Monday, November 19, 2007

These Badlands Treated Me Good

I went to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on Sunday Night. Shockingly, this was the first time I've ever caught "The Boss", although not through lack of opportunity- he's played at least 10 times around here since reforming the E Street Band back in 1999, and through the Rising tour in 2003, his solo jaunt for "Devils and Dust", and the Seeger Sessions tour last summer (I actually had (free) tickets to that show but passed it up for some primo Red Sox 3rd baseline seats- after seeing the Live In Dublin DVD from that tour, I kind of regret that decision-it was a good game though.)

Anyway, when I found out he was touring with the ol' E Streeters on the back of his great new album, Magic, I knew it was a show I'd have to catch. He was the last major classic rock dude I've never seen. (Eric Clapton doesn't count due to my emmense hatred towards all things "chinless wonder".)

This would be a rare solo jaunt for me up to Boston, as I couldn't convince any of my concert going brethren to cough up the $200 that stubhub was getting for general admission floor seats. The admission policy for the floor was pretty cool- there was a "pit" section in the front with about 200 people in it, and the rest of us behind a barrier a short distance behind them. This was a great setup. I was surrounded by a group of college kids who were quite visibly enjoying themselves, some older couples, and a bunch of dudes obviously way into the show.

The show started off with Springsteen bellowing twice, "Is there anyone alive out there?!!?" before kicking into a high octane "Radio Nowhere", a song I've warmed to considerably, and, like most of the tunes on this new album, come off amazing and better than the album version. Also very cool was the visceral crowd reaction to Bruce and Little Steven sharing a mic, harkening back to the classic imagery of Mick and Keith and the Beatles. It just looked and felt right.

Barely a pause to switch guitars, and No Surrender was up next. Not my favorite tune off Born in The USA, but live, it was amazingly good. This band fires on all cylanders, Max Weinburg is AWESOME. Clarence Clemons is the embodiement of cool, sauntering over to take his solo, on his terms, and the Boss respected that.

The next highlight was the new song Gypsy Biker, with Bruce and Little Steven trading off searing guitar licks. I never really realized what great lead players these guys are.

Reason to Believe was re-cast as a smouldering blues romp in the vein of early ZZ Top. It just scorched. Springsteen used an old fashioned harmonica bullet-mic to dramatic effect. It was one of many highlights, and it was followed by a great version of The River's "Jackson Cage", one I wasn't expecting to hear.

I had thought that Nils Lofgren's guitar work had been somewhat under-utilized during the show. This changed during "Tunnel Of Love". Nils owned this one. Absolutely nailed the solos with Neil Young-esque abandon. Who would have thought Tunnel Of Love could rock so hard? It was also interesting to see Max Weinburg's use of electronic drums during the intro part. I think it was the only time he used these during the show. An unexpected highlight.

Next up was when the dance-a-thon was kicked up a notch for the college kiddies with "Workin' on the Highway" which was a hell of a lot of fun. I wasn't expecting this one and it was a nice surprise.

"Devil's Arcade" kind of brought the show down a bit, but it was an effective lead in to "Last to Die" and "Long Walk Home" before the main set capped off with a mad crowd sing along "Badlands", which underscored how awesome this song is live.

The encore kicked off with the new single "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" which worked well in that slot. "Jungleland" was up next and The Big Man Clarence Clemons brought the house down with his hauntingly beautiful solo. The whole band really nailed this one.

House lights up..."1!!!!....2!!!!!...." crashing into "Born To Run" with full reckless abandon. I never get sick of this song, and being in the middle of the 30,000 people singing along, made this very, very cool.

"Dancing In The Dark" was up next, and every college girl there thought she was super funny imitating the Courtney Cox dance as seen at the end of the music video. It truth, it rocked like a motherfucker and was slightly less keyboard-laden than the familar album version. It was a hell of a lot of fun, and sounded excellent.

The last song of the night was surprising, a tune from the Seeger Sessions. "American Land" sounds like it could be a Pogues song and I couldn't really imagine the E Street band doing this, but it was fantastic.

Unfortunately for my wallet, I don't think I can pass up a Springsteen show again, the amazing energy and chemistry is visceral. I'll be dragging some people along kicking and screaming to a show or two on the next leg, that's for sure.

Here's the full setlist:

Radio Nowhere
No Surrender
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason to Believe
Jackson Cage
She's the One
Livin' in the Future
The Promised Land
I'll Work For Your Love
Tunnel of Love
Working on the Highway
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands
* * *
Girls in Their Summer Clothes
Jungleland
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
American Land

1 Comments:

Blogger harmolodic said...

I sense that your long-time crack addiction must be subsiding, though "regret" is probably not quite strong enough a word to accurately describe the state of mind a sane person would experience upon realizing he had passed up a Springsteen concert for a baseball game...

November 21, 2007 at 6:02 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home