Adding “Tunnel of Love” to the set: it works on so many levels.

Bruce wants to include a song every night that features Nils Lofgren; Bruce wants to include a song every night that features Patti Scialfa; Bruce has only a few spots available in the setlist after he plays The River in full each night.

Easy solution: play “Tunnel of Love.”  Every night of this tour.

1. It features both one of Nils’ greatest solos and one of Patti’s best vocal parts.

2. It’s one of Bruce’s biggest hits – helpful for engaging an audience that just experienced the challenging sides 3 and 4 of The River.

3. It has a thematic link to The River: Bruce has repeatedly pointed out how the song “Stolen Car” led to the writing on the Tunnel of Love album.

4. It has been barely-ever played in the Reunion era; it could be played every night on this tour without feeling stale or rote.

5. It’s one of Bruce’s greatest songs.

 

 

Springsteen in Pittsburgh, January 16, 2016

Saturday’s show in Pittsburgh was one of, if not the strongest performances on opening night of a tour that Springsteen’s ever had. This is probably due both to being well-rehearsed and that there weren’t any truly new songs for the band to learn.

The album performance was of course the best part of the show, but it also exceeded all of my expectations for opening night. Bruce had clearly put a lot of thought into how the songs should be played live, as evidenced by extended musical introductions to “Point Blank” and “I Wanna Marry You,” or even little details, like having Jake Clemons play the harmonica part on “Jackson Cage.”

There were still a few rough spots: the band struggled with transitions during “The Price You Pay” and had a tough time finding the groove during “I’m a Rocker.” The band didn’t seem to know what Bruce was doing during “Out in the Street,” leaving Nils and Garry behind when the mobile band members took a trip to the back of the stage, and when Bruce was calling for the “meet me out in the street” response vocals. Even the crew had a few mistakes: the backing vocals couldn’t be heard at the right time in “Drive All Night,” even though the band members were singing them. Each of these are minor issues that will all seemingly be corrected as the tour rolls on.

Interestingly, Bruce chose to speak to the crowd before the most challenging of the River songs to play in arenas, before “Independence Day,” “I Wanna Marry You” and “Stolen Car.” He also spoke to the crowd in introducing the album, discussing the adult topics of the album, and how “if I could write about them then I could get one step closer to having them in my life.”

It seemed to me that the spoken introductions did help capture the crowd’s attention, and somewhat prevented the wandering attention/running to the concourse that would otherwise occur during these songs. The “Independence Day” introduction was especially thoughtful, with Bruce explaining that it was the first song he wrote about fathers and sons, and how when you’re young, “you’re startled by your parents’ humanity…all you can see is the adult compromises they had to make.” He described it as “a late night conversation between two people struggling to understand each other.” The later introduction to “Stolen Car” was perhaps even more revealing, as Bruce admitted he “wrote and re-wrote it until I felt I got it right” describing the question of the song as “if you lose your connections to things, do you lose yourself?” Based on the introduction, I wouldn’t wait around for him to ever try the Tracks / River Single Album version of the song.

At the end of “Wreck on the Highway,” Bruce spoke to the crowd again:

“One of the other things I was writing about on The River was time. A friend of mine was sitting around last night – he said ‘time catches up to us all.’ You’ve got a limited amount of time to do your work, to take care of your family, and try to do something good.”

Those comments were poignant, particularly considering Bruce’s previously stated reasons for going out on tour (that me missed playing with the band), and his obvious enthusiasm at being back on stage. The show was 3 hours, 22 minutes and 4 seconds long, and this was just opening night. He had to work hard throughout the album portion of the set, and then stuck around for another hour and a half of additional songs.

The biggest problem with the show, however, is the total absence of anything “new.” It is disquieting to see Bruce veer sharply in the direction of becoming a nostalgia act. The closest thing to anything “new” in the set was the opening song, “Meet Me in the City,” which was a fun introduction, but shouldn’t have been the only “outtake” from The River to make the show. Bruce specifically addressed his fanbase in his call to E Street Radio, explicitly suggesting that the outtakes would be a part of the rest of the show. It was disappointing that he didn’t follow through on that.

Bruce’s choices for the rest of the show certainly made some sense in that they all were crowd-pleasers and they were largely performed quite well. Yet it did strike me as surprising that he was unwilling to try anything different than what he has already been doing over his past ten years of touring with the E Street Band. Of course it’s a good idea to play some hits as encores – but why keep doing “Dancing in the Dark” at every single show? It’s been there at basically every E Street show since 2002. He even keeps doing it exactly the same way, pulling someone on stage to dance at the end. Bruce has plenty of other hit songs that he could play there instead. Perhaps try something else?

