Big '88, you know you are in my prayers!
Springsteen: 'Demand Accountability From Leaders'
AP
Bruce Springsteen performs with Steve Van Zandt of the E Street band during a performance at Shea Stadium Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2003, in New York. Last night, Bruce Springsteen called for the President to be impeached. He was kidding, of course: the suggested impeachment would make a Clarence Clemons presidency possible.
But Springsteen wasn't entirely kidding.
At one point toward the end of his first show at Shea Stadium, right before playing "Born in the U.S.A.," he made a rare political statement.
Welcoming both Republicans and Democrats to his show, he told the audience to "demand accountability from our leaders," especially because our soldiers had been sent to fight a war.
It didn't take much to get the message. Springsteen also made an impassioned plea for the Coalition for the Homeless that seemed even more important, considering the recent upsurge in street beggars and sidewalk sleepers in Manhattan.
Then, too, he performed his song, "American Skin," which he wrote about the death of Amadou Dialo , killed by New York City police while former Mayor Rudy Giuliani held office.
Springsteen, once coy about his politics, is now unafraid to make a few statements. In a jovial moment he read aloud a letter he said he'd received from grade-school principal John C. Hughes at P.S. 48 in Queens.
His show, the first of three at Shea, was otherwise the usual brilliant exercise in marrying serious business with party-atmosphere rock and roll. He mixed songs from his Sept. 11 tribute album "The Rising" with older hits such as "Born to Run," "Because the Night," and "Tunnel of Love."
He also covered, I think, three oldies: John Fogerty's anti-war song, "Who'll Stop the Rain," "Seven Nights to Rock," and a portion of the old Curtis Mayfield/Major Lance hit "Monkey Time" was fused with his own rave-up version of "Meet Me at Mary's Place."
Among the fans who turned out in the iffy weather: actress Candice Bergen with her husband, Marshall Rose.
Before the show, the E Street Band's leader, Little Steven Van Zandt , held a small gathering for friends in a meeting area at Shea. When he was told it had started raining before the group was supposed to go on, he blanched.
"Rain and cold," he said. "You wanted to play in October," a friend countered. On stage, Van Zandt didn't look like he was having too much trouble adapting to the blustery elements.
The group did perform some buried treasures, like the much-appreciated "Night" from the "Born to Run" album, "Man's Job" from "Human Touch," "No Surrender" from "Born in the U.S.A." and "Johnny 99" from "Nebraska."
Will he do them again this week? It's anyone's guess. For me the highlight of the evening was the penultimate song, "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)," which stole the show. I'm still smiling.
A rocking version of "Dancing in the Dark" followed as the closer, with Springsteen and the E Street Band giving the 60,000 sardines at Shea a concise, just under three-hour souvenir to take home.