Concert Review: Bruce Springsteen & The Seeger Sessions Band Live in Boston (May 27, 2006)
Published May 30, 2006
While driving back from Foxboro the morning after the Springsteen Seeger Sessions event, me and TheWife were listening to Pete Seeger's "We Shall Overcome, The Complete Carnegie Hall Concert". I was struck by the sense of community in that audience. Seeger would begin a tune as simple as "Skip To My Lou" and the crowd would not only join in but seemingly invite their communal past experiences with the song into the hall as an extra participant.
Looking back at those times (Seeger's Carnegie Hall appearance was June 8, 1963), perhaps that sense of togetherness shouldn't be surprising—"We Shall Overcome" was a very important song for the civil rights movement.
But what to think of Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions concert experience? It was a communal happening. A surprisingly intense one at that. But what we don't have today is a tight connection to most of this music. How is it that we were all singing along as though our lives depended upon it?
You'll get no straight answer from me—I'm still trying to parse just what the hell happened on Saturday night. I mean, I don't sing along to anything. You can't even get me to go along with "Happy Birthday". Yet here I was belting out the chorus to "Pay Me My Money Down", "Jacob's Ladder", and "Buffalo Gals". I even shouted out "It Blowed Away!" during "My Oklahoma Home". Go figure!
One thing is certain: musically, Springsteen pushed all of the right buttons. The Seeger Sessions live band packs quite a punch. Folk music? Yeah...jazz, blues, and soul too—all filtered through the spirit of New Orleans. Bruce's own songs, obviously reworked for the tour, surprised and delighted. "Open All Night" done as a bluesy raveup. An upside down (Or was it sideways?) "Cadillac Ranch" giving way to "Mystery Train". Ah, and then there's the "Polka/Mariachi/Ska" version of "Ramrod".
Heck, even the mistakes were glorious. While trying to add one more rising key change to "Jacob's Ladder", only about a half of the band went ahead, resulting in a bar or so of giant sour notes. Somehow, it only added to the raucousness of the event. After the song, Bruce noted that "We tried to climb too high..and we fucked it up!"
The more thoughtful/spiritual side of the material was represented by a slow, soulful "When The Saints Go Marching In", "We Shall Overcome", "Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)", Springsteen's own "If I Should Fall Behind", a mournful "Mrs. McGrath" that was punctuated by a bodhran-like bass drum, and the amazing tribute to New Orleans "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?"
The final encore, a Peter Wolf-aided "Dirty Water" followed by the stomping "Buffalo Gals", brought to mind the E Street finale of yore—the Detroit Medley. Yes, knees were knockin' and everybody was rockin'.
To those folks who've vowed to sit out this tour: You have no idea what you're passing up.
Setlist:
- John Henry
- O Mary Don't You Weep
- Johnny 99
- Old Dan Tucker
- Eyes on the Prize
- Jesse James
- Cadillac Ranch
- Erie Canal
- My Oklahoma Home
- If I Should Fall Behind
- Mrs. McGrath
- How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?
- Jacob's Ladder
- We Shall Overcome
- Open All Night
- Pay Me My Money Down
Encore:
- Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)
- Ramrod
- You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
- When the Saints Go Marching In
- Dirty Water (w/ Peter Wolf)
- Buffalo Gals (w/ Peter Wolf)
Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. On his best day, he hopes to channel the ghosts of Lester Bangs and Jack Kerouac. He spends the hours of 9:32PM to 1:37AM carving out music reviews and essays for Jazz.com, Blogcritics.org and other publications.
- Concert Review: Bruce Springsteen & The Seeger Sessions Band Live in Boston (May 27, 2006)
- Published: May 30, 2006
- Type: Review
- Section: Music
- Writer: Mark Saleski
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Comments on this articleComments
Great take on the show, Mark. I sang, too, but then I always sing.
I also was pretty surprised by the extent of the audience involvement, given that this was the first US show, and the album is still relatively new. I have a feeling that by the end of the tour, most of this music will have become a part of the Springsteen live concert folklore.
by the way, i'm not bitter that you had better seats than me.
honest!
Hee. As usually happens at these things, Sasquatch had the seat in front of me.
we had two really weird things happen.
1. two woman behind me to the left yakked incessantly during the whole show. why the heck would a person spend their hard-earned dollars for something like this and then actively ignore it?
2. somebody a few rows back complained to security about the people in front of them standing. even more amazing, the staff actually asked us to sit down. what....the.....hell?!!!
I passed up this tour because of the ticket prices. As of early last week, I was able to get tickets fairly close up, but they were $92 face value before all the Ticketmaster fees.
That's just bullshit. How does Bruce justify that price? (That's a rhetorical question.)
Sadly, the ticket prices seem pretty much in line with what everyone else is charging these days. They're actually pretty reasonable for an artist of his stature if you compare them to ticket prices for the likes of The Rolling Stones, etc.
But, yeah, they do take a nasty bite out of the budget.
i only go to one or two "big" shows a year, so i'll take the hit. and honestly, he's not charging any more than any of the other major artists.
I haven't experienced the "Seeger Sessions" band in a live setting (and will only do so if the tour reaches Seattle...knock wood...). But the communal experience you describe is pretty common with any Bruce show. The singing along etc. is just part of the overall experience.
It always feels like you are at a great big party with about 20,000 (well I guess to closer to what 10,000 with these shows?) of your best friends.
From what I've seen and heard about this show, the raucous atmosphere and "bignesss" of the band, combined with Bruce's unique "preacher" brand of showmanship, lends itself very much to that "communal" feeling.
Great review Mark.
-Glen
Very cool review. I've got a different Pete Seeger live disk somewhere and it's pretty much the same thing, everybody sings along. Sometimes so much that you can hardly hear Seeger.
Everybody is raving about this Springsteen disk, guess I'll have to lay down the cash for it.
I saw the show in NYC and expecting to see Bruce doing what he does best which is acoustic, but instead I got a combination of River Dance and A PBS fundraising special. Which is real funny because tonight wouldn't you know I flipped on PBS and there was Bruce dancing in step with his 30 piece band.
I dig Pete Seeger and I dig Woody G. but this was not tribute, it was an indulgence for the big B. What is the world coming to when folk music is a 30 piece band with a brass and string sections.
Perhaps some people want to see Bruce dance with his new friends but I was expecting to hear Bruce play his guitar and hear him sing. You could not hear his voice over this 6 so call back up singers who don't understand the concept of backup singing.
I have not heard played the CD but I've seen the concert and the PBS special and both were contrive and unspontanious.
I'm going to see Dylan in about 4 weeks and I can only hope he leaves the horn section at home and that folk can be performed without the River Dance PBS fundraising production.
Give me Nebraska. Give me my cash back. Give Seeger his songs back.
Tim - U don't understand ANYTHING. Bruce's Tour has gone down a storm especially in Europe. I'm from England and tickets for Manchester sold out in 6 Minutes flat. Similar in Germany Spain etc etc. Absolutely superb. How can anyone take you seriously when u can't even count?? since when does an 18 piece band become 30?? Bizarre statement man. Pure Music Genius. The Horn Section is amazing.
Tim Boyo are you perhaps tone deaf??
Get Real Tim - Check out the free AOL Live performances - this is great stuff
I bought the Seeger ALbum thinking that it was a video of the concert, which I saw. Does that Video
exist? The sight of the players AND the audience added immensely to the experience. I want that video.
Any suggestions? Thanks.
just wait lannie. i'm pretty certain that a dvd release of one of the shows will come out at some point.
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Sounds like a great great time.