“Because the Night” brought the house down with Nils Lofgren doing his solo while spinning around; but that’s been a staple of the set since 2007. It’d be nice if Bruce could find something else for him to do that exhibited his talents. “Wrecking Ball” gets great cheers when Bruce tells [insert city name] to “let me hear your voices call” but he’s got plenty of other ways to interact with the crowd that aren’t quite so pandering as to invoke a beloved sports team’s name (he referenced the Steelers, of course, on Saturday).

It was a positive development that sign requests were non-existent at the show, and that Bruce didn’t acknowledge any of the few that were present. I’ve long felt that Bruce, when putting thought into a set, is more likely to come up with a good flow and arc of songs than if he is throwing things together on the fly. Pittsburgh’s set was not a good example of that – Bruce’s choices felt random and disconnected, even if he wasn’t doing them via sign request. I hope he finds some different things to try in the set that frame the album performance more effectively. Moving some songs before “The Ties That Bind” might work, as would relying a little less heavily on his regular warhorses and instead finding a better balance between of songs that can tell a story other than “here are my greatest hits!”

Miscellaneous Notes:

The horn section was missed in several places. On Wrecking Ball, Charlie played the horn line on keyboards.

Jake Clemons has definitely benefited from having two tours under his belt. He was playing very well, and was put to work assisting on percussion and backing vocals when he wasn’t playing sax.

True to form, with Patti back on stage, Bruce broke out a song from the “Tunnel of Love” album. Several of Bruce’s best songs (“Human Touch,” “Tunnel of Love,” “Tougher Than the Rest,” are most frequently played with Patti present, so here’s hoping her presence on the tour continues).

It was a great crowd, and Bruce seemed genuinely surprised by how loud they were singing back to him. He stopped singing and had the crowd take over on more than just the first verse of “The River,” and particularly on “Rosalita,” where he had the crowd most of the first few lines by themselves, and then also several lines of the second verse too.

Why and How Springsteen’s Floor General Admission “Lottery” Process is Failing his Customers

With Springsteen back on the road, fans holding floor tickets to North American shows once again are forced to deal with the general admission “lottery” for entry to the show. Saturday night’s show in Pittsburgh showed that tour and venue staff is woefully unprepared to handle the customers who paid $185 each for their floor tickets.

 

First, the Springsteen staff must be prepared to accommodate a large number of people showing up to participate in the lottery. Their wholly inadequate approach was to provide only one member of the touring staff (who, incidentally, also has other job duties) to handle this process involving 1,500 patrons. This is unacceptable, and the tour did not have its staff properly directing the venue staff regarding how the crowd should be handled. Additionally, the venue did not dedicate an adequately large area to handle the crowd, and had the general admission patrons mixed with other customers attempting to access the box office, will call, pre-show dinners and even reserved seats.

The large number of customers participating in the lottery is no surprise, given that the details were mailed to all customers who had purchased GA floor tickets; had been publicized on Springsteen’s twitter account; facebook page, the venue’s website, and the venue’s twitter account.

 

Second, if Springsteen’s tour is going to insist on this “lottery” process for entry, they have a responsibility to accommodate all of the customers in the process. This means that after the “winners” are taken into the pit, the remaining customers must be also allowed to enter afterwards in number order.

In Pittsburgh, after the “winners” were let in, a few hundred additional customers were let in, keeping the number order, until Springsteen’s staff and the venue simply decided to not bother with the rest of the customers, telling them that they’d have to just wait until doors opened, at which point the number order was useless. This is disrespectful to the paying customers who followed directions, showed up to participate, and were told that they would be admitted to the venue in number order. It also invites a dangerous free-for-all of persons rushing to get in the venue, as opposed to an orderly process.  Not coincidentally, that’s exactly what happened when the doors were eventually opened.

 

Third, the size of the “pit” should be significantly larger. The security and safety reasons for a barrier on the floor are clear enough: it prevents a crowd of 2,000 persons pushing forward at once. Why that barrier must be placed less than one-fourth of the way back on the floor makes far less sense. Enlarging the pit would allow more than 350 “winners” and make the GA floor tickets a far better value.

It appears that one possible reason for the significantly smaller “pit” than in the past is to facilitate Bruce crowd-surfing from a platform at the back of the pit to the stage during “Hungry Heart.” This gimmick has been used by Bruce since September 2009 and is hardly essential at this point. He would serve his customers far better by allowing them a better chance at getting a good spot at his shows than forcing a smaller pit so he can crowdsurf.

River Tour 2016 Preview

Looking Back at the River Tour Announcement

No matter how Bruce will refer to it in the press or on television, a tour exclusively for the purpose of looking back at an album released thirty-five years ago is a strange thing to be selling. Especially when his legacy as an artist is built on having relevant and new things to say, rather than resting and relying solely on his past glories.

