Springsteen tour is over (for now)

[bobfrombob]

Not much point in me writing a full review since it's been done very well already. It wasn't the best show of the tour - I think the show I saw at Madison Square Gardens was "better" and people who saw more shows than me point to other great nights in 2009. But at 3 1/2 hours of music and 34 songs, the show in Buffalo Sunday night might have been the most amazing show of the WOAD tour. And it was clearly the most celebratory show of the tour. An epic night. I laughed. I cried. I sweat (the pit was pretty hot in HSBC). Here's the review from Backstreets:

 

http://www.backstreets.com/setlists.html

 

November 22 / HSBC Arena / Buffalo, NY

When Backstreets interviewed Bruce Springsteen shortly before this Magic/Dream E Street Band trek began, back in 2007, the Boss had this to say: "I envision the band carrying on for many, many, many more years. There ain't gonna be any farewell tour. That's the only thing I know for sure."

 

True to his word, two years later, that's exactly how he ended this tour: no time for sentimental goodbyes, mentions of a "last dance," or even a glance at the notion of retirement. There were still too many other good stories to tell. Some showgoers were expecting "Blood Brothers" or something like it here in Buffalo, and for good reason, but Springsteen seemed determined not to put any kind of real punctuation mark on the evening. Excepting, of course, the exclamation points spread throughout this 34-song, nearly three-and-a-half hour show.

 

Of course, everyone in the room, onstage and off, was well aware of the momentousness of the occasion. In "Working on Dream," there was considerably more weight to the usual building-a-house spiel: "The E Street Band has come thousands of miles tonight to be here one last time... for a little while... to fulfill our solemn vow to rock the house!" He soon added, "Really, it's been just about the best time in our band's work life. We want to thank you for supportig our old music, our new music, our tour."

 

But up next, they plowed forward, doing something they'd never done before — "Tonight! One time only!" — the Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. album, start to finish. Whatever partciular significance the night's album choice might wind up having — in terms of ending where they began, if tonight was indeed any kind of ending — went unspoken. Springsteen merely put the record in context, as he has with other album performances on this fall leg. "This was the miracle," he said, "This was the record that took everything from way below zero to... one." That got a big laugh. Bruce went on to speak of John Hammond, "one of the great legends of music production," and of manager Mike Appel, whose "incredible talking" got him a crucial audition with said legend. Tonight's album performance was dedicated "to the man who got me in the door. Mike Appel is here tonight — Mike, this is for you." He added, "We've never done it... hope we can do it!"

 

Each of the full album performances on this tour have come loaded with their own questions. Born to Run — for starters, who would handle trumpet on "Meeting"? Curt Ramm has since elevated every show, through tonight, with the addition of his horn parts. The River — would Springsteen and the E Streeters be able to maintain the intensity required for a 20-song sequence? Absolutely, it turned out. And for Greetings, would Springsteen finally grace "Growin' Up" with a full-blown story once again? The answer came with three magical words: "There I was...."

 

There have been plenty of near misses in recent years, just as Springsteen almost revisited the "Sad Eyes" portion of "Backstreets," so has he come close to true storytelling in "Growin' Up." But tonight, the interlude was fully realized, and it was one of toight's most powerful moments.

 

"It was a dark and stormy night in Asbury Park, New Jersey," Bruce began, "Me and Steve were in a litle club on the south end of the street." He proceeded to once again tell the story of his first meeting with Clarence Clemons, starting with the door blowing off in the Big Man's hand. "King Curtis?" Bruce recalled thinking, "King Curtis has come out of my dreams and landed right here!" Here in Buffalo in 2009, Clarence joined Bruce at the center to reenact that fateful night. "He walked to the stage and said" — Clarence speaking now — "I wanna play with you." "What could I say? I said....'Sure!'" Then, step by step, Bruce and Clarence recreated the pose from the cover of the Born to Run album right there on the HSBC Arena stage. It was a wordless act, unfolding slowly, inevitably, engendering one big smile throughout the building. The full-bodied laugh would come shortly, as Bruce concluded the story: "We got into a Cadillac at the end of the nght, drove out to the outskirts of town.... we got very sleepy and we fell into this long, long, long, long, long dream. And when we woke up, we were in fuckin' Buffalo, New York." Crowd goes nuts, in no small part due to the way Springsteen just compressed 35-plus years of E Street Band history. And tonight it does feel like a dream.

