Those Old Guys Can Really Rock

Bruce Springsteen is truly the Boss! After last night’s show at Verizon Center his legacy is well cemented. There aren’t many bands out there that will put on a 2 hr 45 min show even with an opening act. In fact one of my co-workers asked, “who was opening for him?” HA. He don’t need no stinkin’ opening act.

The highlight of the night was the Band playing the entire “Born to Run” album cover to cover in the middle of the set. Among other highlights:

1-Bruce crowd surfing from half way in the pit back to the stage (approx 100 yds).
2-Bringing a little kid on stage to sing the chorus to “Sunny Day”
3-Clarence Clemmons’ pimped out ride
4-Having Bruce play to the back of the stage where he was no more then 20ft away.
5-Hearing Pink Cadillac for the first time on this tour in the US

And above all getting to share it with the woman sitting next to me (don’t tell my wife!).

I hope this was not the last time we see them perform here in DC (Bruce is coming back in December for the Kennedy Center Honors) but I think it may be. Clarence is looking older and frailer and frankly the band is getting old (although you’d be hard pressed to prove it by looking at the other members). Hopefully they’ll be back but if not this was one hellva show!

Tim and The Boss

By now you all know of the very sudden and tragic loss of Tim Russert. I had the opportunity to meet him during a video shoot a few years back and have to say that all the accolades about his personable and likeable character that have been offered by his friends are spot on. He was a pleasure to work with and an irreplaceable spirit in the area.

We also have a common love of the music of Bruce Springsteen and the Boss played the following tribute (via video from the UK) at Russert’s memorial service yesterday at the Kennedy Center.

Tim, you will be missed.

Bruce (Part II)

My ears have finally unclogged enough for me to take a stab at some serious typing and go in depth of our E Street experience last night.

We got to the arena a little before the stated show time of 730pm. The Entertainment Blog on the Washington Post said that the night before he didn't take the state until 820 but we didn't want to take any chances. As it was he didn't go on until 827pm according to my watch but it was worth every second. Before going into the set list and my thoughts I want to take a moment to tell you about our seats and our usher. We sat in Sec 221 row J. This is the last row of this section and for those of you familiar with the Verizon (MCI) Center it is just in front of the Acela Restaurant on the Club Level. What makes this a head scratcher (besides that the seats were behind the stage which was a 360 degree one anyway so it didn't matter much) is why if we were in the last row we were in row "J". The 5 rows leading up to ours were V, W, X, Y, and Z. Why is the row after "Z" labeled "J"? If it were "AA" or "Z" or even "Purple" I'd understand but "J" just doesn't make any sense!

We asked our usher, Willie (female) why and she didn't know either. She was very nice and said that Sunday night was her first ever time even hearing Bruce play (she didn't strike me as a Bruce fan.) But she loved every minute of it. In fact I think her exact quote was "The boy's got soul!". She was great and very nice. We ended up having the whole row to ourselves, although since the show was "Sold Out" I'm not sure how that happened and I only hope that some sucker scalper (see old post) was left with the tickets and no money!

On with the show (click on each link for song lyrics courtesy of BruceSpringsteen.net):
Radio Nowhere
The Ties That Bind
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason To Believe
Jackson Cage
She's The One
Livin' In The Future
The Promised Land
Town Called Heartbreak (This was a duet with Patty. She's a very nice background vocalist and brings a lot to the party but she CANNOT sing lead. Obviously she talked Bruce into this while threatening divorce! It's the only explanation and the one down turn of the evening).
Backstreets
Working On The Highway (Great acoustic version, it brought the whole crowd to it's feet!)
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands (Again the whole crowd on their feet and the echos of "Woo woo woo" went on for over a minute during the bridge!)

There was a very brief break at 1004pm and then right back on stage for the rest of the show:

Girls In Their Summer Clothes (He dedicated this to all the "Jersey Girls" in the audience. At the roar from at least 2,000 voices, my heart was all aflutter)
Thunder Road (At this point all the house lights came on but that only seemed to get the crowd juiced even more and at this point on almost everybody was screaming the lyrics.)
Born To Run
Dancing In The Dark
American Land (This was an interesting choice. It's from his show in Dublin last year on the "Segar Sessions Tour" and is very political but from the sound of things the arena was mostly filled with D's. Great hook and very folksy sound. A great way to end the night!)

At the end of the show he introduced the band with the traditional gospel revival "...heart breaking, show stealing, booty shaking, soul drenching....E St Band" which was nice but it's so much more fun when he does it in the middle of the show and Max goes baning on the drums for like 5 min straight and Bruce goes sliding across the stage on his knees.

Overall the show gets 8 out of 10. The only better one was 2003 in NJ because of the beach/boardwalk set up outside in the Giants Stadium parking lot. If you are reading this in a town where he hasn't been to yet on his tour, GO....pay whatever you can to hear one of the last great classic rockers of our time!

BRUCE (Part I)

Just got back from the Verizon Center home of Bruce and the E St Band. Too tired for a full post but heres a small video clip (courtesy of brucespringsteen.net) I'll upload the full set list and my thoughts tomorrow (Tuesday).