Having “Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band” on the bill still sells plenty of tickets, and given the brisk sales, there certainly was no need for Bruce to go make specific efforts at reaching out to the fanbase in advance of tickets going on sale. Yet, he did so anyway, with a phone call to E Street Radio, and an interview with Backstreets. His justification for the tour certainly made sense: he wanted to tour with the band again, and that he wasn’t sure that his next project would be one that he would tour with the band.

His assertions about the artistic value of playing the entire sequence of an album in a concert are a tougher sell, however. He professed to like performing that specific sequence, given its importance in the creation of the record and the time spent making it. The point is well taken: the importance of the album sequence is undeniable. He even commented that “It’s very strange, I’ve always thought, that the first thing that people do, when they come out on tour, is they break the album completely up. They play a few songs here, a few songs there… it’s actually very unusual, considering all the time and the care you take in the sequencing and in the content of the record.”

What he failed to address, however is that this is a thirty-five year old sequence he intends to play each night of the upcoming tour. He might find it “strange” to “break the album completely up” on tour, but yet he’s never seen fit to do otherwise each time he has new material to play. Even during the times when he’s had a fixed setlist in mind – such as those that Backstreets pointed out – on the Tunnel of Love tour or at the beginning of the Rising tour, those sequences have always been a mix of the old and the new: the story being told is told more effectively when aided by songs from the past.

Further, this plan stands in sharp relief to one of his most frequent metaphors for his performing career: the ongoing “conversation” he has with his audience. Bruce isn’t bringing a new sequence or a new topic to the conversation, and accordingly, the conversation threatens to become repetitive. One hopes the repetition he’s going to be doing this tour won’t also make the larger conversation boring or irrelevant.

 

What To Expect on the River Tour

In a tip of the cap for doing things correctly, credit is indeed due to Bruce and his staff for being upfront about things. Unlike in 2009, we know exactly who is going to be in the band for the tour, as it was announced before tickets went on sale. Unlike in 2013, we know exactly which shows (all of them!) will have an album sequence, before tickets are sold. Unlike 2012, all of the tour dates were announced at once, so fans could make their plans accordingly.

The big mystery that is left is the non-album portions of the setlist. Bruce’s comments before the tickets went on sale suggested a willingness to play some of the outtakes from the River album, even suggesting explicitly in his call to Sirius that “We’ll pick out the best of our outtakes for the end of the show, and along with obviously, some favorites.”

Outtakes
Bruce’s words notwithstanding, it is still fair to take a believe-it-when-we-see-it approach to Bruce playing outtakes live. On the Reunion tour, Bruce failed to emphasize the Tracks boxset in an meaningful manner, many times playing only one song from it per night, a habit that did not change in the Reunion era. Despite releasing eighteen new songs on The Promise in 2010, the songs from that album were essentially ignored live.

A quick look at the numbers shows Bruce’s general ambivalence to the River outtakes. They basically fall into four categories:

1. River Outtakes that Bruce has played with some regularity, on occasion, in the past:

Roulette, Where the Bands Are, Be True, From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come), Loose Ends

2. River Outtakes that Bruce has played a few times – the “true rarities:”

Take ‘Em As They Come, I Wanna Be With You, Held Up Without a Gun

3. River Outtakes that Bruce has played exactly once, and never again:

Dollhouse, Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own, Restless Nights, Living on the Edge of the World

4. River Outtakes that have never been played live:

Everything else!

Classics and Warhorses
The specific focus of this tour on the River album might well change the calculus, but the prediction here is that performances of live Springsteen “classics” such as “Badlands,” “Prove It All Night,” “Thunder Road,” and “The Promised Land” are far more likely to show up rather than copious amounts of River outtakes.

Indeed, the recent shot of the rehearsal setlist that was posted on the official Springsteen twitter account suggested a wholly unadventurous approach to the non-River songs for the tour. Here’s hoping that was merely an early draft and not indicative of what Bruce will be playing all tour.

The song after “Wreck on the Highway” in Pittsburgh on January 16 offers perhaps the most intrigue of all. Will Bruce feel compelled to break out “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” yet again, or will he finally rest that song and figure out something else new to play there? Fingers remained crossed here that it will be the latter, and that he does follow through on his plan to create some differences in the various shows by indeed finding spots for those outtakes to finally get played a bit more frequently.

Opening Songs and Setlist Rotation
It is fair to hope that the opening song of the show may well be a chance to hear an outtake; Bruce has never once started any of his “album shows” – not even the one time he did The River previously – with the album itself. A show opening sequence of “Meet Me in the City” followed by something the audience will know (such as “Badlands” or “Prove It All Night”) would make a lot of sense as an introduction to the album.

