Springsteen - 2.5hr set

[somecoolusername]

If that was directed at me, as I said, I don't know if I like him or not because I've never listened to him.

However I have seen many acts at festivals who I have then gotten into because of their show, would be pretty boring if you just played it safe and watched who you know you like, don'tcha think?

[Jens Wildman]

...would be pretty boring if you just played it safe and watched who you know you like, don'tcha think?

Edited February 27, 2009 by Jens Wildman

[Jens Wildman]

Just for the record. I`m not saying he is the live act in the world, I have not seen all the bands in the world. I`m just saying that he has given me my best concerts moments, and some of his concerts has been more than I expected. I have seen better show`s then Springsteen on a bad day. Hell, Willie Nile was better in front of 35 people on a Sunday (but, that was a bloody great one) then my first Springsteen concert. But my best concerts with Springsteen is yet to be toped be anyone.

Nice article below.

From Rolling Stone's Best of Rock 2008

Best Live Band: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/202...e_e_street_band

We're very on it right now," Bruce Springsteen crowed to Rolling Stone last fall about the music he was making with his E Street Band — and that was just in rehearsal. By the time he and his New Jersey troupers — saxophonist Clarence Clemons, pianist Roy Bittan, organist Danny Federici, guitarists Nils Lofgren and Steven Van Zandt, drummer Max Weinberg, bassist Garry Tallent, singer-violinist Soozie Tyrell and Springsteen's wife, singer Patti Scialfa — formally opened their 2007-08 tour in Hartford, Connecticut, on October 2nd, Springsteen, 58, was at a new peak in his performing life, combining the politically charged fury of his new album, Magic, with the joy of early-Seventies bar-wars songs like "For You" and "Thundercrack." He started almost every 2007 concert with the rock & roll preacher cry in Magic's "Radio Nowhere" — "Is there anybody alive out there?" — then stayed in resurrection gear all night, singing with deep authority and punctuating his vocals with barbed-wire Telecaster licks against the soul-train locomotion of his band.

Springsteen has been opening recent U.S. shows with vintage optimism and highway thrills: "Out in the Street," "Spirit in the Night" and "Thunder Road." But he is also telling poignant stories on this tour about the state of our faith in this nation, bundling new songs about America under siege ("Livin' in the Future," "Long Walk Home") with enduring tales of great escape ("The Promised Land," "Badlands") in inspirational segues that recall the narrative arcs of Springsteen's epic Eighties shows.

There was a jarring note in November when Federici left the tour (he is being treated for melanoma). But he returned for a night in March, joining the E Street Band in Indianapolis, underscoring the ties that bind this extraordinary group, now in its fourth decade. "For a lot of our fans," Springsteen said last year, "part of the thing is when the world's falling apart, we're not. That's why people come to us" — and why they will never stop.

[Jens Wildman]

I remember the same exact types of posts on the New Orleans Jazz Fest message boards, when it was announced he was playing in 2006 with the Seeger Sessions Band.

Afterwards, people were raving about the show, some saying it was the most appropriate performances they had seen at Jazz Fest. Those who missed or skipped it, ended up posting about how much they regretted their decision, upon hearing how great a set it was.

Perhaps people on this board will be posting on 6/28, about how he kept getting Boooed off the stage. I'd rather see him with 8,000 people than 80,000, so I hope more people stay away.

Edited February 27, 2009 by Jens Wildman

[russycarps]

This is a great read on Springsteen`s concert with The Seeger Session`s at the New Orleans Jazz Fest

The Boss makes music event of 2006

By: http://www.Bradenton.com

I was going to take a stab at humor and comment on the hottest songs of 2006. My final column of the year was going to be light and fun. But then my mind returned to that steamy afternoon in the mud and I figured I could do you one better - or at least offer something meatier.

A concert performance rarely captures the outrage of the populace while simultaneously sending a message of hope. When Jimi Hendrix stepped on stage at Woodstock during the height of the Vietnam War in 1969 he recast "The Star-Spangled Banner" as a cry of protest and a plea for peace. Hendrix created a sonic touchstone for a grieving generation. Bruce Springsteen accomplished a similar feat when he performed at this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on June 30.

The Boss was dressed in black. He was backed by about two dozen musicians playing everything from fiddles and banjos to horns and accordion. It was a sound unlike anything Springsteen had done before. But his repertoire of mostly traditional songs popularized by Pete Seeger easily elated the congregation of about 80,000 who danced and occasionally fell into the field of soaked earth that surrounded the giant stage.

But one song was for the ages. When I was doing reserach for this column I came across a perfect video of the performance posted at YouTube.com (Search: springsteen poor man new orleans). Watching it again I was instantly transported back to New Orleans and that singular Sunday that sent chills up my spine.

Springsteen stepped to the microphone and nervously strummed his acoustic guitar. He told the crowd that he spent the day touring their most devestated neighborhoods.

"I saw sights I thought I would never see in an American city," Springsteen said. "The criminal ineptitude makes you furious. This is what happens when political cronyism guts the very agencies that are suppose to serve American citizens in times of trial and hardship. This is what happens when people play political games with peoples' lives."