 

A furious solo from Bruce on "Lost in the Flood" has to be another of the night's highlights — Garry, meanwhile, playing complex runs behind him, the bassist being the guy who can easily fade into the background if you let him but who, anytime you choose to pay attention, is always doing some seriously interesting shit — and Bruce's solo contines, building, as Max matches his intensity, the two facing off until the end. Roy brings it all back home, spotlight on the white baby grand.

 

Another question that came with the Greetings performance: could Bruce actually make "Mary Queen of Arkansas" and "The Angel" compelling? A resounding yes on both counts, particularly "The Angel." With Bruce lit up at center stage, the only other accompaniment for most of the song came from Roy Bittan, who segued right into this number from his "Lost in the Flood" coda. Roy gave the song a Born to Run-era majesty, capped by the surprise addition of a viola toward the song's end. Much of what made it work was Bruce's vocal — as a friend of mine turned to me and said, "He knows how to sing now." Coupled with Roy's piano work, it came off as a beautiful, lost '70s vignette... which I guess is exactly what it is. "Mary," too, was surprisingly successful, with Bruce on acoustic guitar in Devils & Dust mode, accompanied only by Nils on harp.

 

And of course Bruce and the Band brought all the right moves to the remainder of the Greetings sequence, including a rollicking "Does This Bus Stop" with a stand-out solo from Charlie; a full-band "For You," as opposed to the solo piano version Bruce has been doing lately; "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City," ending with Bruce and Steve facing off, flashing guitars like switchblades, while Max is a perpetual drumroll machine.

 

And that's just one of the night's stories. After "Sunny Day" and "The Promised Land," it's on to the next: "We've got a birthday boy in the house tonight!" Yep, Steve Van Zandt's birthday just happens to coincide with the final night of the tour, and Bruce decides on an extended fete.

 

First up: "Restless Nights." "Stevie is... my age, and for years he's been asking to play this one song. This is Stevie's very favorite song of all time, it's very obscure, it's on the Tracks record. We're gonna do this for his birthday tonight." If The River at MSG seemed like a gift for Steve, this outtake performance was the icing on the cake. "By request!" Bruce said at song's end, pointing at his old pal, "Dammit, he might have been right all these years!"

 

But the party wasn't over. Speaking of cake, guitar tech Kevin Buell emerged with a guitar-topped birthday cake, covered in lit candles. With a little help from Max, the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" while Bruce and Steve blew the candles out together. "For Steve!" Bruce cried as the smoke rose, taking the band into "Surprise Surprise." And while some fans have heard this Working on a Dream song as too frivolous, it was hard not to appreciate the apropos lyrics at this moment:

 

Well today is your birthday, we traveled so far we two

So let's blow out the candles on your cake and we'll raise a glass or two

 

Bruce fed Steve a piece during the song, and by the end was still licking icing off his fingers, mouthing to Steve, "Not bad!" Darned if the song didn't serve as a fitting benediction, too:

And when the sun comes out tomorrow, it'll be the start of a brand new day...

 

But again, tonight there were other stories to tell. After the "Green Onions" sign collection it was a holiday double-shot, with Bruce taking "Merry Christmas Baby" right into "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town." In between, channeling Christopher Walken, he said, "I feel Santy fever coming on. You know what this night needs? More Santy. We need more jingle bells...." The second of these came with a sign so nice, "I'm gonna put it on my front door!"

