1. Working on the Highway
2. Hungry Heart
3. Sherry Darling
4. We Take Care of Our Own
5. Wrecking Ball
6. Death to My Hometown
7. My City of Ruins
8. Spirit In The Night
Post edited by Bathgate66 on
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
2003: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; 2005: Monterrey; 2006: Chicago 1 & 2, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit; 2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa; 2009: Austin, LA 3 & 4, San Diego; 2010: Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis; 2011: PJ20 1 & 2; 2012: Missoula; 2013: Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle; 2014: Tulsa; 2016: Columbia, New York City 1 & 2; 2018: London, Seattle 1 & 2; 2021: Ohana; 2022: Oklahoma City
1. Working on the Highway
2. Hungry Heart
3. Sherry Darling
4. We Take Care of Our Own
5. Wrecking Ball
6. Death to My Hometown
7. My City of Ruins
8. Spirit in the Night
1. Working on the Highway
2. Hungry Heart
3. Sherry Darling
4. We Take Care of Our Own
5. Wrecking Ball
6. Death to My Hometown
7. My City of Ruins
8. Spirit In The Night
9. Thundercrack
10. Jack of All Trades
11. Murder Incorperated :shock:
12. Prove It All night
13, Candys Room
14 Mona-- Shes The One
15. Darlington County
16.Shackled & Drawn
17.Waiting On A Sunny Day
18. Incident on 57th Street (Solo Piano)
19.The Rising
20.Badlands
21. Land Of Hope & Dreams
*********
22.We Are Alive
23.Thunder Road
24.Born To Run
Post edited by Bathgate66 on
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
Nice! Murder Inc. is one of my favorites Bruce tunes live... those guitars really rip!
Saw that one in Hartford in 2009 and then again this year at Albany! Awesome tune...
I fucking LOVE Murder Inc !
Another one PJ should cover !
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
Nice! Murder Inc. is one of my favorites Bruce tunes live... those guitars really rip!
Saw that one in Hartford in 2009 and then again this year at Albany! Awesome tune...
I fucking LOVE Murder Inc !
Another one PJ should cover !
bumpity bump, a cover of murder inc, w/mike wailing would be gonzo
San Diego Sports Arena - Oct 25, 2000 MGM Grand - Jul 6, 2006 Cox Arena - Jul 7, 2006 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival - May 1, 2010 Alpine Valley Music Theater - Sep 3-4 2011 Made In America, Philly - Sep 2, 2012 EV, Houston - Nov 12-13, 2012 Dallas-November 2013 OKC-November 2013 ACL 2-October 2014 Fenway Night 1, August 2016 Wrigley, Night 1 August 2018 Fort Worth, Night 1 September 2023 Fort Worth, Night 2 September 2023 Austin, Night 1 September 2023 Austin, Night 2 September 2023
Nice! Murder Inc. is one of my favorites Bruce tunes live... those guitars really rip!
Saw that one in Hartford in 2009 and then again this year at Albany! Awesome tune...
I fucking LOVE Murder Inc !
Another one PJ should cover !
bumpity bump, a cover of murder inc, w/mike wailing would be gonzo
Someone start a thread for this! I may just do that next time PJ announces a Hartford show.
Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
1. Working on the Highway
2. Hungry Heart
3. Sherry Darling
4. We Take Care of Our Own
5. Wrecking Ball
6. Death to My Hometown
7. My City of Ruins
8. Spirit In The Night
9. Thundercrack
10. Jack of All Trades
11. Murder Incorperated :shock:
12. Prove It All night
13, Candys Room
14 Mona-- Shes The One
15. Darlington County
16.Shackled & Drawn
17.Waiting On A Sunny Day
18. Incident on 57th Street (Solo Piano)
19.The Rising
20.Badlands
21. Land Of Hope & Dreams
*********
22.We Are Alive
23.Thunder Road
24.Born To Run
25.Rosalita
26.Dancing In The Dark
27.Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
28. Twist and Shout
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
Thanks Lanternjaw.
