![]() There was a comedy bit where Jimmy dresses up as Neil Young and Bruce dresses up at ’80s Bruce. On Friday night, the announced guest was Bruce Springsteen and the musical guest was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The only line that gets me is the one that reminds me of Shea Stadium: “All our little victories and glories have turned into parking lots.” Musically it’s interesting lyrically it makes me wince because with a few small changes, it could have been a great song that helped advance the thematic arc of the record that much more. But “Wrecking Ball,” written to commemorate the last shows at Giants Stadium in 2009, should have remained out in the swamps of Jersey where it came from. I like “We Take Care Of Our Own” just fine, despite accusations of it being too commercial I’m not sure it should be so shocking that Bruce Springsteen can write a catchy, radio friendly tune. Night one, the band played both “We Take Care Of Our Own” and Wrecking Ball‘s title track. Wrecking Ball‘s gospel edges gives newly expanded roles to backup singers there is a five-piece horn section and on Friday night they turned up with Tommy Morello in tow, and added the Roots for good measure. What I didn’t expect to see last week, though, was a band in mid-tour form. The profits go to charity, so you can forgive the shaky performance, occasional error, wrong note or missed key change. I am used to the E Street Band being rusty and out of practice early in the tour many local Springsteen fans make the trek down to Convention Hall in Asbury Park to watch rehearsals. SPRINGSTEEN” at Patti Scialfa, only to have her hear me, and laugh. It was a little surreal to be standing right above Roy Bittan (“Hey, Roy,” I said, as though I saw him every day of my life) and to correct some idiots behind me who kept yelling “HEY MRS. ![]() I had tickets for the “band bench,” which surrounds the musical guest on three sides. Last Monday and Friday, with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, I attended the two shows of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon‘s Springsteen Week to actually feature the man himself. And last year’s passing of Clarence Clemons adds a mountain-sized hole to the left side of the stage. It’s easy to pigeonhole the record as being some kind of bold new step for Springsteen when in reality all of the themes and elements brought to the forefront on Wrecking Ball have been around for years, if not decades.īut what about the live show? Even The Boss can put on a lackluster show without the right amount of rehearsal time, or put together a setlist so uninspiring that frequent fliers (like myself) decide to see the local shows and peacefully call it a day. The record is far from perfect-the production suffers in spots, which hurts a few tracks-but it’s strong, with a few older songs that get remade in remarkable fashion. Not in the “Mick Jagger getting his young minions to curate the hottest young live music acts for the Stones opening slots” kind of relevant, but in the way of giving you a record you want to listen to over and over again because it’s great, not out of obligation or so that you know all the songs for when you go to see them live.īruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball is surprising, innovative, and vital in a way that is both a blessing and a relief. ![]() I bought Springsteen t-shirts that night and I wore them to school almost every day.You don’t expect a legacy artist to still be able to surprise you, to put out music 40 years later that is genuinely interesting and expansive and making a good honest attempt at being relevant. From that moment on, I was the most massive Bruce Springsteen fan. And I, as a boy, was one of the few people in the stadium who knew that man was super sick up there. He wasn't playing songs they were these epic stories that were done musically. "He played for almost four hours until 12:40 in the morning. So I got home from school and my dad was like 'We're going to the Tacoma Dome to see Bruce Springsteen,'" Lucas remembers. Not only that, but he sent Lucas' family tickets. Springsteen said to my dad, 'I have a concert tonight at the Tacoma Dome and I can't not do it.' My dad was like 'Well, I'm sorry, you have to stay home, stay in that room, take care of yourself and rest.'" Of course, Springsteen didn't follow medical advice and went on that evening, following the doctor's orders to dunk his head in a bucket of ice water to keep his fever down. A very, very high temperature, he was very sick. "It was three in the afternoon, and he had a temperature of 104 or even 105. "He goes to this guy's hotel room and there was Bruce Springsteen," Lucas recounts. at the time and got a call for a VIP patient. Lucas' dad was an emergency room doctor in Tacoma, Wash. It was at a 1984 concert on the "Born in the U.S.A." tour.
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