April 15, 2008
Meet the new Boss
Posted by pete at April 15, 2008 6:11 PMGood as the old Boss.
Saw Bruce Springsteen at the Toyota Center last night. Maybe it was because we had seats in the section with its own bar, and maybe it was because everyone around us was actually a fan (unlike when we saw him on the Rising tour in 2002), but it was a fantastic show that hit on all cylinders, and easily one of my favorite concert experiences in recent memory, if not of all time.
The setlist:
"Cadillac Ranch" - A nice rollicking opener, even if this one's probably in my secondary tier of Bruce songs.
"Radio Nowhere" - Bruce knows to stick with the more popular new stuff. Most of the crowd recognizes this one and gets into it.
"Lonesome Day" - No drop off, as they continue with one of the better tunes from The Rising
"Atlantic City" - And then...one of my all-time favorites is the fourth song in. Dallas got "Prove it All Night," I'll take this.
"Magic" - I didn't know this one right off the bat. Several people go for beers.
"Because the Night" - Bit of a surprise, but a welcome one. Please reclaim this from Natalie Merchant.
"Candy's Room" - The first down point for me, but only because I've never been that fond of it.
"She's the One" - Or this one.
"Out in the Street" - Wa oh ah oh oh...now we're on the trolley.
"Living in the Future" - The first song Bruce sings to the poor bastards behind the stage. Also the first (that I heard) to elicit some groans from some nearby old white people for his leftist commentary. If you paid $90 for a ticket to see the Boss without knowing his political leanings, ain't you de fool.
"The Promised Land" - Just great. The high points continue.
"Girls in Their Summer Clothes" - Or not. Not a bad song, but playing "AC" and "BtN" early on has whet my appetite for older stuff.
"The E Street Shuffle" - Played by special request. Haven't heard this in eons.
"Terry's Song" - I had to tell one of our concert companions to shut up for this one, which might be my favorite from the new album.
"Devil's Arcade" - Not bad, but everyone knows the big guns are just around the corner.
"The Rising" - A rousing number, especially when combined with...
"Last to Die" - Presented with little commentary, but riveting just the same.
"Long Walk Home"
"Badlands"
"Thunder Road" - Wow. You know, you could close out a show with those two and not many people would complain. We weren't even two hours in at that point, however.
"Always a Friend" - w/Alejandro Escovedo
"All Just to get to You" - w/Joe Ely - These were great surprises. I was a True Believers fan back in the day and it was great to see Alejandro back in the saddle, and Ely is great fun live. These songs were a real high point.
"Rosalita"
"Born to Run"
"10th Avenue Freeze Out"
"American Land"
Not much to add to that. Closing out with those three plus "Land" was just awesome.
Here's a thumbnail of the official list, which can be found at brucespringsteen.net. Looks like we were supposed to get "Point Blank," and "Murder, Inc." instead of "Because the Night," but I'm not complaining.
I'm bummed there was no "No Surrender," which he's played at a number of dates this tour, or "Darkness on the Edge of Town," but that's mere nitpicking. Just a great, great show. Even at 58, the dude rocks harder than guys a third his age - including yours truly, who has a sore throat from bellowing along with "Born to Run" - and acts like he's having a hell of a time doing it.
To quote Rob Gordon, "Thanks, Boss."
Damn, you’re an S.O.B.! My sis and I saw the Boss on October 26 (6 days after the baby was born…so I was amped to be out) and it was pretty much the opposite of your experience. NOSE BLEEDER seats parallel to the stage for one. Shit set list (we were treated to “Working on the Highway,” “Tunnel of Love” and “Dancing in the Dark”) and to compound matters, they closed the beer sales on the 3rd level where we were after the 3rd song! Then they shut the escalator off so I had to walk down a level for beer. Not cool.
That was the 4th time I’ve seen him though and the other 3 (E Street on The Rising, solo on Devils & Dust and 3rd row FRONT for Seeger Sessions) were simply incredible. I was due to get burnt.
My mom and I were on the cover of the Houston section of the Chronicle in 1995. We were sitting in front of Sound Warehouse at some ungodly hour of the morning waiting for Ticketmaster to open up for tickets to the Ghost of Tom Joad show in Jones Hall.
This is the first tour since 1988 that I haven’t made it to. My mom, a big a Springsteen fan as you can find, was there though. She was giddy as a schoolgirl when she got back from the show, and I teased my dad that I was pretty certain that he got laid that night.
Glad it was a good time for ya’ll too.