeds to inform us that this is something he usually does, when he takes the kids to school, just pulls on his pants over his pj's and then climbs back into bed when he gets home.
His wife is attempting to ignore most of this exchange.

The stage manager strolls over and tells Bruce he has about two minutes. Bruce looks around, realizes they can't play another song in two minutes, so he starts whistling aimlessly.
"WHen they come back, I'm gonna do that. 3 minutes of whistling."
He whistles again.
"I like that. They'll call me - The Whistler."
More whistling.
"The Whistler's coming to town."
Pause.
"The Whistler played last night."
Pause.
"I like that, it sounds -- mysterious."
Patti rolls her eyes.
"Patti is complaining about me just out of earshot."
Giggle.

So that was about it. Three songs, four songs, most repeated at least twice, not as much as I'd hoped to hear, but it was free, and it was cool as hell, and I'd do it again tomorrow, um, afternoon.

Oh, wait.

Which is when you will get your full report on what I think of THE SEEGER SESSIONS.

UPDATE: Grab a mp3 of "Jacob's Ladder" from this morning here. http://ickmusic.com/index.php/2006/04/25/bruce-live-on-gma/ [from ickmusic.com, via Scatter o' Light]

[And in case you are going to ask, "Why aren't there any photos of the performance?" you clearly have never been to a Bruce Springsteen concert before. When they say "no cameras" it isn't a suggestion.]

DEAR BRUCE #4

Dear Bruce:

So good to hear from you so often in such a short time! However, I do have one question:

SIX FUCKING THIRTY IN THE MORNING?

Didn't we do this already, a few years ago? While I wasn't there (and I'm still kicking myself for not flying out for that week), I have that performance, all of it, captured for posterity so we could hear it all, even the off-camera performances. Um, let's just say that we both know that you are not a morning person, and if I couldn't have guessed it, the recording bears that fact out.

However, I can't look a gift horse in the mouth, so thanks for the free ticket. I look forward to hitting that Dunkin Donuts on Main St. (the one in the gas station, where the crack addicts run in and scream, "UNLOCK THE LADIES ROOM, PLEASE") on my way down to the Boardwalk. Remind me how you take your coffee?

As ever,

me.

P.S. I was impressed to hear about your success selling tickets in Europe. Thanks so much for sharing!

Tickets for the European tour dates have all sold out swiftly. Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger Sessions Band sold out London's Hammersmith Apollo Theatre in ten minutes, The Manchester Evening News Arena in six minutes, and Amsterdam's Heineken Music Hall in just four minutes, all unprecedented. Festhalle in Frankfurt, Germany also sold out in a matter of minutes. Legendary promoter Harvey Goldsmith said, "We announced Bruce Springsteen¹s concerts in the UK at 9.00am on Friday 7 April. By 9.10am both shows had sold out. This is the fastest selling show ever in Manchester."

To quote the boyfriend: "Bruce could do a bullet mic and autoharp tour of Europe, and it would still sell out in two minutes." Besides cracking me the fuck up, he's right, you know. Because, as of this writing, I can STILL pull GA floor tickets for next week's rehearsal shows in Asbury Park. No, really. It hasn't sold out yet. The $100 ticket price might just have something to do with that, dontcha think?

xoxo

DEAR BRUCE #3

Dear Bruce:

Thanks for your nice email today. While I really appreciate you taking the time to write such a personal note, I do have a few comments I wanted to bring up.

"The wait is almost over for one of the biggest albums of the year!"

Now, I can't think you actually believe this. Was Landau looking over your shoulder at that moment? You and I both know that Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah will likely outsell THE SEEGER SESSIONS. In fact, I think that Harry and The Potters will sell more records on tour than you will of this one.

"Don't forget you can also pre-order blah blah blah blah and for a limited time and while supplies last, get a collectable Springsteen poster as a FREE GIFT! For all those who can't wait to get their hands on it, here's a preview of the poster featuring a great photo of Bruce and The Seeger Sessions Band."

Um, Bruce. Have you seen this poster? I know you must have. And I know that you have this proud tradition of your merchandise looking like crap. But, still. This is supposed to incent us to buy the record at full price from Sony?

Yeah. That image of LaBamba holding the trombone next to you is getting me hot. Let me go get my credit card out now.