Not surprisingly Bruce and ESB outlasted me- i fell asleep.
I actually thought twist amd shout mayve been the finale- my bad
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
Bruce Springsteen inspires a weird, wild-eyed species of fanaticism amongst people you’d never expect to witness getting fanatical over a rock ‘n’ roll show, and that is a healthy thing.
I’m referring to people of a certain, boomer-ish age, in particular, although by no means was the fired-up mob of 40,000-ish on hand for Springsteen and the E-Street Band’s Wrecking Ball tour touchdown the Rogers Centre on Friday night at all limited to lifelong fans orbiting around his own age of 62 years.
He’s doggedly hung onto relevance long after many would-be heirs to his throne have faded from view and pretty much everyone’s got at least one Springsteen album they can get with, so his audience has refreshed itself with new blood accordingly over the course of the past 40-odd years. (My personal favourite Springsteen album is Nebraska, if you’re asking, but I had Born to Run and The River in my elementary-school bedroom as soon as I was old enough to tape my dad’s records.)
It is a kick, however, to see folks your parents’ age excitably carting homemade Bristol board signs into a baseball stadium like they’ve suddenly reverted to age 13 and are on their way to see Justin Bieber for the first time.
And that, in a nutshell, is probably why Springsteen has endured all these years: he can make you believe rock ‘n’ roll is the most important thing in the world all over again — even if, shame on you, you stopped believing years ago — because, whenever you see him perform, it seems pretty clear that rock ‘n’ roll is still the most important thing in the world to him.
That’s not an original sentiment, by any means, but there’s a reason it gets repeated. Springsteen’s records might not carry as much epochal weight as they aspire to these days — it would be a nice change of pace at this point, in fact, if the Boss responded just once to one of the many crises rending his beloved American heartland apart with an album about, say, his love of gardening — but you don’t walk away from his shows with any doubt about his convictions. He still means it. Dude’s not faking.
And his ongoing addiction to the spotlight, to the rush of thrilling a crowd and having that rush deafeningly returned, appears utterly sincere. If there was a touch of Vegas showmanship involved in playing on when the house lights came up for “Born to Run” at the three-hour mark of this nearly three-hour-and-45-minute marathon, the growing presence of teardown teams in orange hard hats impatiently waiting at each side of the stage as the encore dragged on lent an air of impatient veracity to the whole spectacle.
There definitely was that Vegas-style showmanship when longtime guitar sideman Steve Van Zandt had to “revive” a prone Springsteen with the drippings from a wet sponge for “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” “Glory Days” (“Ah, what the f---. We can’t go home!”), and an endless “Twist and Shout” to finally close out the night.
Preceded by Charlie Giordano’s accordion-ized strains of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” Friday’s performance kicked off with a trio of what Springsteen called “summer songs” — the rollicking “Working on the Highway,” a “Hungry Heart” taken over almost entirely by a crowd singalong, and a slightly ragged “Sherry Darling.”
All this, before diving into a run of tunes from this year’s Wrecking Ball. Slightly underwhelming on record, these outraged responses to America’s wretched present-day economic circumstances were puffed up nicely by Bruce and the current, 16-piece E-Street lineup.
He could write an up-with-people anthem like “We Take Care of Our Own” in his sleep, true, and the song seemed a bit lazy when “The Rising” rose up decisively in the set list an hour or so later. Still, “Wrecking Ball” and the martial “Death to my Hometown” were as seething as their au courant subject matter demanded. Springsteen attacked “Jack of All Trades,” “We Are Alive” and “Land of Hope and Dreams” with similarly righteous diligence when they turned up in the set list later on. It came across loud and clear that Springsteen believes in the new material as much as anything else in the set, and that’s a refreshing change from a lot of shows by rockers who’ve been around as long as him.
Otherwise, the show was deep into the catalogue and all over the place. The Rising’s “My City of Ruins” became a soulful, 15-minute sprawl that segued with churchy gusto into “Spirit in the Night,” off Springsteen’s first record, Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey.
