You know, every time I go to a Bruce show, I come out of there thinking it was the best one ever. A few days later, after the adrenaline levels drop back to normal, memories of past concerts come back into focus: "Wait... what about back in...?"
This morning, the adrenaline obliterated by not nearly enough sleep (and what the hell, city of Boston, where are those freaking extra trains at North Station on event nights? Sheesh!!), I have to say that this one does indeed deserve a spot right near the top.
Bruce and company came on shortly after 8pm (pretty early by his standards) and man, he was on. People accuse him of mailing performances in. They haven't seen the way he leaned in hard to the opening "Badlands." The intensity was brutal right from the start. The crowd was a boiling sea of energy, beaming back waves to the band and boy, did they respond.
"Outlaw Pete" isn't exactly my favorite Working On A Dream song, but in concert it took on new life, with swelling power chords, soaring background vocals, and yes, Bruce's goofy hat at the end. He might take his career as a whole seriously but he's sure not beyond havin' a good time.
There were many highlights. "She's The One" was probably the first tune that pushed the audience to the lift-off stage. While the "bad-times three-pack" ("Seeds"->"Johnny 99"->"Youngstown") was capped off by the blistering guitar work of Nils Lofgren, it was the crowd sign request part of the show that took everything up a notch. With the band playing an instrumental version of "Raise Your Hand," Bruce pulled sign after sign from outstretched hands. After dumping them all near Max Weinberg's drum riser, Bruce sorted through carefully and stood up with what looked like a sheet of 8.5 x 11 notebook paper. With a huge grin on his face, he walked over to show Miami Steve. An even bigger smile spread across Steve's face. On the paper was "I Wanna Be Sedated." The crowd went sorta crazy when they saw this on the video screens. After conferring on key/chords, Bruce let out a raspy cackle and they launched into the Ramones classic. Let me tell you, 17,000+ screaming the words to this song? Fantastic. Bruce and the E Streeters nailed it too. It was pure joy.
Article comments
1 - Jordan Richardson
Wicked. So glad you had a great time!
2 - Mary K. Williams
Thanks for making it come alive for the rest of us.
3 - eddie
cool!can't wait to see the show tomorrow in Hartford!
4 - Gary E
As I just emailed you - you nailed this concert. It turned on I Wanna Be Sedated - The final two thirds were very special indeed!
Cheers -
Gary E
5 - Artie
Great show. Seen the ESB dozens of times, but the last time half of those in attendance last night were in diapers. Great observation about the new stuff vs. the old. The last Bruce album I bought was Born in the USA 25 yrs ago. I was good with his life's work at that point. I appreciate lots of the stuff since, but can live without it. So I endured many of the songs last night, longing for Backstreets, Rosalita, The River, 4th of July, Lost in the Flood, and Darkness...to name a few that would have been better received by us old folks....But I did note how the peak of feverish crowd reaction came better than halfway into the show, on the 4th consecutive "new" song: "Rising." There was a whole new generation digging Bruce the way I did. I'm ok with that...a testament to a real artist's ability to evolve. The Beatles exploded onto the scene and flamed out like a comet after just a decade. That said, the dude with the engagement ring was odd, and his garage band, a cross between the Bay City Rollers and Billy Idol....they just didn't fit up there with the crown prince. I'd go again tonight in a heartbeat.
6 - C
Mark, I agree with most of your wonderfully written review. But I respectfully agree with Artie. Great show, but for anyone over 34, nowhere near best ever, as you say. And although the finale and encores were a spectacle, Bruce has set a high bar for himself, so I expected a more sentimental and moving finish, perhaps with Backstreets.
It'll never happen, but in parentheses here's what I wish he had played:
Badlands
Candy's Room
Outlaw Pete (Lost in the Flood)
She's The One
Working On A Dream
Seeds (Sherry Darling)
Johnny 99
Youngstown
Raise Your Hand (Point Blank)
I Wanna Be Sedated
Spirit In The Night
For You
Waitin' On A Sunny Day (Darkness Edge Town)
The Promised Land
Jungleland
Kingdom of Days (Rosalita)
Radio Nowhere (Prove it All Night)
Lonesome Day (10th Ave Freezeout)
The Rising (Ramrod)
Born To Run
Hard Times (I’m on Fire)
Thunder Road
Land Of Hope And Dreams (Adam Raised a Cain)
So Young and In Love (with Dropkick Murphys) (Streets of Fire)
American Land (with Dropkick Murphys) (Spirit in the Night)
Glory Days
Seven Nights To Rock (Backstreets)
7 - El Bicho
It's rather sad that so many Bruce "fans" want to trap him in amber, lock him in a moment in time when he was special to them, yet refuse to allow Bruce to be for others what he may be to them. It's unbelievably selfish.
8 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Great Review!!
Umm.. How in the hell is the Dropkick Murphy's a "Garage Band"? I think it's pretty sweet that they played together. It's not necessarily something I wouldn't expect seeing how Bruce has done an Irish inspired tune or two but I would have been pleasantly surprised considering I'm not much of a fan of the ESB.
9 - MarkSaleski
not garage band in the modern sense, but garage band as in the late 60's...that stuff has a lot in common with early punk as well as what's going on now.
sweet geesus, American Land with those guys was nice.
10 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Ahha... BUT, DKM is Punk. Working Class, Irish influenced, Rock'N'Roll P-U-N-K.
I can only picture what those two bands were like playing together. Granted, I don't really like ESB's music, but I know they are,imo,decent musicians,so, it must have been awesome.