Somewhere in the Swamps of Jersey - Springsteen Show Review
Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 9:26 am
I figured if folks can post Buffett and KC show reviews, I can post a Springsteen show review, just in case anybody besides MaryBeth would be interested since she couldnt go this time. She may have to read it when she gets back from STJ.
Saturday nite at the Meadowlands arena (aka Izod Center) wrapped up the this leg of the US tour until the Bonnaroo Festival. Hey – any of you TN area forumites going to that?
Fun show for us old timers as it opened with Badlands, just like the legendary Winterland and Passaic Theater shows (two of the best bootlegs out there) and with four songs played from the first two albums – Spirit in the Night, E Street Shuffle, Incident on 57th Street, and Kitty’s Back, plus the rarely played Something in the Night and Cover Me.
And, instead of ending the show with "American Land" as had happened on the rest of the tour, Springsteen asked the roaring crowd "Are you trying to test me?? The turnpike is closed—nobody goes home!" And from there into a one-two punch, "Glory Days" and "Mony Mony" that had the whole place going nuts, finally ending 26 songs and two hours and 55 minutes after it started. Not sure how this kind of set would play in Peoria, but it was well received here.
“E Street” and “Cover Me” were “sign requests”. Its become a fun routine where about halfway through the show, people hold up signs and Bruce runs around pointing at them and collecting them from the crowd as they are passed up to the front of the stage while the band is playing in the background. Then he spreads them out on the side of the drums to choose what they will play next. Some are quite creative pictograms or similar.
Kind of funny that when Bruce starts going through the signs, some of the band comes over to stretch their necks to see what he might select. He finally picks up a sign, briefly shows it to the band, shows the crowd, props the sign up in front of the mic, and they launch off into the song.
In DC last week, a sign was chosen that said “Obama called – he wants Rosie”, so they played Rosalita. The sign request spots on this tour have also featured covers of classic rock songs that often they’ve never played before such as My Generation, Like a Rolling Stone, Louie Louie, and You Really Got Me.
This was the first time I’ve seen the band since they lost Danny Federici to cancer and I really missed his soulful leads and fills. And although Clarence Clemons can still blow that sax, he clearly doesn’t have the stamina he once had, but as for Bruce himself, it is truly unbelievable the way that man can still bring it at the age of 59. You had a lot of tired but happy looking folks leaving the show, including many who bring their kids, which is kinda cool to see and gives the event a nice multi-generational vibe. Long Live The Boss!
Loved him best at Darien Lake amusement park doing the lesser known County Fair-you could see the ferris wheel all lit up behind him going around-it was magic. He definitely gives the fans their entertainment value-just wish it was not so difficult getting good seats to his concerts -bad bad ticketmaster! 