Posted on 09/11/2003 5:55:13 AM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker
Talk about a home run.
Last night, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kicked off a historic two-night stand at Fenway Park and Red Sox nation gave as good as they got during an ecstatic three-hour performance that found the Boss sprinting around like a wild man and pulling out some terrific setlist surprises just for Boston.
The fact that we trounced the Yankees earlier in the day only helped to heighten the jubilant mood.
After a raucous sing-along of ``Take Me Out to the Ballgame'' with Springsteen conducting, the local love began with the next number as the band lit into Barry and the Remains' '60s garage rock gem ``Diddy Wah Diddy'' with giddy energy.
The familiar willowy synth line of ``The Rising'' followed and the night's community mood was cemented in the first of many shouted choruses.
Springsteen continues to feature tunes from ``The Rising'' but many of them have transformed from their elegiac roots into more optimistic paeans to hope, including the buoyant ``Lonesome Day'' and the gentle ``Empty Sky.'' (No doubt Springsteen and the fans were wishing for an empty sky during this quiet song as two news helicopters hovered overhead like buzzing mosquitoes.)
Crowd-pleasing uptempo rockers came in the form of ``The Ties That Bind,'' a fun romp through ``Out in the Street,'' ``Badlands'' and ``No Surrender.''
Surprises included a forceful ``Because the Night'' and a chugging ``Be True.''
The New Jersey bard performed a rock and roll exorcism during the raucous ``Mary's Place,'' playfully teasing the audience about our pinstriped nemesis to the south and introducing the band with a zany litany that included calling them Viagra-taking sexifiers!
The night's loveliest quiet musical moment came in the lilt and sway of the Tex-Mex overtones of ``Across The Border,'' featuring a slow and wistful accordion solo that sounded like the perfect accompaniment to a dusty afternoon siesta.
He prefaced ``Born in the U.S.A.'' with a public service announcement about holding our political leaders accountable and closed by plugging Al Franken's new book.
Deadline obligations meant this reviewer missed the last of the encores but a source inside said they included a joyous ``Rosalita,'' ``Dancing in the Dark,'' featuring a mysterious guitarist who may have been Springsteen manager and former Bostonian Jon Landau, and a roof-raising ``Dirty Water'' with an assist from Peter Wolf.
Springsteen thanked the city and the neighborhood, to whom he had the crowd give a shout out for the privilege of playing at the grand old ballpark. But it was undoubtedly the fans inside Fenway Park who felt like the privilege was all theirs.
Bruce is a leftist moron.
How about becoming a moderator and just pull the threads you don't like.
How about not being so boring .
How about.............ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
It's vaguely plagiarized from a comedian I heard years ago (he had Bruuuuce doing some long shtick about growing up then saying "Here's a song about a car").
I like a lot of Bruce's music, but it's really fun to tweak the people who worship him (I knew a lot of them in college). We always loved to blast out his albums at 45 rpm, that would drive the Bruce-a-philes nuts.
That is too funny. was your pinky finger extended when you typed that?
I have seen the Boss since '78 (not this tour) Have spent one night drinking with him, meet Little Steven and other E-Streeters and must say they are great guys. I do not agree with their politics but that is not important to Me.
Springsteen is one of the best. If you do not like him that is fine. I do not like jazz but I know it is still good music. Darkness on the Edge of Town is one of my favorite records ever.
The Rising is the best work produced with regards to 9/11. It is definitive and moving.
Ain't that the truth!
The fascination with Bon Jovi is obvious to those of us who grew up? in the '80s. The girls liked him because he was "hot" and the guys went to the concerts and "liked" the music 'cause we'd do/say anything if we thought it might get us in good with the girls.
Springsteen, on the other hand, put out some damn fine rock and roll in the late '70s and early '80s. (How many of us CANNOT immediately identify Born to Run after hearing the first two bars when the song comes on the radio) His biggest problem is coming to grips with the fact that nobody gives one rat turd about his politics and we only listen to his ranting so we can move on to Thunder Road and some serious sax solos.
Pedestrian-Shmestrian! I realize that this is between the two of you, but I was just pointing out that Springsteen is a commie, nothing more. Concentrate on his communist leanings and let that thought color your opinion of his music. If you are a true patriot, you will turn your back on him and his "pedestrian/non-pedestrian" gutter tunes.
Have you ever seen him live? Have you ever seen him live at the Meadowlands? Nowhere in the entertainment industry will you get more for your money than at a Springsteen concert.
Despite his obvious leftist leanings the man can still blow the roof off of a concert venue and puts on one of the finest live shows anywhere.
I'm not privy to Mr. Springsteen's party affiliation but I can't imagine he'd vote pinko anytime soon. He IS an American voicing his opinions (many, if not most, of which I do not agree with) just as you and I would if we could corral 80,000 people into paying upwards of $50 a head to listen to us.
However, since I've already bought the records, and the radio signal is free, I see no point in giving up listening to songs I like just because he and I have different political opinions.
Hardly.........
I like bare-knuckles rock......and I also appreciate melodic players. Springsteen and his crew may be good showmen; can't take that away from them. However, musically?? I can name you literally dozens of bands that mop the floor with 'em. Not even close. Glad you enjoyed some brewskis with 'em.........but that doesn't make any difference.
I can also immediately identify the putrid song, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by its first few bars, but just like Commie Springsteen's tunes it causes a wave of nausea to rush over me.
Me too. Of course I have an excuse...I was born in New Jersey so it's either genetically imprinted, or it's in the water.
Hell, it's New Jersey, what ISN'T in the water!?!?
Heck, no "counter-battery fire" from me. :) Obviously a lot of people like 'em............I'm just saying I don't "get it". I also never "got" the Grateful Dead, Phish, or a few dozen other over-hyped groups. Just a matter of taste, I suppose. Give me a Gary Moore or Frank Marino any day.................
well at least it's not just me.
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