 

A left-field request from some Italians, Chuck Willis's "(I Don't Want to) Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes," brought us close once again to some closing night sentiment: "This sort of captures the theme of our feelings this evening," Bruce said beforehand. But the song was a blast, blowing away any poignancy with it's full-throttle rock 'n' roll. And followed by "Boom Boom," also by request? We're back in the moment. "My Love Will Not Let You Down" and "Long Walk Home" continued this forceful stretch, Steve shining as always on the latter. Following the setlisted "Born to Run" set-closer, Bruce called an audible of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out" for another theme he wanted to hit, hollering, "I wanna tell you the story of the band!"

 

For the encore, Bruce led off with his take on what the tour has meant to him, a nice reprise from the Magic tour: "It's been a pleasure being out here working for you.... I'll work for your love any day!" By the time we got to "Higher and Higher," with special guest Willie Nile, there was no longer any escaping the inevitable. "We don't wanna go home!" said Bruce from the rear-pit platform. But at the end of the song: "We ain't going home yet!"

 

And amid speculation about the last this or the last that, talk elsewhere of retirement of the E Street Band, one more song kept the ending on a high note, John Fogerty's "Rocking All Over the World." It was a celebration of the tour, of the band, of rock 'n' roll... not of a band on the verge of retiring, but of a band firing on all cylinders at this very moment. Bruce's final words matched the mood: "We appreciate you coming out to see the E Street Band. So we're gonna say goodbye, but just for a little while... a very little while... because... because..." before singing again, "I like it, I like it, I like it!"

 

After acknowledging fans who came from all over — other states, other countries — to take part in these shows, Springsteen said, "I want to thank our crew, who work all day and all night to bring this show to you in your town." He thanked the E Street Band, the road crew, the truckers, carpenters, and everyone in every department by name, from security to sound, video, production, management... and while tonight was certainly the end of something, and no one's quite sure what he means by "a very little while," the overwhelming feeling at the end of the show was summed up by a sign that Bruce and Steve grabbed and paraded across the stage during the encore, laying it to rest below Max's drumkit, Steve every once in a while checking to make sure it was still visible:

 

It's only rock 'n' roll, but it feels like love.

 

Amen.

 

- Chris Phillips reporting

 

Setlist:

Wrecking Ball (with Curt Ramm)

The Ties That Bind

Hungry Heart

Working on a Dream

Blinded By the Light

Growin' Up

Mary Queen of Arkansas

Doe This Bus Stop at 8nd Street?

Lost in the Flood

The Angel

For You

Spirit in the Night

It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City

Waitin' on a Sunny Day

The Promised Land

Restless Nights

Surprise, Surprise

Green Onions

Merry Christmas Baby (with Curt Ramm)

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (with Curt Ramm)

(I Don't Want to) Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes

Boom Boom

My Love Will Not Let You Down

Long Walk Home

The Rising

Born to Run

Tenth Avenue Freeze-out (with Curt Ramm)

* * *

I'll Work For Your Love

Thunder Road

American Land (with Curt Ramm)

Dancing in the Dark

Rosalita (with Curt Ramm)

Higher and Higher (with Curt Ramm and Willie Nile)

Rockin' All Over the World

 

 

If that's not enough for you die-hards, here's a link to Stan's thoughts:

 

http://talk.livedaily.com/showthread.php?t=682051

[Killer Whales]

I haven't been following this most recent tour much, but is that one of the first times they've done I'll Work For Your Love? It's probably my favorite off of Magic and I'd love to see it. Looks like you saw quite the show!

[Knepps]

Whole Greetings from Asbury Park album? Nice!

 

I was able to catch his show in MN, was spectacular!

[bobfrombob]

I haven't been following this most recent tour much, but is that one of the first times they've done I'll Work For Your Love? It's probably my favorite off of Magic and I'd love to see it. Looks like you saw quite the show!

He pulled it out from time to time on the Magic tour but this was the only performance on the WoaD tour.

[IRememberDBoon]

dang that setlist looks like fun!