If Bruce does plan on playing a good portion of his “classics,” then the opening song may well be the best hope for a change in the set from night to night.

David Bowie
Will Bruce play something as a tribute on Saturday night? The prediction here is that he will, with the opening spot of the encore the most likely place in the set for it. “Rebel Rebel” is the straightforward-rock-song that would certainly make plenty of sense. Yet “Modern Love” may well be the best choice for the band: a lively piano part, call-and-response vocals, and a great sax solo (here’s hoping Jake’s up to the task). It’s right in the E Street Band’s wheelhouse and would make a worthy tribute.

 

Bruce Springsteen on Late Night Television This Week!

Tonight, Thursday, December 17, will be technically be Bruce Springsteen’s first appearance on The Tonight Show since 2006, although it is more accurately described as his fifth appearance on a Late Night program hosted by Jimmy Fallon (his 2010, 2012 and 2014 appearances were on Late Night). It also looks to be the first time that Bruce will appear for an interview only, rather than performing with either The Roots of the E Street Band.

As the “lead” guest on the program, however, it does stand to reason that Bruce will appear in some sort of comedy sketch. One wonders if Jimmy and Bruce’s “duets” have run their course and something new will be tried this time. I personally think Bruce would be an ideal matchup in one of the show’s trademark features, the host and the guest facing off in an often-hilarious game of skill and/or chance. He seems to me to be well-suited as to oppose Jimmy in Egg-Russian Roulette.

Two days later will be Bruce’s third appearance on Saturday Night Live. Musical guests are typically allotted two songs on the program. The prediction here is that the first will be “Meet Me in the City,” as the focus track from the Ties That Bind box set. The second song is tougher to predict, but it just may well be “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” in deference to the season and that this will be the “Christmas episode” of Saturday Night Live.

SNL has found room for some musical guests to get three songs (Bruce performed three during his first appearance on the program in 1992), so “Hungry Heart” could probably slip in if that third song was played, with “Santa Claus” perhaps being an ending to the show.

Bruce has never appeared in a sketch on the program before; the closest we’ve seen was Jimmy Fallon and Rachel Dratch’s “Boston Teens” (Sully and Denise) attending a Springsteen concert.*  (One wonders if Bruce not making an appearance was by choice (that he didn’t want to) or perhaps due to lack of rehearsal time (the band was touring at the time, and wasn’t present in New York until the day of the show).

Given the star power of hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, the show may be hard pressed to find room to put Bruce in a sketch, assuming he would want to be involved. The better bet, if one wants to see Bruce exercise his acting chops, is on Thursday.

—

*A sketch that seems to have eluded the SNL online video archives, hence the lack of a link.  A transcript of the sketch can be found here.

St. Louis, August 23, 2008 (and soundcheck revelations)

At some point, not much more can be said about the show in St. Louis, Missouri on August 23, 2008.  It was – both in my opinion, and the opinion of many others – the best show of the Magic tour.  There is probably no other tour from Bruce’s entire performing history where there is such a strong consensus as to what the best show of the tour was.  On other tours, there are some choices: for example, the best River show might have been the Nassau Coliseum New Year’s Eve show; or the Vietnam Veterans show; or the night in Philadelphia after John Lennon’s death.  For the Magic tour, it was this night that stood apart from all others.

It is rightly considered perhaps the single best show the E Street Band played since reuniting, and I know others have gone further, calling it the best since the River tour itself.

I was newly excited, however, to hear that an improved matrix recording of the show was just made available on the torrent sites.  Yes, it’s an unofficial release, but it’ll do quite nicely until Bruce officially releases a recording from this night (which, of course, is something that should be on his to-do list!)

The contents of the night’s soundcheck are known to those who were waiting in the general admission line and could hear the songs being performed, but the tape offers some new revelations, including another confirmation that Bruce does pay attention to those little details that one might think only his obsessive fans know.

The recording contains a fascinating confirmation that Bruce was acutely aware of his performance history of “Then She Kissed Me,” and that it had last been done 33 years prior, in August.

Bruce may not have been aware that it would be exactly 33 years to the date since the song’s last performance.  He certainly was remembering, however, the band’s run of shows at the Bottom Line stand of August 1975: “Then She Kissed Me” was played at almost every one of the ten shows there.  Alternate choice “When You Walk in the Room,” rehearsed in the soundcheck but which went unplayed (it was probably Bruce’s alternate choice for the opening song) underscores his memory of those shows.

Sure enough, before running through the song, Bruce, Nils and other members of the band can be heard discussing Bruce’s inclusion of covers in the band’s set, and Bruce remarking to Nils that “you might have heard it at a show you were at!” and Nils immediately confirming “I was, I was at that show!”  Nils also recalls, quite correctly, that “…the first date of ours was was the night after your last stand there.”

