Hey everyone.

Thought I'd pop down here and share my thoughts on the concert I saw last night, which, as you could probably guess from the title was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

First and foremost, there is a school of art philosophy that speaks to the fact that the slight marring of perfection actually enhances the beauty of a thing. Bruce and the band do not subscribe to this tenant. Good lord are they ever a tight unit. Musicianship was impeccable - especially Max Weinberg and Nils Lofgren, who can really rock it out - but it was great seeing all of them play. Still, it was so tight, it was almost performance art for me, and not a more organic rock concert. By no means were they going through the motions, but they were so tight, it was hard to get a handle on sometimes.

Secondly, the audience for Bruce Springsteen is not my tribe. There was a big disconnect to my personal biggest reactions to songs, and the audience's. Strangely, I preferred his more introspective and story based songs as opposed to the big rocking anthems. And he played neither of my two favourite songs by him (Abel raised a Cain; Thunder Road) - he also didn't play his single biggest hit (Born in the USA), which is only fitting for a Canadian audience. My favourite songs of the night were Johnny 99, Ghost of Tom Joad, and Outlaw Pete, which is way better live than on his new album. The two biggest songs of the night were, as you might expect, Born to Run, and Glory Days.

A neat thing he did - and I guess that he does this at every show - is he pulled a dozen or so signs from the audience, and then chose songs, seemingly at random, for the band to play. The trick is, they're not always his songs. Hence Louie, Louie. And they were note perfect on that, as well. Talented, talented band, with a lot of musical knowledge. I overheard one guy say that he saw Bruce do that once, and they did London Calling. I bet that would have rocked.

Overall, it was a helluva show, and they are an incredible act; They played for 2:45 minutes with a 5 minute encore break. He wasn't ready to collapse, but I blame Toronto's lame lights on at 11 policy and not him; he could probably do another hour. And it was just them - no opening act - so no one had to risk getitng booed off the stage for Bruce. I guess it was what I expected - I was going to see the experience of the E Street Band, and I understand the appeal; but it didn't convert me. Maybe it's because of all the cliches that weren't cliches when he did them first that I've heard so many times since. Maybe it's the Mid Western Earnestness, that speaks to the common man too often. I understand his importance to Rock and Roll, and agree with his place in Rock's pantheon, but I guess I'm never going to be more than a casual fan.

Set list - where titles are known or guessed (*) at was:
Badlands
Streets of No Surrender
Outlaw Pete
She's the One
Working on a Dream
It's all Gone*
Johnny 99
Ghost of Tom Joad
Raise your Hand
E Street Shuffle
All Night for you*
Louie, Louie
Waiting on a Sunny Day
Cross Light *
Racing in the Street
Kingdom of Day
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born to Run

Encore:
Hard Times Come Again no More
???
Land of Hope and Dreams
Mariolanum* (a traditional Irish Reel)
Rosalita
Glory Days

Been to many Bruce shows. Congrats on your first!

Thanks for the review. Wish I'd been there!

I'm hoping Bruce will bring the tour to MSG. So far, only two shows in NJ, it's a pain to get there from here.

I burned "Outlaw Pete" on a compilation CD I made for the car a couple of weeks ago, and damned if I don't like the song more every time I play it. Is it a great song? I don't know, but it has all of the creativity, grandiosity and drama of my favorite Springsteen stuff--the "Incident On 57th Street" and "Jungleland" stuff--that have been mostly absent from his albums for, well, about thirty years or so now. (Also, the more I hear it, the more fleeting the similarity with "I Was Made For Loving You" seems).

A shame that most of the rest of the album is, frankly, boring. "Queen Of The Supermarket" is especially embarassing in light of Springsteen's claimed Wal-Mart ignorance. "Magic" was teriffic; maybe the Boss needs to start taking three or four years between albums again.

I've known a few non-Springsteen fans who've gone to one of his shows and had to admit that he puts on a good show.