He paused amidst some band introductions during the latter to repeat the question “Are you missing anybody?” to crushing roars of unspoken remembrance for departed E-Street bandmates Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons. The latter’s’ nephew, Jake Clemons, did a most capable job of pulling off the Big Man’s saxophone solos throughout the night, even if essentially Photostat-ing his uncle’s presence in a legendary rock ensemble must be a weird and ultimately troubling way to make a living.
With that sad business out of the way, Springsteen chugged a full beer and gamely took a crowd request for “Thundercrack” because someone had brought along a sign depicting a thunderbolt coming out of a bare butt that rather amused him. A full-bore “Murder Incorporated” and a host of well-received oldies — “Prove It All Night,” “Candy‘s Room,” “Prove It All Night,” “She’s the One” and “Darlington County” among them — followed, while a suspiciously talented young girl of ‘tween age was pulled from the stagefront pit to share lead vocals on “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day.”
Perhaps the evening’s most resonant moment came next, as Springsteen sat down at the piano to honour another request for “Incident on 57th Street.” A quiet piece of three-dimensionally realized street-level storytelling from 1973’s The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle, it stood in stark contrast to the all-out, all-in sonic overload of most of the songs that came before and all that would come after. It also reminded you that what has been lost in Springsteen’s elevation to a stadium-baiting superstar expected to make Big Statements about Big Things was the young Boss’s ability to turn subtly-detailed hardscrabble vignettes drawn on a much smaller scale into Big Statements about Big Things.
It gets a bit much over the long haul, that never-ending E-Street blare. There’s a fine line between transcendent and tiring. So it was good to have Springsteen pull back for a minute before “Badlands” and “Thunder Road” and “Born to Run” and “Rosalita” and “Dancing in the Dark” — cue for the most spectacularly and beautifully awkward, stadiumwide middle-aged WASP dance party I’ve ever seen — and all the rest of the big guns held in check until the home stretch figuratively blew the roof off the roofless Rogers Centre and sent several generations’ worth of E-Street acolytes spilling into the streets, utterly exhausted but believing again.
Hang onto that feeling, hang onto rock ‘n’ roll. Bruce Springsteen has and he’s doing OK.
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
At the Rogers Centre for the show...and what a show it was...3:40 minutes of non stop unbelievable rock 'n roll. Been too 2Bruce shows this tour and have seen 6:50 minutes of incredible live Bruce.
After these shows there is no doubt in my mind that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are the best live act on the planet and the hardest working musicians.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
At the Rogers Centre for the show...and what a show it was...3:40 minutes of non stop unbelievable rock 'n roll. Been too 2Bruce shows this tour and have seen 6:50 minutes of incredible live Bruce.
After these shows there is no doubt in my mind that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are the best live act on the planet and the hardest working musicians.
all these recent shows are legendary
you were very lucky to get a mix
of a whole lot of rarities and classics.
As I already said I love Murder Inc and
the solo incident on piano mustve been something to wiitness.
conggrats.
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
wow what a show last night! 3 hours and 30 minutes really flew by. Sound at the dome was surprisingly good (aided no doubt by the roof being open), and the band was on fire! So much fun ......now the question is, to buy hamilton tickets or not! its awful tempting after seeing that performance!
2005-9-12 London, ON
2006-5-09 Toronto
2007-8-03 (ed w/ ben harper) chicago / 2007-8-05 chicago
2008-8-12 (ed solo) toronto
2009-10-08 (ed solo) Albany
2011-9-11 Toronto / 2011-9-12 Toronto
2013-7-16 London, ON / 2013-7-19 Chicago / 2013-10-12 Buffalo
2016-5-11 Toronto, On / 2016-5-13 Toronto, On
Thanks Lanternjaw.
Not surprisingly Bruce and ESB outlasted me- i fell asleep.
I actually thought twist amd shout mayve been the finale- my bad
Same here. Wow, this tour has been insane! November can't get here fast enough. Really wish I was going to Wrigley.