"one of the most original albums ever to be released"

You know, I'm all for people giving themselves credit and patting themselves on the back. In fact, I think we as a culture don't do that enough. But, dude, this album is something you started working on in 1998, and I'm sorry, but you covering Pete Seeger is not that much of a stretch. Even the fans who were surprised by your "sudden" political leanings in 2004 probably picked up on the fact that you dig the folk music.

Now, if you got Social D or the Supersuckers or Charlie Sexton and put a band together... I'm sorry, I'll stop. I know you are tired of hearing about this from me.

"We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" features Bruce's personal interpretations of thirteen traditional songs, all of them associated with the legendary guiding light of American folk music, Pete Seeger, for whom the album is named."
[emphasis mine]

While I don't disagree that you need to spell this out for a lot of people, the ones who are actually going to be spending money to buy this record ARE ALREADY GOING TO KNOW WHO THE DUDE IS. The ones who don't know who Pete Seeger is
1) don't care
2) aren't going to start caring now
3) are still going to show up at the shows wondering if Clarence will be there and
3a) will spend the entire show praying that you'll slip in a version of "Rosalita"
4) AREN'T GOING TO BUY THE FUCKING RECORD.

But, you know, I could be proved wrong on this.

While I'm here, let me just mention this: $95 ticket prices? NINETY-FIVE FUCKING DOLLARS? I know, the fanatics are going to pay it and pretend that they love it and that this is the most exciting tour ever, but these are the same people that follow you, Patti and your daughter to her equestrian competitions and take pictures of your wife's ass to post on the internet, or the ones who pretend to know what you are thinking (like the ones who think it's okay if they listen to your closed rehearsals, as long as no one else does). But there aren't that many of those crazy motherfuckers to keep this tour going. So, might want to think about that a little.

Hope Patti is digging the new wheels.

As ever,

me.

DEAR BRUCE #2

Dear Bruce:

In the name of all that is good and holy, why are you not making a record with Sam Moore while you still can? You missed out on your chance to work with Wilson Pickett. You can go on tour and sing "Froggy Went A'Courtin'" when you are too old to hang upside down on the microphone stand. Sam ain't getting any younger, and La Bamba and Pender are going to be in LA with Max and Conan before you know it. Get the horns together while you still can, and pull off that rhythm and soul project NOW. That is a show I would be standing at the box office every day for.

Love to Patti and the kids.

Best,

me.

Dear Bruce:

PLEASE GET A BAND TOGETHER FOR JAZZFEST. PLEASE DO NOT PLAY ACOUSTIC.

I am sure Elvis would be pleased to loan you the Imposters. And if not, EVERY FUCKING BAND IN THE WORLD IS PLAYING. Borrow Dylan's band. Oh my god, borrow Dave Matthews' band (it's just him I hate, not the band).

JUST NO MORE ACOUSTIC.

I know, the Pete Seeger thing is coming out. But go to New Orleans and rock the fuck out. Give Social D. a call.

And some new songs would be great. Break out that notebook.

Best regards,

me.

New Backstreets out

Backstreets #83/84 is FINALLY out, praise the deities.

Inside from me: an interview with Alan Vega from Suicide, a sidebar with Jesse Malin, and something I thought was just *funny* -- I interview the wizarding group Harry & The Potters, because "Harry" is an enormous Springsteen fan. (Disclaimer: at the time I suggested this story to my editor, the most recent Harry Potter was just about to come out and so it was, actually, timely. Now it just looks stupid, I realize this. But it was hardly intended to be the highest of high art.)

zero and blind terry

the last dance: end of the devils & dust tour
sovereign bank arena, trenton, nj
22 november, 2005

The last show of the tour. I could wax rhapsodic; I could pontificate about the significance of the Devils & Dust tour as it pertains to Springsteen's career; I could try to place the tour in some kind of continuum as per my own fandom.

But really, it all comes down to this:

"Zero and Blind Terry."

This is my I-will-never-hear-it-in-a-million-years song, the song he has never played, and most likely, would never play.

"Hey, maybe you'll win the GA lottery tomorrow."
"Right, and Bruce will open the show with 'Zero and Blind Terry', too."

So when he sits down at the piano after "Long Time Coming," the wild card slot, and announces he's about to play something he's never played--I would like to say I jumped up and down in glee when the first notes were played. No, it was more like shock, a weird sense of deja vu -- Am I really here watching this or am I in some dreamscape?-- and it was only the simultaneous intake of breath from two fans behind me that brought me back to earth and made me realize that I'd have to get another punchline.