Jason. Your review is excelllent. You and I already have one thing in common: We both live in Toronto "the good... and lame".

I didn't go to the show. But I'm wondering why Bruce didn't play more hits? Or even well known songs...anyways. Maybe it's just me. If I go to a concert, unless it's an indie band or unknown act, I wan to hear the hits and most famous songs by that artist.



Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed the show. You recreated it very well; really giving us an idea of what it was like to be there. Thanks.


P.S. I was gonna go a bit of topic and ask you if you've seen local band Blue Rodeo. I think they're amazing and well worth seeing any time.

Blue Rodeo is awesome. I'm not that much into Bruce, though! My Springsteen appreciation is mostly Asbury Park & The River.

I like The River!

I agree. I love Diamond Mine and Lost Together...also, Hasn't Hit Me Yet.

My fav BR cd is Nowhere To Hear & fav song is 5 Days In May

That's a great one too. 5 Days In May is a Canadian classic. I like the fact that they are so Canadian in their music. Jim Cuddy even plays charity hockey. People talk about the Tragically Hip being the ultimate Canadian band, but BR is right up there.

Hi neighbour!!!

Just getting back to this thread. I've only seen Blue Rodeo live once, and that was at the Jeff Healey tribute show so it was only 3 songs because there were so many acts on the bill. I wasn't a huge fan of theirs going in - I'm a punk / metalhead first and foremost - but they really impressed me. Hasn't hit me yet while performing at a tribute concert for a friend is really powerful. I put them on my list to see at some point, though, so we'll see.

I'm actually okay with Bruce not just playing his greatest hits album live. With many acts, I can probably name 3/4 of their set list before they hit the stage, if I like them enough to go see them. This is true even if they're touring on an album, because I can normally spot the 3 or 4 songs they'll play from that. And when you add in a catalogue that's almost 40 years old, and it would be easy to turn it into one of those by the numbers concerts (see Stones, Rolling). From an artistic perspective, I think it's better this way, even if you're less likely to get all the hits, or even, as in my case, "your hit"

Jason

Hey Jason, glad to hear you enjoyed the show. I took a few non-fans with me to the two shows he played in Oslo last year, and they all seemed to have a pretty great time - I don't think I converted any of them into hardcore Broooce fanatics, but I wasn't really trying to - and they all said that they'd come along again if and when he next plays here. Whatever you think of his music, the guy's a fantastically energetic performer, and he's got one hell of a band.

Sounds like it was a good night (by the way, that "Irish reel" in the encores was called 'American Land', and it's actually a new-ish song which Springsteen wrote for the tour he did a few years ago with the Seeger Sessions Band - I wasn't as enamoured of that project as some were, but it worked a lot better live than it did on record, and the song makes for a good end to a concert).



Actually, it sort of did:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGouM6xDYeU[/youtube]

Is he carrying backup singers on his tours now?

If nothing else, Mrs. Springsteen is fully aware of her old man's tendency to screw around with his backup singers when the wife has her back turned.

London Calling did rock!

He is carrying back up singers - two of em. Obviously aware of his past indiscretions, they are one male, one female. Both over about 220 lbs. They sound good, but it's a ways from them to Patty.

and thanks for the you tube clip.

J,.

It's nice to see a little more racial diversity back in the band, too. They used to have three white guys and three black guys, something you didn't see a lot of even in the 70s. With Born to Run they became a white band with one black guy overnight.

But I'm surprised he thought he needed more singers. Patti, Stephen, Nils, and Clarence all sing pretty well -- that group version of "If I Fall Behind" knocks me out -- and there's a decent choral range. Even Soozie sings! (Bittan used to sing backups but I don't think he does anymore. Tallent and Federici sang in the old days. I don't know about the new keyboard player.)

I haven't heard any bootlegs from the current tour yet - I'll be interested to see how he's using the new backing singers in concert. Any die-hard Broooce fans around here got recommendations for particularly good shows to check out, or should I just grab a random handful of shows with nice-looking setlists?