2003: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; 2005: Monterrey; 2006: Chicago 1 & 2, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit; 2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa; 2009: Austin, LA 3 & 4, San Diego; 2010: Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis; 2011: PJ20 1 & 2; 2012: Missoula; 2013: Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle; 2014: Tulsa; 2016: Columbia, New York City 1 & 2; 2018: London, Seattle 1 & 2; 2021: Ohana; 2022: Oklahoma City
At the Rogers Centre for the show...and what a show it was...3:40 minutes of non stop unbelievable rock 'n roll. Been too 2Bruce shows this tour and have seen 6:50 minutes of incredible live Bruce.
After these shows there is no doubt in my mind that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are the best live act on the planet and the hardest working musicians.
all these recent shows are legendary
you were very lucky to get a mix
of a whole lot of rarities and classics.
As I already said I love Murder Inc and
the solo incident on piano mustve been something to wiitness.
conggrats.
Thank you. Those were definite highlights. I also enjoyed Hungry Heart, Glory Days, The Rising and My City Of Ruins...and his new stuff sounds great live. All around an amazing night
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Thanks Lanternjaw.
Not surprisingly Bruce and ESB outlasted me- i fell asleep.
I actually thought twist amd shout mayve been the finale- my bad
Same here. Wow, this tour has been insane! November can't get here fast enough. Really wish I was going to Wrigley.
a legendary run of shows for the legend, i am trying to wrap my mind around the tour thus far. w/out getting dramatic, it's almost like they are saying goodbye w/out saying goodbye, am i fkn offbase w/that question?
San Diego Sports Arena - Oct 25, 2000 MGM Grand - Jul 6, 2006 Cox Arena - Jul 7, 2006 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival - May 1, 2010 Alpine Valley Music Theater - Sep 3-4 2011 Made In America, Philly - Sep 2, 2012 EV, Houston - Nov 12-13, 2012 Dallas-November 2013 OKC-November 2013 ACL 2-October 2014 Fenway Night 1, August 2016 Wrigley, Night 1 August 2018 Fort Worth, Night 1 September 2023 Fort Worth, Night 2 September 2023 Austin, Night 1 September 2023 Austin, Night 2 September 2023
Thanks Lanternjaw.
Not surprisingly Bruce and ESB outlasted me- i fell asleep.
I actually thought twist amd shout mayve been the finale- my bad
Same here. Wow, this tour has been insane! November can't get here fast enough. Really wish I was going to Wrigley.
Hurry up October!
Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
Thanks Lanternjaw.
Not surprisingly Bruce and ESB outlasted me- i fell asleep.
I actually thought twist amd shout mayve been the finale- my bad
Same here. Wow, this tour has been insane! November can't get here fast enough. Really wish I was going to Wrigley.
a legendary run of shows for the legend, i am trying to wrap my mind around the tour thus far. w/out getting dramatic, it's almost like they are saying goodbye w/out saying goodbye, am i fkn offbase w/that question?
Never! I hear he already has another album in the works.
Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
Our insider report of last night's show reveals what Bruce really thought of the crowd at Rogers Centre...
(Hint: he said they were the best crowd the band's ever seen in Toronto.)
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
If the curfew is 11 in Toronto he went way over. Plus at near the end in I think twist and shout it sounded like he lost his mic...don't know if they were warning him to wrap things up...you could see the workers at 11 or so ready to pounce and tear things down...just great to see a musician who is only interested in pleasing his fan base.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
2003: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; 2005: Monterrey; 2006: Chicago 1 & 2, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit; 2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa; 2009: Austin, LA 3 & 4, San Diego; 2010: Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis; 2011: PJ20 1 & 2; 2012: Missoula; 2013: Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle; 2014: Tulsa; 2016: Columbia, New York City 1 & 2; 2018: London, Seattle 1 & 2; 2021: Ohana; 2022: Oklahoma City
Watched the Hard Rock Calling special this morning and I thought they said they pulled the plug while "Twist and Shout" was going on. Didn't sound like they pulled the plug during it.
Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
Watched the Hard Rock Calling special this morning and I thought they said they pulled the plug while "Twist and Shout" was going on. Didn't sound like they pulled the plug during it.
If you watch youtube footage the sound was cut off at the end and you cant hear bruce at the end. The broadcast kept the soundboard audio but all that didnt go through the speakers at the show
2003: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; 2005: Monterrey; 2006: Chicago 1 & 2, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit; 2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa; 2009: Austin, LA 3 & 4, San Diego; 2010: Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis; 2011: PJ20 1 & 2; 2012: Missoula; 2013: Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle; 2014: Tulsa; 2016: Columbia, New York City 1 & 2; 2018: London, Seattle 1 & 2; 2021: Ohana; 2022: Oklahoma City
Comments
1. Working on the Highway
2. Hungry Heart
3. Sherry Darling
4. We Take Care of Our Own
5. Wrecking Ball
6. Death to My Hometown
7. My City of Ruins
8. Spirit In The Night
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES
http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
Here is Bruce singing some CCR. Just wait for the advertisement in another language to finish. The song starts at 38 seconds. http://www.bt.no/tv/Her-kommer-Bruce-pa-scenen-2739126.html
1. Working on the Highway
2. Hungry Heart
3. Sherry Darling
4. We Take Care of Our Own
5. Wrecking Ball
6. Death to My Hometown
7. My City of Ruins
8. Spirit In The Night
9. Thundercrack
10. Jack of All Trades
11. Murder Incorperated :shock:
12. Prove It All night
13, Candys Room
14 Mona-- Shes The One
15. Darlington County
16.Shackled & Drawn
17.Waiting On A Sunny Day
18. Incident on 57th Street (Solo Piano)
19.The Rising
20.Badlands
21. Land Of Hope & Dreams
*********
22.We Are Alive
23.Thunder Road
24.Born To Run
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES
http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES
http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
Saw that one in Hartford in 2009 and then again this year at Albany! Awesome tune...
I fucking LOVE Murder Inc !
Another one PJ should cover !
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES
http://www.UNOS.org
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Mona into She's the One!!! :shock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzoAZXEgx4E (from Winterland 1978)
super rare stuff-
Incident solo on piano?
:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES
http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
bumpity bump, a cover of murder inc, w/mike wailing would be gonzo
MGM Grand - Jul 6, 2006
Cox Arena - Jul 7, 2006
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival - May 1, 2010
Alpine Valley Music Theater - Sep 3-4 2011
Made In America, Philly - Sep 2, 2012
EV, Houston - Nov 12-13, 2012
Dallas-November 2013
OKC-November 2013
ACL 2-October 2014
Fenway Night 1, August 2016
Wrigley, Night 1 August 2018
Fort Worth, Night 1 September 2023
Fort Worth, Night 2 September 2023
Austin, Night 1 September 2023
Austin, Night 2 September 2023
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
1. Working on the Highway
2. Hungry Heart
3. Sherry Darling
4. We Take Care of Our Own
5. Wrecking Ball
6. Death to My Hometown
7. My City of Ruins
8. Spirit In The Night
9. Thundercrack
10. Jack of All Trades
11. Murder Incorperated :shock:
12. Prove It All night
13, Candys Room
14 Mona-- Shes The One
15. Darlington County
16.Shackled & Drawn
17.Waiting On A Sunny Day
18. Incident on 57th Street (Solo Piano)
19.The Rising
20.Badlands
21. Land Of Hope & Dreams
*********
22.We Are Alive
23.Thunder Road
24.Born To Run
25.Rosalita
26.Dancing In The Dark
27.Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
28. Twist and Shout
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES
http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
3 hours and 40 minutes!
Way to go Toronto!
Not surprisingly Bruce and ESB outlasted me- i fell asleep.
I actually thought twist amd shout mayve been the finale- my bad
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES
http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
Toronto Star review
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/mu ... E.facebook
Bruce Springsteen inspires a weird, wild-eyed species of fanaticism amongst people you’d never expect to witness getting fanatical over a rock ‘n’ roll show, and that is a healthy thing.