And then, in what I would like to imagine was a delicious sense of continuity on Bruce's part, he segued straight into "Backstreets," which was in my opinion THE moment of the evening. Not that "Backstreets" was conspicuously absent on the tour but it was hardly a frequent flier and it was always beyond transcendent when it did show up. Tonight, no exception, bones stripped bare, just Bruce and piano, yet just as grand and majestic as any full band version.

The Link Wray tribute as an opener was wonderfully raunchy, and made me wish he would go on tour and PLAY THE FUCKING ELECTRIC GUITAR ALL THE TIME. [See: previous references to suggestions for future backing bands.] "Fire" on bullet mic worked, distorted vocals, a touch of prerecorded melody behind it. "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City," top ten in my personal pantheon, not so much; part of the melody of that song is the way the words roll off each other and that was hidden behind the wall of distortion. (And I am a *big* fan of the distortion, don't get me wrong.) It turned it into a talking blues, which wasn't working for me until I imagined it as a Dylan talking blues, which, of course, it already was.

"Song for Orphans" was a non-event for me -- sorry, I had to say it -- but in the excitement over that I had totally forgotten that "Drive All Night" could still make the setlist. And it did, heart-stoppingly, gloriously, the emotion still heartfelt, but tempered, aged like good whiskey. You still believe that he would drive all night just to buy you some shoes. I think I even like it better now, the declarations have power without the (sometimes) overblown histrionics this song has exhibited on past tours. I know full well that that is part of its legend, but we are all older now, and if it didn't ring true the performance would have been pathetic and just plain sad.

A passel of nieces and nephews and cousins and aunts and uncles and all the Springsteen children come out onstage, jingle bells in hand, and yep--it's that time of year. The Christmas season is officially open with my first public hearing of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." That song started to mean Christmas (okay, as much as Christmas can mean to a Jewish girl from Connecticut) in my early teens and nothing has changed. If I heard it in August I'd feel the same way.

And then, one more time, "Dream Baby Dream," and it's over, finished, done. It is not so much sad as quietly wistful, the same way the changing of the seasons can also make you ache a tiny bit, simply over the passing of time.

(At least we'll never have to hear "Reno" live, ever again.)

springsteen enters the mcsweeney's zone

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Bruce Springsteen Songs, If the Title More Accurately Reflected the Subject Matter.

It's funny, sure, but it's still stupid snarky cooler-than-thou enough to make me want to defenestrate the author. It's the stereotype of what your average hipster thinks Bruce's songs are about (and tell me, "It was written for McSweeney's, DOH" and I'll defenestrate you.)

4th of October, Asbury Park

Bruce Springsteen
Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park, NJ
4 October 2005

:::chasing the myth::::

Faded romanticized Asbury. Playing the KISS pinball machine in the arcade off of the Casino. Riding the carousel, princesses in Converse high-tops. Walking down the ancient grey splintered boardwalk in fog and sun. The Palace rising ahead of you at that turn - it really DOES exist! - of Kingsley and Ocean and other street names you murmured like a mantra, of the ferris wheel rising behind it all.

Except that I am not sure if that last memory really exists or it is burned into my brain from a million imaginings that occurred long before I ever saw Asbury Park for the first time.

Photo by Zoe Strauss. Used with permission.

I was 10 in 1974 so there was no way Asbury could exist as more than fairy tale. It was the hometown we were all trying to escape so by rights we should have shunned it, not embraced it as some kind of magic kingdom. At a time when it seemed like we had nothing else to belong to, when we had no memorable past of our own, the New Jersey in Springsteen's songs was a legend we could cling to and try to make ours. So silly, because at that time we were busy making our own history every second of every day.

And now, and now, when you come down Asbury Avenue to Ocean and Tillie is gone and the Palace is gone and with each successive visit you watch the Casino slowly disintegrating, like a sand castle at high tide, I don't know where to place my memories. Asbury in the 80's was dirty and dilapidated and dangerous when I first came down here at age 15, chasing maps and legends, and not some hidden jewel of a ruin in the jungle. We cared because he made us care. His gift of elevating the mundane to sacred gave us hope on so many levels.

The years of surprise Shore club appearances aside, most of us are not carrying authentic memories of him in Asbury. We carry the memories he gave us. They were so vivid and heartfelt they became ours. The place and its spirit (and spirits) spoke to him and infused his music and sensibility.

