Bruce Springsteen
Friday October 14, 2005 – 12:35 am
Eric took me to see Bruce Springsteen tonight (=last night), playing solo at the United Center. Shut up, you!! It was really good, I swear. I was really impressed with his amazing songs and musicianship, especially on the pump organ. Shut the hell UP!!! I did NOT mean it that way and you know it. He was GOOD, so shutthefuckup!! He played a Suicide song fer chrissakes, just get the fuck over yourself. Okay. Thank you.
Setlist and show notes courtesy of Backstreets.com…
October 13 / Chicago, IL / United Center
Notes: Returning to Chi-town, home of the ultimate D&D debut (”Dream Baby Dream” on 5/11), Springsteen offered no tour premieres the second time around. But it was a solid show, starting late (at 8:30) but worth the wait, a step up from last night’s performance in Minneapolis despite the larger venue tonight. Bruce was into it — especially on “This Hard Land,” with an exceptional vocal. And even when his vocal wasn’t exceptional, he was having fun: he laughed as he had to sing lines in “All I’m Thinkin’ About” multiple times to hit them, and got much applause at song’s end for the effort. Mentioning again that the line in “Long Time Comin’” should have been “Ain’t gonna fuck it up too bad this time” but it wouldn’t fit, he added that if the song had been on his first album he would have gotten all the words in. Other notables: “I Wish I Were Blind,” both “State Trooper” and “Highway Patrolman,” “When You’re Alone,” and the always-welcome “Racing in the Street” on piano. On the unusual-instrument front, “New Timer” on autoharp took the “Hitter” slot once again, and “Growin’ Up” on ukulele opened the encore. And the Stage Rush Watch: there was a stage rush tonight, not stopped by security; rumor has it that the kibosh on the rush in Minneapolis last night was just a local security snafu. But we’re betting the whole wait-until-the-encore-to-move thing still stands.
Setlist: Idiot’s Delight/Living Proof**/Devils & Dust/The Ties That Bind/Long Time Comin’/I Wish I Were Blind***/Tougher Than the Rest*/Johnny 99/State Trooper/All I’m Thinkin’ About/Ain’t Got You/Highway Patrolman/Reno/When You’re Alone***/Racing in the Street*/The Rising/Further On (Up the Road)/Jesus Was an Only Son*/This Hard Land/The New Timer#/Matamoros Banks
Encore: Growin’ Up*****/Bobby Jean/The Promised Land/Dream Baby Dream**
*=piano
**=pump organ
***=electric piano
*****=ukulele
#=autoharp
October 14th, 2005 at 8:55 am
Edith,
Don’t be ashamed. Bruce is a great musician… I’d be so engaged just watching his guitar technique. Glad you enjoyed it.
October 14th, 2005 at 11:51 pm
I think even people who don’t particularly like Bruce Springsteen’s music still give him the respect he deserves.
October 16th, 2005 at 9:23 pm
Hey, there’s no denying The Dude IS The Dude. He’s the best thing New Jersey’s produced since Edison’s electric light, phonograph, and motion picture, and Les Paul’s first solid body electric guitar in 1940. What’s a more angst-ridden desparado song than Bruce’s "Hungry Heart"? He’s a working class hero from Cancer Alley, I mean - the Garden State. And who else has ever been on the covers of both Time and Newsweek in the same week (September 1985)? I even have three of his songs on my iTunes. You don’t have to be defensive about attending your first Bruce concert. (even Reagan’s spinmeisters thought "Born in the USA" was a patriotic song, so theyjust took it for themselves, and pissed off The Boss big time.)
October 31st, 2005 at 3:20 am
I love and always have loved Bruce Springsteen. And until recently, when I met you and Matt Kerstein, it had been years since I’d met anyone else into him.
Born in the U.S.A. was probably my most-listened-to cassette between the ages of 8 and 10. I loved it to death, even though mom didn’t approve of me singing along to lines like "I’ve got a bad desire… I’m on fire" and "I’m gonna drink ’til I get my fill." In fact, that made it better. And a few years later, "Tunnel of Love" became my first CD. Well, not the first CD *I* bought (that would be Appetite for Destruction and …And Justice for All, purchased at the same time). But in an attempt to get me to come over more often, my divorced dad bought a CD player for his place. And along with it, he bought me Tunnel of Love, which I grew to love even more than Born. And to this day, I think it’s actually his strongest album… certainly his most introspective, I’d say. Anyway, I’ve since gone back and gotten ahold of his classic records. And two years ago, I finally got a chance to see him play, at U.S. Cellular Field… which probably wouldn’t serve too many artists that well… but Bruce in a ballpark? It was almost too perfect. And he put on one of the longest, highest energy shows I’ve ever seen. I’m glad you finally got a chance to see him, yourself. And I’m glad to find another ally in the fight to make sure people know he’s cool.
Goin’ down to Darlington County,
Matt