Nassau Coliseum 1980: Revisiting the Show’s Length and All-Time Ranking

The glorious official release of the December 31, 1980 show from the Nassau Coliseum from the Springsteen archives now calls for a re-evaluation of the show’s length and its ranking among the longest-ever Springsteen shows.

That topic is of particular interest here, and was previously explored on this site in June of 2012, when Bruce was playing a remarkable series of shows in Europe, approaching his all-time records and finally, on the last night of the tour in Helsinki, cracking the four-hour mark.

The Nassau show had for years been regarded as the longest-ever (until July 31, 2012), and with the benefit of a complete recording running at proper speed, it can now be properly measured…and perhaps properly ranked.

Obtaining an accurate measurement:
The official recording of the Nassau show runs 3:47:21.  Applying principles previously explained here, the measurement of the show starts with Bruce’s first words to the crowd, “Are you ready to send out 1980?”  The set break (between “Thunder Road” and “Cadillac Ranch”) is not counted.  There are a few seconds left on the end of the recording after “Raise Your Hand” ends that also must be disregarded.

Accordingly, this site recognizes, for ranking purposes, that the length of the December 31, 1980 show is 3:45:53.

All-Time Rank:
The Nassau Coliseum show comes in ahead over the longest (non-Helsinki) Wrecking Ball shows.

The February 16, 2014 show in Melbourne, Australia – known for being the only High Hopes tour show to not be officially released – was 3:46:41, good for second-longest all-time.

Coming in just ahead of the Nassau Coliseum show is the December 19, 1980 show at Madison Square Garden.  The relatively new JEMS upgrade of the show – after the typical show-measurement methodology is applied – runs 3:46:20.

There is, however, the possibility that the tape from that show runs a touch slow which could throw the measurement off slightly.

Barring a definitive official release of the New York show to provide a perfect comparison, the top-5 length rankings are currently believed to be:

1. Helsinki, July 31, 2012, 4:04:47

2. Melbourne, February 16, 2014, 3:46:41

3. New York, December 19, 1980, 3:46:20

4. Uniondale, December 31, 1980, 3:45:53

5. Madrid, June 17, 2012, 3:45:32

 

NOTE:
A prior version of this post mistakenly omitted the Melbourne show from the rankings.  Thanks to T. for the correction.  This site regrets the error.

The Top Ten Shows that Bruce Springsteen Should Release from his Archives

In a live interview on Sirus’s “E Street Radio” channel on May 18, 2014, prior to the last show of the High Hopes Tour, Bruce spoke generally about his future plans, and mentioned potential archival releases of past shows. Today was the exciting first step in that process, with the introduction of a dedicated page on his website and the release of the Apollo Theater show from March 2012 prior to the start of the Wrecking Ball Tour.

Yet the interview that Brad Serling of nugs.net gave to Backstreets is what truly tantalizes, with the revelation that there is “a working list of 30 shows ‘spanning Bruce’s entire career’ under consideration” for release.

There were of course no shows specifically mentioned, but the interview with Serling offers a few clues, including his experience that some of the best selling archival recordings for other bands are the shows that fans have had in their collection for many years.

One final consideration, of course, is the availability of a sufficient quality copy of the show in Bruce’s archives. It is presumed here that this is not an obstacle for recent shows, which is likely one of the reasons why the Apollo Theater show was chosen as the first download: it was ready and available for release.  Material from earlier periods of Bruce’s career may not be as easily available.

With these considerations in mind, here’s hoping these are among the thirty shows under consideration, and among the first shows released:

The Top 10 Shows that Bruce Springsteen Should Release From His Archives:
1. August 20, 1981 – Los Angeles, California
The benefit concert for the Vietnam Veterans of America is well known as one of the most important and emotional perforamances in Springsteen’s entire career. It has been widely bootlegged, but none of the available recordings approach the high quality of other famous shows. An easy choice for #1.

2. November 16, 1990 – Los Angeles, California
The benefit for the Christic Institute featured Springsteen playing solo: not only on guitar, but – for the first time in many years – on piano as well. It was Bruce’s first public performance since dismissing the E Street Band and was the debut of four new songs, including “Real World.” This show, along with the following night’s performance, were reportedly considered as candidates for an official release in the 1990s.

3. September 24, 1999 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
For the fifth night of a six-show run during the Reunion tour, Bruce and the band moved across the street from the new arena to the old Spectrum, performing the night after Bruce’s fiftieth birthday. One of the best shows of that tour, but unfortunately no excellent recordings of the show have ever been available…yet.