The crowd erupted in outbursts of approval.

Springsteen went on to say that he was about to perform a song written a week after the stock market crashed in 1929. He explained that he kept the first verse the same and wrote three new verses for the people of New Orleans. He then let out a laugh of frustration and dedicated the song to "President Bystander."

"How can a poor man stand such times and live?" Springsteen asked before starting the song.

He then launched into the first verse in which a smiling doctor goes around offering nothing but "a dose of dope and a great big bill." A gospel choir soared behind Springsteen as he belt out the refrain: "How can a poor man stand such times as these?"

I was neck deep in a sea of smiles. Strangers embraced and the crowd cheered in a way I had never before witnessed. It was like I was inside the world's largest gospel tent. "How can a poor man stand such times as these?" became even more momentous during the three verses that Springsteen wrote.

"There's bodies floating on Canal and the levee's gone to hell," Springsteen snarled. "Them who got, got out of town and them who ain't got drowned."

Springsteen was channeling the strengths of Walt Whitman, Woody Guthrie and Martin Luther King, Jr, that day in New Orleans. It was beautiful. Popular music had been rendered holy and spirits were lifted.

Springsteen's entire performance was professionally video taped. I also spotted a camera crew shooting footage of the crowd. Hopefully a documentary along the lines of "Woodstock" will be issued in the near future. That performance deserves to be preserved for generations to come - men and women who will undoubtedly need the kind of music that can touch a person's soul.

http://www.Bradenton.com

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[Jens Wildman]

christ I hope he doesnt play too many songs like that one. I predict an hour in to bruces set the crowd will have shrunk by 50%

Edited February 27, 2009 by Jens Wildman

[YouWhat]

In your opinion he's the best live act in the world. In my opinion, his music is over-earnest, bland, middle of the road rock (small "r"). I won't go to see him, but that doesn't mean I can't express an opinion of him, just as you are expressing yours. Or are we only to post positive messages on the whole of the efest glastonbury forum now?

[YouWhat]

christ I hope he doesnt play too many songs like that one. I predict an hour in to bruces set the crowd will have shrunk by 50%

[eFestivals]

From Rolling Stone's Best of Rock 2008

Best Live Band: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

sorry, but that means naff all.

Oasis regularly get named best live band, yet they're consistently shite.

[eFestivals]

Well, he held a 80.000 crowd who though that a rocker should not be at their Jazz feast. So, there you have some experience on holding on to a "non partisan" crowd.

but what else was on offer to that crowd at the same time?

There's 40+ other stages for people to choose from at Glasto.

[Jens Wildman]

sorry, but that means naff all.

Oasis regularly get named best live band, yet they're consistently shite.

[Dark Star]

but what else was on offer to that crowd at the same time?

There's 40+ other stages for people to choose from at Glasto.

[Jens Wildman]

I'm a pretty hardcore Springsteen fan and all of this preaching on this forum is even making me think about not going to see him because it won't live up to all the hype! It's getting beyond a joke.

[ivan]

I reckon these Springsteen fans are getting a bit obesessed a la Radiohead anoraks !

[Ed209]

? You are taking this waaaaaaaaaaay to seriously. It`s just fun. It`s a Internett meassage board, it`s purpose is to discuss. And if it was anyone who has hyped Springsteen it`s mr Eavis.

[Ed209]

I reckon these Springsteen fans are getting a bit obesessed a la Radiohead anoraks !

[eFestivals]

It`s been a few years since Oasis where named "best live act in the world".

they were, however, named "Best British group" just two days ago.

[Tugger2k]

They're putting the Radiohead-heads to shame

[alframsey]

true true. radiohead fans would never be this obsessive

i know im certainly not

and besides which, they actually deserve obsession

[Tugger2k]

How can you say that? Im guessing you were joking so, lol! But radiohead are nowhere near the stature or quality of Bruce!!! They have a million miles to walk before they can evern be mentioned in the same breath as him!

[dannypal]

im loving the bruce love in this thread, nice to see they have booked a headliner with such passionate fans

but people who think he helped sell out glasto are kind of wrong as the majority of people have no idea of the rumours when they buy tickets, in fact all of my mates were very suprised (and happy) when he was announced next week. But i think the festival sold out on the back of the success of last year which had the most amazing atmosphere ever

[eFestivals]

much of the 'defence' ( ) of Bruce is reacting to punters telling 'us' how rubbish he is ...

oh c'mon .... that's only started off the back of people telling us how great he is.

[Ed209]

How can you say that? Im guessing you were joking so, lol! But radiohead are nowhere near the stature or quality of Bruce!!! They have a million miles to walk before they can evern be mentioned in the same breath as him!

[Tugger2k]

im loving the bruce love in this thread, nice to see they have booked a headliner with such passionate fans

but people who think he helped sell out glasto are kind of wrong as the majority of people have no idea of the rumours when they buy tickets, in fact all of my mates were very suprised (and happy) when he was announced next week. But i think the festival sold out on the back of the success of last year which had the most amazing atmosphere ever

[LemonTeaFTW]

they were, however, named "Best British group" just two days ago.