Posted on 06/15/2006 3:37:09 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
Pete Seeger sings songs of peace, hope and the working class. Bruce Springsteen's idea to reinterpret the Seeger songbook with broad strokes of street jazz and gospel is a noble thought. Unfortunately, Springsteen's Tuesday night "Seeger Sessions" concert was outsourced to the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park.
Everything that was so right about the music was so wrong for the venue.
Springsteen and his raucous 17-piece band failed to even fill the pavilion. Roughly 5,500 fans showed up, and the $92 ticket price knocked out the working-class audience that Springsteen and Seeger have championed. This is First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, as in cha-ching. A Corona beer was $10. "Seeger Session" programs were $20. I know many fans who would have taken a chance on the show had tickets been $50 or less. So who's left? People who may not share Seeger and Springsteen's political beliefs.
How do I know this? Springsteen's first encore was an evocative version of "Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)," which Seeger wrote in 1966 as an anti-Vietnam War song. Back then, thousands of people sang with Seeger on the chorus: "Bring 'em home, bring 'em home, but I got a right to sing this song. ..."
But after Tuesday's rendition, there was a smattering of applause to a message that is as much about freedom of expression as it is against war. The starchy atmosphere was not lost on the Boss, who earlier in the concert remarked, "Tinley Park. I don't know where the hell that is -- some big black box outside of Chicago?"
So Springsteen tried his best, especially in the second portion of the 2-1/2-hour show. (In what is becoming a Springsteen tradition, he kicked off the concert almost an hour after the advertised 7:30 p.m. start.) He rearranged "Ramrod" into a Tex-Mex-meets-ska roadhouse number with tuba solos, and "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" continues to embrace the zydeco seasonings Springsteen deployed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
New Orleans is still much on Springsteen's mind. He wasn't as vocal about President Bush as he was in New Orleans, explaining that he doesn't "like to kick a man when he's down." But Springsteen's hard-rockin' reworking of Blind Alfred Reed's "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live" continues to be an emotional cornerstone of the set.
Springsteen added his own post-Katrina lyrics to the 1929 blues song that reflected on the Great Depression. On Tuesday, he sang of "bodies floatin' on Canal and the levees gone to hell" with raw conviction and empathy. Moments earlier, Springsteen shared vocals with Marc Anthony Thompson (Chocolate Genius) as they recast "Long Black Veil" through pure country gospel.
The stage was basked in shades of red, and I found the three chandeliers above the band very ironic. Here's a news flash: There are places in Chicago like the Auditorium Theatre and Orchestra Hall that have storied chandeliers, where Seeger and the Weavers actually performed, and are more accessible for older folk music fans than a shed among the little boxes that Seeger himself sang about in 1963's ode to suburbia "Little Boxes (Ticky Tacky)."
dhoekstra@suntimes.com
I saw an old concert on PBS as I was channel surfing. He sucks up to that mediocre at best, Clarence Clemmins(sp?) like he was his b*cth.
The sad thing is that Bruce misread his audience. "Born in the USA" is about the failure of the US to take care of its Viet Nam War veteran. It's a character portrait; There's nothing left-wing about a man who doesn't understand the geopolitics about why one man should kill another in a far-off land; and it wasn't written when the war was a hot issue. It only became politicized when the left was shocked that the right enjoyed the song, because the song was critical of the US; but if the left was surprised it was only because they didn't imagine the songs broadest themes (i.e., expectations of the U.S. treating its veterans better) played well on the right.
Sadly, Springsteen began to see himself as a new Guthrie. He hasn't had one truly popular album, or even a very good song, since. Born in the USA is not high art, but it is, actually, decent pop music, and, to a respectable degree, an expression of America.
"I catch him when hes strayin teach him how to walk that line
Man turns his back on his family he aint no friend of mine"
Like John Cougar Mellencamp, he quit be an American, and started being a celebrity, and he didn't even know it when his wheels jumped the track.
>>>>"Front row seats for Jimi Hendrix' Band of Gypsies at the Fillmore East, New Years Eve 1969 - 8 dollars."
>>Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti tour at MSG. 6 dollars.
Cathcing Billy Joel (before he turned into Elton John) for free: Priceless.
Springsteen. Sure I remember him! Was he the cowboy, the construction worker, the cop, or the Indian chief?
<< Front row seats for Jimi Hendrix' Band of Gypsies at the Fillmore East, New Years Eve 1969 - 8 Dollars. >>
Price [Thank you, Fed] of Eight 1969 Dollars in 2006 US Currency?
USD$49.33. [+/-]
Nothing that Springsteen has done or said since the onset of his career has made me alter my belief that he is not very bright.
gallon of gas in 1969: 27 cents
Agreed. He's in the same boat of hundreds of other lefty politico-celebs who are trying to punch far above their intellectual weight.
Richards is a hellva guitar player and a better songwriter. Plus he's a lot more fun than "Bruuucie".
Richards might be a mess, but he's more real than 10 Springsteens.
Alright,alright. My father was a firefighter for the NYFD, and I think he only made 150 bucks takehome per week then.
Back to back with his "Viva Sequin/Dough-Re-Mi" on his album "Showtime."
Bring a date.
It's cheap.
"...the $92 ticket price..."
WHAT??? $92 for tickets????? What are they trying to do; top Major League Baseball?
Besides I was young and there were a lot of smokin' broads with loose morals who liked it also.
Free concert going along fine until Buffy St. Marie takes the stage and whips out her Jew's harp.
metesky: "WTF? Can the chit and play some gd real music!"
Repeat as needed.
metesky is rushed by several large police officers and escorted off the premises.
I also saw Joni Mitchel before her descent in to drugs and hag hood, singing on a milk box before a music store in Harvard Sq.
After I got out of the army, I put folk music to the side and became a Zappa fan, if there is someone in the area I still go and listen, it is different.
Bruce plays for millions of dollars that he gives to Commies -- like himself. Bruce and the Accordion Continentals with the Lawrence Welk sidekicks -- damn it, I can't miss it. But buddy, err... Bruce, can you spare a dime?
Who did ypu see in '62?
To me, Zappa's masterpiece is still 'Freak Out' from wayyyyyyback with the classic single, 'Help, I'm a Rock.'
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