4. August 23, 2008 – St. Louis, Missouri
Probably the best show by the E Street Band since they reunited in 1999. Memorable for the resurrection of numerous classic cover songs, including “Then She Kissed Me” and “Mountain of Love” as well as the band playing at peak power at the end of the Magic tour: the versions of “Gypsy Biker” and “Long Walk Home” from this show are definitive.

5. September 19, 1978 – Passaic, New Jersey
The “Piece de Resistance” show, and famously broadcast on WNEW-FM. It could be said that this show does not need an official release, given that it already exists in excellent quality in collectors’ circles. It remains one of the more significant shows in Bruce’s career, with the radio broadcast bringing many a fan’s first exposure to the E Street Band.  The LP, cassette and CD bootlegs of this show have been treasured by so many fans for so many years that it seems unfathomable that this show will not be included.

6. August 20, 1984 – East Rutherford, New Jersey
Well known under the bootleg title “The Last Great Show,” this was the final night of a ten-night homecoming stand at the Meadowlands Arena on the first leg of the Born in the U.S.A. tour. The Miami Horns and Little Steven were special guests, including on a memorable version of “Drift Away.” This show was one of the sources of the Live 1975-1985 box set and should be easily available for release.

7. March 25, 1977 – Boston, Massachusetts
The final night of a legendary four-show run to end a series of shows in which Springsteen was playing live because he could not record in the studio due to his legal battles with Mike Appel. Featuring a powerful “Backstreets” and “Higher and Higher” to end the show.

8. October 18, 1975 – Los Angeles, California
The fourth of a six-night residency at the Roxy Theater in West Hollywood. This show is the source of the now-famous version of “Thunder Road” that starts the Live 1975-1985 box set. Given the likelihood that the entire show exists in Bruce’s archives, this is a probable (and worthy) choice for inclusion in the series.

9. May 3, 1988 – Mountain View, California
Available for years under the famous bootleg title “Roses and Broken Hearts,” and widely considered the best show of the Tunnel of Love tour. A wild encore includes “Sweet Soul Music,” “Have Love Will Travel,” and for the first time in ten years, “Little Latin Lupe Lu.”

10. January 31, 1973 – New York, New York
Shortly after the release of Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, Mike Appel made arrangements for this show to be recorded for King Biscuit Flower Hour radio program. Given the uncertainty of availability of early recordings of the band, this seems a likely choice as the earliest recording in the archive series.

 

Other strong contenders:

May 9, 1974, Cambridge, Massachussets
The show at the Harvard Square Theater reviewed by Jon Landau, resulting in a now legendary quote. The band was touring behind The Wild, The Innocent… and included David Sancious and Boom Carter in their lineup.

August 9, 1978 – Cleveland, Ohio
The famous “Agora” show, broadcast on Cleveland’s WMMS, with the band introduced by Kid Leo.

December 31, 1980 – Uniondale, New York
Still one of Springsteen’s longest-ever shows (even if since surpassed several times in 2012). This show was a source for Live 1975-85, Tracks and The Essential Bruce Springsteen and is certainly sitting in Bruce’s archives in its entirety.

May 8, 1981 – Stockholm, Sweden
Arguably the best show of the 1981 European tour, Bruce’s first extended visit overseas.

October 31, 1984 – Los Angeles, California
Halloween night includes a special “High School Confidential” opening skit and a rare performance of “My Father’s House.”

June 24, 1993 – East Rutherford, New Jersey
The “Concert to Fight Hunger,” at the end of the 1992-1993 World Tour; with guest appearances from Little Steven, Max Weinberg, Southside Johnny, and a roof-raising moment when Clarence Clemons comes out during “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.”

May 8, 2000 – Hartford, Connecticut
One of the consensus best shows of the Reunion tour, including Bruce dropping a part of “Honky Tonk Women” into the start of “Darlington County.”

June 28, 2003 – Milan, Italy
The final night of the European leg of the Rising tour, including a wild crowd, a thunderstorm and a rare performance of “Follow that Dream.” Specifically cited by Jon Landau at the time as one of Bruce’s best-ever shows.

October 4, 2003 – New York, NY
The final night of the Rising tour includes a rarity-filled setlist and a guest appearance from Bob Dylan.

November 19, 2007 – Boston, Massachusetts
Danny Federici’s last complete show with the E Street Band. (Alternate choice: April 22, 2008 in Tampa, Florida, the first show after his death).

November 8, 2009 – New York, New York
A complete performance of The River album, for the first and quite possibly only time. A stunning show, even beyond the album portion of the proceedings.

November 22, 2009 – Buffalo, New York
The final night of the Working on a Dream tour; a complete performance of Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ and Clarence Clemons’ final tour show with the band.