I’m referring to people of a certain, boomer-ish age, in particular, although by no means was the fired-up mob of 40,000-ish on hand for Springsteen and the E-Street Band’s Wrecking Ball tour touchdown the Rogers Centre on Friday night at all limited to lifelong fans orbiting around his own age of 62 years.
He’s doggedly hung onto relevance long after many would-be heirs to his throne have faded from view and pretty much everyone’s got at least one Springsteen album they can get with, so his audience has refreshed itself with new blood accordingly over the course of the past 40-odd years. (My personal favourite Springsteen album is Nebraska, if you’re asking, but I had Born to Run and The River in my elementary-school bedroom as soon as I was old enough to tape my dad’s records.)
It is a kick, however, to see folks your parents’ age excitably carting homemade Bristol board signs into a baseball stadium like they’ve suddenly reverted to age 13 and are on their way to see Justin Bieber for the first time.
And that, in a nutshell, is probably why Springsteen has endured all these years: he can make you believe rock ‘n’ roll is the most important thing in the world all over again — even if, shame on you, you stopped believing years ago — because, whenever you see him perform, it seems pretty clear that rock ‘n’ roll is still the most important thing in the world to him.
That’s not an original sentiment, by any means, but there’s a reason it gets repeated. Springsteen’s records might not carry as much epochal weight as they aspire to these days — it would be a nice change of pace at this point, in fact, if the Boss responded just once to one of the many crises rending his beloved American heartland apart with an album about, say, his love of gardening — but you don’t walk away from his shows with any doubt about his convictions. He still means it. Dude’s not faking.
And his ongoing addiction to the spotlight, to the rush of thrilling a crowd and having that rush deafeningly returned, appears utterly sincere. If there was a touch of Vegas showmanship involved in playing on when the house lights came up for “Born to Run” at the three-hour mark of this nearly three-hour-and-45-minute marathon, the growing presence of teardown teams in orange hard hats impatiently waiting at each side of the stage as the encore dragged on lent an air of impatient veracity to the whole spectacle.
There definitely was that Vegas-style showmanship when longtime guitar sideman Steve Van Zandt had to “revive” a prone Springsteen with the drippings from a wet sponge for “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” “Glory Days” (“Ah, what the f---. We can’t go home!”), and an endless “Twist and Shout” to finally close out the night.
Preceded by Charlie Giordano’s accordion-ized strains of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” Friday’s performance kicked off with a trio of what Springsteen called “summer songs” — the rollicking “Working on the Highway,” a “Hungry Heart” taken over almost entirely by a crowd singalong, and a slightly ragged “Sherry Darling.”
All this, before diving into a run of tunes from this year’s Wrecking Ball. Slightly underwhelming on record, these outraged responses to America’s wretched present-day economic circumstances were puffed up nicely by Bruce and the current, 16-piece E-Street lineup.
He could write an up-with-people anthem like “We Take Care of Our Own” in his sleep, true, and the song seemed a bit lazy when “The Rising” rose up decisively in the set list an hour or so later. Still, “Wrecking Ball” and the martial “Death to my Hometown” were as seething as their au courant subject matter demanded. Springsteen attacked “Jack of All Trades,” “We Are Alive” and “Land of Hope and Dreams” with similarly righteous diligence when they turned up in the set list later on. It came across loud and clear that Springsteen believes in the new material as much as anything else in the set, and that’s a refreshing change from a lot of shows by rockers who’ve been around as long as him.
Otherwise, the show was deep into the catalogue and all over the place. The Rising’s “My City of Ruins” became a soulful, 15-minute sprawl that segued with churchy gusto into “Spirit in the Night,” off Springsteen’s first record, Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey.
He paused amidst some band introductions during the latter to repeat the question “Are you missing anybody?” to crushing roars of unspoken remembrance for departed E-Street bandmates Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons. The latter’s’ nephew, Jake Clemons, did a most capable job of pulling off the Big Man’s saxophone solos throughout the night, even if essentially Photostat-ing his uncle’s presence in a legendary rock ensemble must be a weird and ultimately troubling way to make a living.