All of this is what I was thinking about when Springsteen played "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" at the pre-tour rehearsal/benefit show on October 4 at the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park. "Sandy" is not my favorite song. It doesn't even make my top 50. I don't even think it's all that good and believe that its status in the pantheon is slightly overblown because it has the words "Asbury Park" in the title. Hearing it played in its namesake should have been, I imagine, deeply meaningful. Maybe I can be cynical because I have those memories; I know plenty of folks who would kill or die to remember what the Boardwalk between Convention Hall and the Casino looked like before it was all torn up, closed down and shuttered. But even then it was past its prime.

Do I take it for granted? His sense of place of is one of Springsteen's most powerful gifts. And as I get older, I feel like I didn't pay enough attention to what did happen. I wish you could know that in 20 years you would long for every detail, every dumb and mundane thing that happened: drinking Jack Daniels for breakfast on the train, giggling madly at everything as the stations sped by; of sitting up all night at the donut shop on Sunset and Main after a show at the Pony or the Fast Lane, when our ride back to the city didn't materialize and the first train home was 5 a.m., dragging ourselves to the NJ Transit station in greying gently silvering light, too tired to talk. Of the Clash at Convention Hall, our own Woodstock; of driving the circuit in someone's mom's car and flirting with the bikers parked in front of Mrs. Jay's; swimming in the ocean at Long Branch (NEVER at Asbury); and the trains, always the trains, we were silly New York girls so cars were a luxury and a rarity.

All I can think is: do I remember it right? Do I remember it well? Is it worth remembering? Is it important to remember?

The greatest most overpowering memory that flashed in my mind while "Sandy" was being played: all of us, fast asleep on the train after another minor adventure, with your leather jacket as pillow or comforter, sprawling across two seats, set face to face, attracting leers and stares equally made of disapproval and envy. It's not a memory that has anything to do with Springsteen specifically, but I wouldn't have had it without him, because we wouldn't have been drawn to this place without his words.

And now, tonight, another one, a vision to access from the memory banks in 10 years, feeling grateful that the Shore is an hour away and not six hours on a plane, of walking up to the ocean pre-show through a vague salty mist, my boots ringing solid footsteps on the boardwalk as I approach the theater, where I get to sit and listen to him play the songs that a such a large part of who and where I am today.

more symposium press

It's titled Bruceology and I can't tell if he came there to mock or if he's mocking because not mocking wouldn't be cool. But James Parker does mention me on page 2 of his Boston Globe article (registration required, sorry). Woo.

the springsteen symposium

I guess I would be remiss if I didn't post about the symposium, given that I went into it with a fairly dubious attitude, despite my own participation in it.

You know what? I was more than pleasantly surprised. There were an awful lot of incredibly intelligent, articulate individuals who spent a lot of time and energy on their papers. I didn't always agree with everything that was said, but there was a great deal of food for thought presented, most of the time. Additionally, there were also people in the audience that I would also apply that description to.

My favorite sessions were Politics and Springsteen, specificaly "Citizen Comrade Bruce: Power and Uses of the Erotic in Springsteen" by Marsha Nell Smith, and another paper on Bruce, Walt Whitman, and the 2004 Presidential election. Regretably, I came down with a virus on Thursday and had to spend more time sleeping and at the doctor than at the conference in the end, so I missed things I would have dearly loved to have attended, like Don McLeese's panel on the MC5 and Bruce ("Produced by Jon Landau" - AUGH! That hurt to miss.)

I have to toot my own horn for my panel, "Springsteen and Musicology," which was moderated by Dave Marsh (at his request). I thought that Charles Hughes' paper on "Rebuilding the Wall of Sound: Bruce Springsteen and Early 1960s American Music" kicked my paper's butt ("Action In The Streets: Bruce Springsteen and Punk Rock"). I was more than a little irked that more than a few people came up to me to say, "I'm so sorry I missed your paper, I had to go buy tickets." But as a result of my presentation, I did, however, get to learn with absolute certainty that Bruce never got to see the Clash. Which makes me sad, but I guess I'm glad I know for sure. Reviews on the street were that I kicked ass, and I know I worked my ass off on my presentation, but I am so not objective.

On the less-than-positive side: the days started too early (especially since there were group gatherings at the Stone Pony that went on until 2am) and I think there were too many breakout sessions; the quality did decline on some, from what I heard. Some people are intelligent folks but bad presenters; other papers had no business being presented whatsoever. There were some people there who treated the weekend as a fan convention, but those were way in the minority. If you like talking about Springsteen and thinking about Springsteen in an engaged fashion, and enjoy intelligent discourse, this was the place for you.