July 31, 2012 – Helsinki, Finland
At four hours, four minutes and forty-seven seconds, the longest Springsteen show ever performed.

High Hopes 2014 US Springsteen Tour Preview

The US leg of the 2014 “High Hopes” tour starts this Sunday, April 6, in Dallas, Texas. What does Bruce (possibly) have in store?

First Free Show Since 1973
Sunday’s show in Dallas will be the first time since the 1970s that the E Street Band has performed a full set that was completely free and open to the public.

There have been past free performances that had limited public access (such as the Apollo Theater show before the Wrecking Ball tour) or performances that were open the public but were less (often much less) than a full set.

Bruce and the band performed times in the 1970s at Colleges and Universities where the tickets were free to students but not otherwise open to the general public. The last known time a show was completely free and open to the public was on September 8, 1973.

With the exciting news that this show will be streamed online, one need not look so far in the past to find the last time that happened; it was September 21, 2013, the last show of the Wrecking Ball tour, at the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil. (Hopefully Bruce won’t do a full performance of the Born in the U.S.A. album this time).

 
Will songs from High Hopes ever make regular appearances in the setlist?
If the South African and Australasian shows are any guide, it appears that Bruce is treating the High Hopes songs much as he did the Working on a Dream songs, showing very little faith in them when creating his setlists.

“High Hopes” (the song) will be there every night, and “Just Like Fire Would” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad” will be on most nights as well. The rest of the songs are conspicuous by their absence: “Dream Baby Dream,” “Frankie Fell in Love” and “Hunter of Invisible Game” were only played once each; “This Is Your Sword” twice, and three songs from the album haven’t yet been played live this tour. Even “Heaven’s Wall” and “American Skin” were missing from several of the shows played this tour.

Then again, returning to the U.S. may give Bruce a bit more freedom to try his new material, as he may not feel obligated to play as many of his “regular” or “hit” material to crowds that haven’t had the chance to see him play as often. Further, this leg of the tour notably is playing to several markets that the Wrecking Ball tour missed, so there is the potential that those “new” songs may also make the set.

What about “album” shows?
Another factor that suggests a greater presence of new material is that Bruce should now at this point be completely finished with playing “album” shows. He is no longer playing for crowds that have had rare (or no prior) opportunities to see him in concert. There is simply no reason that he should have to resort to the gimmick that are full-album shows, particularly at the start of a tour behind a new album, and in the country where he plays the majority of his live shows.

 
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction – Thursday, April 10
Next week, the E Street Band will receive the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “Award for Musical Excellence” (formerly known as the “Sidemen” award). Of course Bruce will be performing with the band at the event. But what will they play?

Assuming a limited performance slot, the two most obvious choices are “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” and “The E Street Shuffle.” The former is what Bruce himself has described as the “story of the band” and of course has been used for two years as tribute to the members of the band no longer with us. The latter would be an appropriate choice of song to include Vini Lopez and David Sancious; indeed, Lopez played drums on the song at a show in September 2012.

A final consideration on the band’s song choices is that this may be the one time that the members of the band are given the opportunity to choose the songs played, rather than Bruce himself. In an ideal world, the band would be able to play each member’s signature song (“Racing in the Street” for Roy, “Two Hearts” for Steve, “My Love Will Not Let You Down” for Max, and so on) but time constraints would clearly not allow such a long set.

One further wrinkle is the question of who, if anyone, will be on stage other than the band members being inducted. It would be possible to limit the performance to only those being inducted – with David Sancious playing the keyboards instead of Charlie Giordano – but that would also limit the performance to songs without saxophone.

It further seems unlikely that Bruce would have just Jake on saxophone (rather than the entire horn section). Given that the event falls in the middle of the tour, it is more likely that the current incarnation of the band will be on stage in its entirety.  Including, of course, Steve Van Zandt or Patti Scialfa, in what could be their only time on stage with the band this spring.

Tom Morello replacing Steve Van Zandt (again)
As he did for the Australian tour of 2013, Tom Morello will be replacing Steve Van Zandt, while Steve is off filming episodes of Lillyhammer in Norway.

As evidenced by those ten shows in 2013, Steve’s absence is unlikely to affect the setlist choices, as Bruce played songs during those shows from almost every one of his albums.  The one possible exception is the song “Two Hearts.”  This was the song that Bruce played every time Steve guested on the Born in the U.S.A. tour, and was the song that was played every night on the Reunion tour, when Steve returned to the band.  It was absent in Australia in 2013, and returned to the set in Oslo, on Steve’s first night back.  It’s never been played by Bruce and the E Street Band without Steve on stage, so if it’s that one song you’re hoping to hear, you might be out of luck.

