Saturday, May 2, 2009

YES, BUT DID CLARENCE HAVE HIS ROTISSERIE CHICKEN BREAK? We've certainly had our share of Springsteen reviews from East Coasters named Adam; it's about time to change things up. Maret checks in from two recent shows in the City of Angels, which I've been remiss in not posting until now:
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Last week I spent two nights in a row at Bruce Springsteen concerts. I should point out from the start, that while a big Springsteen fan I am not a fan in the way the ultimate fans are. There are many songs I don’t know, many songs I know but I don’t know all the lyrics to, etc. I have never flown to another state to see a show (yet.) And until last week I was never one of those people who would buy tickets to back-to-back shows in the same city.

We were at the LA Sports Arena (to quote Bruce, “the joint that don’t disappoint!”) and kicking things off with “Badlands” the whole place was screaming and singing along at full energy from the start. Having seen Bruce five or six other times live, this show on the 15th was probably my favorite. His energy was unparalleled…he spent more time than I’ve ever seen playing with the audience – running down to the pit, letting them play his guitar, running down the aisle on the left side of the arena at one point, a mild attempt at crowd-surfing, laying down on the stage with his head in the audience’s lap at one point – it was phenomenal.

It wasn’t just about the songs he was playing (as always a great mix from the new album and their classics), it was the energy of the band, of the audience, and of Bruce. Personal highlights for me were: “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” -- couldn’t find a link to the actual performance I saw, but I love the audience sing-along he does with this song; “Born to Run” --c’mon, how can you NOT love the Boss singing this song, especially since he turns the lights on in the arena so everyone can rock out together; and this scorching version of “Ghost of Tom Joad” he did with Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. You can download that duet from itunes since they sang this together before on the Magic tour, but I hadn’t seen or heard it before and it just blew me away. The entire encore set was terrific too (we got to hear “Rosalita” to close out the show, who doesn’t love that?) but “Hard Times Come Again No More” which was part of the show both nights, was the one that stood out most for me from that set.

The next day at work, a friend who had also been at the show told me that she and her husband were going again that night, and they had floor seats, and I should go with them. It took all of ten-minutes of persuasion for me to search online, buy a ticket, and be ready for night two. Also, since I didn’t know I was going to the concert when I got dressed that morning, I ended up standing, dancing, and rocking out for about three hours in heels. I want extra-credit points for my dedication.

I was so glad I went the second night. I never have had tickets on the floor before so that was awesome. We weren’t in the pit, but we were close to it and could see the band up close and it was SO GREAT. A little less energy than night one, but apparently Bruce had a cold. When I have a cold I stay home from work and act pitiful on my couch; when Bruce has a cold he does 3 hour concerts that are only slightly less energetic than when he’s healthy (although at the end of the night we did get a “I’m ready to go have a cheeseburger and put on my pa-JAMMIES!” comment which I found hilarious. The Boss says ‘pa-jammies’. Heh.

Instead of Tom Morello as guest, night two had Mike Ness from Social Distortion, who Bruce did a duet of Bad Luck” with. It was great, although I preferred the Tom Morello duet. Among the 11 songs that were different on night two from night one: “Thunder Road,” “No Surrender” and “Glory Days” (during which we got a lot of fun with Little Stevie – “Little Stevie, what time is it?!” “It’s BOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSS time!”) Also on night two, Max Weinberg’s son Jay played two songs on drums (including “Born to Run”) and it was announced he’ll be playing some shows on the tour his dad can’t make. Drumming talent must be genetic, because the kid was fantastic. My favorite moment of the night was during the “request” portion of the evening, when Bruce heads into the audience, takes a bunch of the signs people have brought with song titles on them, sorts through them on stage, and plays a couple of them. It’s always a lot of fun, and you never know what you’ll end up hearing. So on night two, Bruce holds up a little yellow sign to the band, turns to the mic and says “You think you can stump the band with THIS?!” and shows us the sign which says, “Proud Mary.” SO FREAKING AWESOME.

It’s comparing apples to oranges, but out of two incredible shows I think I liked the set list from night two better than night one, but the energy and audience interaction from night one better than night two. Set lists for both nights are here. I will likely go to both shows every time Bruce comes to town from now on. As he would say, I spent two nights in a row with “the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, earth-quaking, nerve-breaking, history-making, legendary… E-STREET BAND!”

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