Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band / Gillette Stadium / Foxboro MA / August 2, 2008
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band just capped off a year and a half of touring behind 2007's Magic CD. I was luck enough to catch my second show of the tour last month in Foxboro. Pretty much about everything about the tour has changed since I last saw the band in Boston late last year. The show is about 45 minutes longer, much more unpredictable set-wise, and of course, without organist Danny Federeci, who succumed to cancer this past April. Seeger Sessions keyboardist Charlie filled his shoes admirably throughout the last few legs of the tour.
The start of the show was delayed about an hour, thanks to a massive monsoon-like storm that passed through a little after 8pm. When the band did come out, they certainly played like they had something to prove.
The evening started off with a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues", with Clarence Clemons delivering the baritone couter vocals in his own inimitable way. This crashed headlong into the classic "Tenth Avenue Freezeout", sounding like it was straight out of 1975. Next up was one of the centerpieces of Springsteen's latest album Magic, "Radio Nowhere". Despite it's similarities to 867-5309, this song works incredibly well live and upped the intensity of the show very well.
"Lonesome Day" from 2002's The Rising followed next, and kept the pace of the show rocking, with plenty of audience participation during the "It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, yeah" singalong chorus. Perrenial favorite "The Promised Land" followed along with "Spirit In The Night" from his first album, featuring microphone acrobatics for the nearly 60 year old Springsteen, still as limber as a man in his 20's.
Next up was the "audience request" portion of the show, during which Springsteen decended in the the front area to collect signs displaying requests from the crowd. The first song he picked was indeed a deep cut, in fact, not played since the mid-seventies. The sign for "Little Latin Lupe Lu" contained the full lyrics as well as KEY OF F (even though Springsteen changed it to G) written on the back. The band nailed it, despite Springsteen's warning that "The band will not be ready for this one...they will not be ready, boy."
Next came requests for "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd St?" and "Hungry Heart", before the fitting "Who'll Stop The Rain?". Even though the rain had ceased before the show began, no one present was soon to forget the downpour endured prior to the start of the show.
Following the "request portion" of the show the band roared back with an electric version of "Youngstown" from 1995's mostly acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad album that featured blistering guitar playing from Nils Lofgren. "Youngstown" flowed seamlessly into "Murder Incorporated", which was orginally recorded for the Born In The USA album, but not released until 1995's Greatest Hits collection.
The Bo Diddley-flavored "She's The One" followed, as well as "Livin In The Future", the politically charged tune from Magic, which was only the second tune from the new album played this night.
"Mary's Place" from The Rising followed some intense "rock n roll" preaching from Springsteen, and lended itself greatly to the stadium atmosphere.
The standard "four-pack" closed out the main set, "The Rising", "Last To Die", "Long Walk Home", and "Badlands".
The encores kicked off with, as Bruce called it, "the rarely played, and even less rarely requested 'I'm Going Down'", which the band just about pulled off. It's a song you can tend to forget about considering it lives alongside the mega-hits on Born In The USA.
"Jungleland" was next, and this one pretty much epitomizes everything that a Springsteen live performance is. And the band totally nailed it, especially Clemons. Marissa got a great pic:
The encores were kicked into overdrive with successive barnstormers "Born To Run", "Glory Days", and "Dancing In The Dark", all performed with the houselights up. The crowd was delirious, and the band rocked.
The usual finale of the Irish style Seeger Sessions track "American Land" was followed by a declaration from the boss: ""Boston! Massachusetts! Rhode Island! Connecticut! Wherever the fuck we are!" before kicking into Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) to cap off a nearly 3 hour show that went 70 minutes beyond the 11pm curfew at the stadium.
I usually don't dig on the big stadium affairs, but we had fantastic seats on the floor, and it made all the difference in the world. This certainly topped the last Springsteen show I saw, even though it was in a much bigger place. The energy was palpable and Springsteen never fails to deliver.
The start of the show was delayed about an hour, thanks to a massive monsoon-like storm that passed through a little after 8pm. When the band did come out, they certainly played like they had something to prove.
The evening started off with a cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues", with Clarence Clemons delivering the baritone couter vocals in his own inimitable way. This crashed headlong into the classic "Tenth Avenue Freezeout", sounding like it was straight out of 1975. Next up was one of the centerpieces of Springsteen's latest album Magic, "Radio Nowhere". Despite it's similarities to 867-5309, this song works incredibly well live and upped the intensity of the show very well.
"Lonesome Day" from 2002's The Rising followed next, and kept the pace of the show rocking, with plenty of audience participation during the "It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, yeah" singalong chorus. Perrenial favorite "The Promised Land" followed along with "Spirit In The Night" from his first album, featuring microphone acrobatics for the nearly 60 year old Springsteen, still as limber as a man in his 20's.
Next up was the "audience request" portion of the show, during which Springsteen decended in the the front area to collect signs displaying requests from the crowd. The first song he picked was indeed a deep cut, in fact, not played since the mid-seventies. The sign for "Little Latin Lupe Lu" contained the full lyrics as well as KEY OF F (even though Springsteen changed it to G) written on the back. The band nailed it, despite Springsteen's warning that "The band will not be ready for this one...they will not be ready, boy."
Next came requests for "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd St?" and "Hungry Heart", before the fitting "Who'll Stop The Rain?". Even though the rain had ceased before the show began, no one present was soon to forget the downpour endured prior to the start of the show.
Following the "request portion" of the show the band roared back with an electric version of "Youngstown" from 1995's mostly acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad album that featured blistering guitar playing from Nils Lofgren. "Youngstown" flowed seamlessly into "Murder Incorporated", which was orginally recorded for the Born In The USA album, but not released until 1995's Greatest Hits collection.
The Bo Diddley-flavored "She's The One" followed, as well as "Livin In The Future", the politically charged tune from Magic, which was only the second tune from the new album played this night.
"Mary's Place" from The Rising followed some intense "rock n roll" preaching from Springsteen, and lended itself greatly to the stadium atmosphere.
The standard "four-pack" closed out the main set, "The Rising", "Last To Die", "Long Walk Home", and "Badlands".
The encores kicked off with, as Bruce called it, "the rarely played, and even less rarely requested 'I'm Going Down'", which the band just about pulled off. It's a song you can tend to forget about considering it lives alongside the mega-hits on Born In The USA.
"Jungleland" was next, and this one pretty much epitomizes everything that a Springsteen live performance is. And the band totally nailed it, especially Clemons. Marissa got a great pic:
The encores were kicked into overdrive with successive barnstormers "Born To Run", "Glory Days", and "Dancing In The Dark", all performed with the houselights up. The crowd was delirious, and the band rocked.
The usual finale of the Irish style Seeger Sessions track "American Land" was followed by a declaration from the boss: ""Boston! Massachusetts! Rhode Island! Connecticut! Wherever the fuck we are!" before kicking into Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) to cap off a nearly 3 hour show that went 70 minutes beyond the 11pm curfew at the stadium.
I usually don't dig on the big stadium affairs, but we had fantastic seats on the floor, and it made all the difference in the world. This certainly topped the last Springsteen show I saw, even though it was in a much bigger place. The energy was palpable and Springsteen never fails to deliver.
posted by Doug MacGunnigle at 9/01/2008 08:12:00 PM
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