A reasonable analysis of Steve’s role in the modern E Street Band would indicate that his trademark vocals may be missed even more than his guitar playing.  Nils was called on by Bruce, in a manner similar to the Born in the U.S.A. tour, to join in on harmony vocals in Steve’s place but there is still going to be a clear difference.  Steve’s guitar parts, by contrast, were ably covered by Nils and Tom Morello in 2013.  Steve’s solos on more recent material such as “Living in the Future,” “Easy Money” or “Gypsy Biker” would probably require some practice to get right, although the issue is mostly moot, as Bruce regrettably seems to have little interest in playing those songs.

Patti Scialfa
Patti hasn’t played a full show with the E Street Band since September of 2012, and the number of shows she plays goes down on each successive tour.  She has, however, usually been present for the first US leg of a tour, so there is reason to hope that she may be able to make it more than just the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.  She obviously will be missing the Nashville show, given the announcement that she’ll be performing at Sting and Trudie Styler’s Rainforest Benefit show that same night.

In the past, Patti’s absence has made it less likely that songs from Tunnel of Love or the song “Human Touch” would be played.  Recently though, Bruce has been relying on Soozie to cover Patti’s vocal parts on those songs, so performances of them are fortunately not completely precluded.

American Beauty
It is unprecedented for Bruce to release new original material while in the middle of a tour (excepting, obviously, the times when a tour started a few days prior to the release of the album it was supporting). Record Store Day is Saturday, April 19, and the band will be performing in Charlotte that night. Here’s hoping that Bruce chooses to debut one (or more) of the new songs from American Beauty at that show.

There is no need to wait for Charlotte, of course.  Bruce does have a long history of playing new songs live before they are released on an album (such as “Point Blank” in 1978, “Seeds” in 1985 or “American Skin (41 Shots)” in 2000).  It wouldn’t be a surprise if he tried some of the American Beauty songs as early as opening night in Cincinnati.

“Local” Cover Songs
There was a great deal of publicity regarding Bruce’s choices of “local” cover songs in South Africa and Australia, and they were obvious highlights of the tour. That said, it seems unlikely to continue in the US, and those hoping for a cover song from different band from Tampa or Raleigh or Columbus are likely to go away disappointed. The nature of the Southern Hemisphere leg, where the band did not fly home after each show and were on an extended tour together naturally lent itself to more time for pre-show practice and more time to come up with interesting ideas for each show.

Miscellaneous
Will the shows continue to be available as official downloads?
There’s no reason why they shouldn’t.

Will there be more shows?
Bruce’s tours are big business and there’s never before been a tour where he’s skipped his biggest markets in the US (for example, New York). At some point in the foreseeable future, he will be playing there again.

But when exactly?
Your guess is as good as mine.

Is this the tour where “Waiting on a Sunny Day” finally gets a rest?
It just might be. In a positive trend, it was absent from 5 of the 13 Australia/New Zealand shows.

What other live staples might get a well-deserved rest?
Hopefully “Dancing in the Dark” will take a break from the show for a while. It’s an intriguing possibility with the tour returning to a “familiar” market; Bruce may not feel compelled to play it for fans overseas that are seeing him for the first time.

Will the Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out tribute continue?
It was present in Australia in 2014, after having already been done there in 2013. It’s possible, but unlikely that it will be left out.

Will Bruce still be taking lots of signs from the audience?
I wish he’d tamp down on this trend. He could easily make an announcement through his website (or his newfound social media presence!) telling people that he’s not doing that this time around.

If he does still want to take signs, I do have a suggestion or two:

 

Dear Bruce: (if you’re at work)…

March 11, 2014

Dear Bruce:

Really enjoying your new use of instagram and the photos you’ve been posting to your website.

Yes, you just got home from a long tour and could be taking it easy.  But since the pictures were taken in your “workroom,” here’s hoping you are:

1. Figuring out how to work the new songs from High Hopes into the setlists for the upcoming shows.

2. Looking over your back catalog and considering some new things to play this spring (how about “30 Days Out?”)

3. Putting together the River box-set.

4. Arranging that new full-band version of “Real World” I suggested to you last year.

5. Listening to recordings from past shows and finding some favorites to use for the start of an archive download series.

6. Thinking about balancing your setlists with both your “classic” material – songs such as “Badlands” and “Born in the USA” and the best of your “contemporary” material – songs such as “Long Walk Home” and “Rocky Ground.”

7. Drafting new essays for an update to the Songs book (you’ve put out 6 albums since The Rising!)

8. Reading the latest issue of Backstreets and making sure we didn’t make any mistakes.

9. Mulling over that auto-biography you’ve had kicking around for a while.

10. Writing new songs!