With that sad business out of the way, Springsteen chugged a full beer and gamely took a crowd request for “Thundercrack” because someone had brought along a sign depicting a thunderbolt coming out of a bare butt that rather amused him. A full-bore “Murder Incorporated” and a host of well-received oldies — “Prove It All Night,” “Candy‘s Room,” “Prove It All Night,” “She’s the One” and “Darlington County” among them — followed, while a suspiciously talented young girl of ‘tween age was pulled from the stagefront pit to share lead vocals on “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day.”
Perhaps the evening’s most resonant moment came next, as Springsteen sat down at the piano to honour another request for “Incident on 57th Street.” A quiet piece of three-dimensionally realized street-level storytelling from 1973’s The Wild, the Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle, it stood in stark contrast to the all-out, all-in sonic overload of most of the songs that came before and all that would come after. It also reminded you that what has been lost in Springsteen’s elevation to a stadium-baiting superstar expected to make Big Statements about Big Things was the young Boss’s ability to turn subtly-detailed hardscrabble vignettes drawn on a much smaller scale into Big Statements about Big Things.
It gets a bit much over the long haul, that never-ending E-Street blare. There’s a fine line between transcendent and tiring. So it was good to have Springsteen pull back for a minute before “Badlands” and “Thunder Road” and “Born to Run” and “Rosalita” and “Dancing in the Dark” — cue for the most spectacularly and beautifully awkward, stadiumwide middle-aged WASP dance party I’ve ever seen — and all the rest of the big guns held in check until the home stretch figuratively blew the roof off the roofless Rogers Centre and sent several generations’ worth of E-Street acolytes spilling into the streets, utterly exhausted but believing again.
Hang onto that feeling, hang onto rock ‘n’ roll. Bruce Springsteen has and he’s doing OK.
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
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After these shows there is no doubt in my mind that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are the best live act on the planet and the hardest working musicians.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
all these recent shows are legendary
you were very lucky to get a mix
of a whole lot of rarities and classics.
As I already said I love Murder Inc and
the solo incident on piano mustve been something to wiitness.
conggrats.
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
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2006-5-09 Toronto
2007-8-03 (ed w/ ben harper) chicago / 2007-8-05 chicago
2008-8-12 (ed solo) toronto
2009-10-08 (ed solo) Albany
2011-9-11 Toronto / 2011-9-12 Toronto
2013-7-16 London, ON / 2013-7-19 Chicago / 2013-10-12 Buffalo
2016-5-11 Toronto, On / 2016-5-13 Toronto, On
Same here.
Thank you. Those were definite highlights. I also enjoyed Hungry Heart, Glory Days, The Rising and My City Of Ruins...and his new stuff sounds great live. All around an amazing night
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
a legendary run of shows for the legend, i am trying to wrap my mind around the tour thus far. w/out getting dramatic, it's almost like they are saying goodbye w/out saying goodbye, am i fkn offbase w/that question?
MGM Grand - Jul 6, 2006
Cox Arena - Jul 7, 2006
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival - May 1, 2010
Alpine Valley Music Theater - Sep 3-4 2011
Made In America, Philly - Sep 2, 2012
EV, Houston - Nov 12-13, 2012
Dallas-November 2013
OKC-November 2013
ACL 2-October 2014
Fenway Night 1, August 2016
Wrigley, Night 1 August 2018
Fort Worth, Night 1 September 2023
Fort Worth, Night 2 September 2023
Austin, Night 1 September 2023
Austin, Night 2 September 2023
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
(Hint: he said they were the best crowd the band's ever seen in Toronto.)
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES
http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Bruce could care less about breaking the curfew...
Thrilled for your experience the other night, lukin2006!
I agree...I've seen twice on this tour and this is the best I've seen...like fine wine.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
If you watch youtube footage the sound was cut off at the end and you cant hear bruce at the end. The broadcast kept the soundboard audio but all that didnt go through the speakers at the show