And, of course, the special treat, the unexpected: the sneak preview of the upcoming Born To Run 30th Anniversary DVD: the remastering and release of the legendary 11/18/75 Hammersmith Odeon show. Given that I'd spent so much time thinking about those shows myself as part of my presentation, since they were a turning point for Joe Strummer, it was kind of serendipitous. This is NOT Live In New York City, this has been done with painstaking care and attention to detail, and no matter how much you have seen of these shows (i.e., the bootleg black and white footage), this is going to blow your ever lovin' mind.

five reasons: springsteen in milwaukee

Bruce Springsteen
Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI
7 August 2005

WHY I DO THIS, #1:

Springsteen at the pump organ, slow and somber, the music familiar but still unrecognizable, and then:

The runway rushed up at him as he felt the wheels touch down
He stood out on the blacktop and took a taxi into town

And there is the initial intake of breath when you realize what the fuck he is singing, that jolt of adrenalin, and then you squelch it all as quickly as possible because you want nothing to distract you from the experience of the song: "Shut Out The Light," one of the first Vietnam experience songs. These songs strike me, hard, even though I have no connection beyond generational (well, barely). I thought I had never heard it before but setlists prove me wrong (1985).

The wild card songs. They come out of nowhere, sometimes you'll get a clue as to what inspired them later on during the show -- Bruce will mention an article or an event or a name; this time, all we get is: "This is a song for a soldier."

While many of Springsteen's songs have undeniable cinematic qualities (and oddly enough many of them will appear tonight), this one was always in my top ten, I have a movie that runs inside my head every time I hear it. The carefully chosen images portray a thousand words in one line.

WHY I DO THIS, #2:

Mr. Springsteen at the grand piano, which has for me lately become a more eagerly awaited event than picking up the Esquire. A little nervous laughing banter, and then --

no. fucking. way.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Frankie," which has been played a grand total of three times in the last 26 years. Now, to be fair, I was there one other time (8/9/99), but that doesn't diminish the impact. "Frankie" full band exemplifies everything that annoys me about the song (I feel it is too overblown or free-jazzy in parts), but "Frankie" on piano and F harp is a motherfucking masterpiece, probably because we're hearing it the way it was written (well, maybe). As a result of this performance, this song is moving into Column A. It was lilting, the tune carrying you lightly through the narrative, and sparse enough that you could paint the pictures in your head - there was room for them without the E Street Band stumbling through the song along with him (it is a complex song to play, and it not appearing on the frequent flier lists, of course it's not going to be perfectly polished -- I understand all of this. But it does suffer as a result.)

WHY I DO THIS, #3:

The brand-shiny-new white Gretsch (can anyone help me with a model or a vintage?) which Himself was clearly loving, posturing like a boy with a new toy (it's three or four shows old, so I guess that's exactly what it is), mixing Elvis with Scotty Moore, Eddie Cochran with Mike Ness, singing "Ain't Got You," the only Tunnel song I got this night (compared to, oh, half of freaking Nebraska -- not that I'm complaining, wait for it).

WHY I DO THIS, #4:

The man is so completely underrated as a singer that it makes me crazy sometimes, but he is usually working so many different angles onstage that the voice sometimes gets overlooked. And this is why he wrote "Back In Your Arms" (okay, one of the reasons at least, we have him on record at Somerville), but it's rare that he can just let the voice SHINE, which is what happened to night, honest-to-god goose-bump inducing, white-knuckle moments when that voice was red velvet cake, pure hot buttered soul, and your heart just melted. (I have no idea what effect this has on the men, however.)

WHY I DO THIS, #5:

All of the above aside, I would honestly have considered the trip a blinding success if all I'd gotten was "Open All Night". No, there are no epic stories about getting pulled over in Hightstown for going "suspiciously slow," but there's enough attitude in the song - and FUCK! it's THE SONG! - to make it a standout. I did not do BITUSA in the stadiums so despite how large it looms in my legend, according to my accounting -- I HAD NEVER HEARD THIS FUCKING SONG LIVE UNTIL TONIGHT!

Well, I had the carburetor, baby, cleaned and checked
With her line blown out she's hummin' like a turbojet
Propped her up in the backyard on concrete blocks
For a new clutch plate and a new set of shocks
Took her down to the carwash, check the plugs and points
Well, I'm goin' out tonight. I'm gonna rock that joint