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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Sep. 27th, 2003 08:00 pmI am not a huge Springsteen fan. I am a huge fan of some of his songs. Some of his songs are amazing. Most of his songs are fine. Some or his songs I dislike. But his shows are legendary, and I wanted to see him at least once in my life. Now I've seen him and I probably won't again, but I'm glad I did, and I did enjoy it.
I've discovered he's got this huge, fanatic following. They're like Deadheads, only they have jobs. They see him many times around the country. They speculate on which songs he's going to play on any given night. They say things like, "OMG, he's only played that one twice this tour!" And Bruce varies his set list so much. There were only something like five songs that he's played every night of the tour.
He plays for three hours. After two hours they left the stage for about two minutes. After another half an hour, he left the stage for less than a minute. He turned 54 last Tuesday. Many people remarked that he looked 54 when he started the show, but 24 when it was finished. He's in great shape. He loves doing those running slides on his knees, across the stage. He was hanging on his microphone stand, pulling his body up parallel to the ground.
Much of his music sounds the same as the rest of his music, but if you listen, you can hear so many influences - folk, gospel, jazz, blues. He even got Danny to bring out an accordion and play the Beer Barrel Polka, as a nod to Milwaukee.
On the downside, I didn't even recognize half the songs. He played three songs from Born to Run and no songs from Asbury Park That was disappointing. I guess seven songs were from his latest record. Fortunately, you don't have to know Bruce's songs to enjoy them. Unfortunately, if I don't know it well, I'm not going to just love it, so half the show was just satisfactory.
Candy's Room, Badlands, Kitty's Back, Born to Run, Seven Nights to Rock, Rosalita, Dancing in the Dark (not one of my faves, but it sounded good last night), Cadillac Ranch (the show closer, with its Wisconsin reference) were all good songs. "Because the Night" and "She's the One" were great. "Jungleland" was amazing.
Between songs, I heard someone ask the girl in front of me what song they'd play next. She immediately said, "Jungleland". After a few moments, the band started "Jungleland". Well-deserved high-fives ensued.
They had video crews working the show. There were jumbotrons flanking the stage so sometimes it felt like I was watching the show on TV. That's partly because they were so good. All the video mixing was done on the fly - live - but it looked like a video I'd watch at home. And the screens had great resolution and brightness. It also seemed like I was watching the show on TV because the stage was so far away. We were just behind the first base dugout, and the stage was on the centerfield wall.
It was good to finally see the inside of the new stadium, though I didn't get to see the roof open or close. Somebody said that Miller Park had trouble handling the crowds because with the Brewers playing there, they don't get any practice with large numbers of people.
I wanted to break off the hands of the girl in front of me. This was one of those girls who loves to dance, and her favorite dance are the ones where she waves her hands in the air. Or pumps her fist to the music. Or does the "I'm not worthy" wave whenever Clarence Clemons plays. Very annoying. And then there was when she and/or her friend almost hit me a few times.
And the tickets said 7:00 show time. We were on time. I know they wouldn't start that early, but I was afraid if we pulled in any later, traffic would be a mess, and we'd be late. They didn't start until almost 8:20. But they played for three hours, so what the heck. It was about a buck a song.
I've discovered he's got this huge, fanatic following. They're like Deadheads, only they have jobs. They see him many times around the country. They speculate on which songs he's going to play on any given night. They say things like, "OMG, he's only played that one twice this tour!" And Bruce varies his set list so much. There were only something like five songs that he's played every night of the tour.
He plays for three hours. After two hours they left the stage for about two minutes. After another half an hour, he left the stage for less than a minute. He turned 54 last Tuesday. Many people remarked that he looked 54 when he started the show, but 24 when it was finished. He's in great shape. He loves doing those running slides on his knees, across the stage. He was hanging on his microphone stand, pulling his body up parallel to the ground.
Much of his music sounds the same as the rest of his music, but if you listen, you can hear so many influences - folk, gospel, jazz, blues. He even got Danny to bring out an accordion and play the Beer Barrel Polka, as a nod to Milwaukee.
On the downside, I didn't even recognize half the songs. He played three songs from Born to Run and no songs from Asbury Park That was disappointing. I guess seven songs were from his latest record. Fortunately, you don't have to know Bruce's songs to enjoy them. Unfortunately, if I don't know it well, I'm not going to just love it, so half the show was just satisfactory.
Candy's Room, Badlands, Kitty's Back, Born to Run, Seven Nights to Rock, Rosalita, Dancing in the Dark (not one of my faves, but it sounded good last night), Cadillac Ranch (the show closer, with its Wisconsin reference) were all good songs. "Because the Night" and "She's the One" were great. "Jungleland" was amazing.
Between songs, I heard someone ask the girl in front of me what song they'd play next. She immediately said, "Jungleland". After a few moments, the band started "Jungleland". Well-deserved high-fives ensued.
They had video crews working the show. There were jumbotrons flanking the stage so sometimes it felt like I was watching the show on TV. That's partly because they were so good. All the video mixing was done on the fly - live - but it looked like a video I'd watch at home. And the screens had great resolution and brightness. It also seemed like I was watching the show on TV because the stage was so far away. We were just behind the first base dugout, and the stage was on the centerfield wall.
It was good to finally see the inside of the new stadium, though I didn't get to see the roof open or close. Somebody said that Miller Park had trouble handling the crowds because with the Brewers playing there, they don't get any practice with large numbers of people.
I wanted to break off the hands of the girl in front of me. This was one of those girls who loves to dance, and her favorite dance are the ones where she waves her hands in the air. Or pumps her fist to the music. Or does the "I'm not worthy" wave whenever Clarence Clemons plays. Very annoying. And then there was when she and/or her friend almost hit me a few times.
And the tickets said 7:00 show time. We were on time. I know they wouldn't start that early, but I was afraid if we pulled in any later, traffic would be a mess, and we'd be late. They didn't start until almost 8:20. But they played for three hours, so what the heck. It was about a buck a song.
