Bruce Springsteen at Nationals Park - September 14, 2012

[chomiji]

So this was excellent. I know that various critics have been mouthing off about Springsteen and saying that he's not so relevant these days, or whatever. But let's face it: if you still enjoy hearing his songs, whether they're 2 years old or 30 years old, he's relevant to you, and I'm definitely in that category.

He has incredible stamina for a man his age (he'll be 63 in about a week), and he clearly thrives on audience reaction. Watching him absorb energy from the fans in this concert, I found myself thinking about Jackson Browne's "The Load Out," in which he describes how grueling, mentally and physically, touring can be:

We just pass the time in our hotel rooms And wander 'round backstage Till those lights come up and we hear that crowd And we remember why we came People you've got the power over what we do You can sit there and wait or you can pull us through ...

Springsteen played for about 3½ hours. He didn't play all my favorites (I would have loved to hear "Mary's Place" from The Rising, for example) but he played enough of them:

Setlist: Prove It All Night ('78 intro) My Love Will Not Let You Down The Ties That Bind Hungry Heart We Take Care of Our Own Wrecking Ball Death to My Hometown My City of Ruins Sprit in the Night Blinded By the Light Jack of All Trades Jackson Cage She's the One Johnny 99 Darlington County Shackled and Drawn Waitin' on a Sunny Day The Promised Land Racing in the Street The Rising Badlands Land of Hope and Dreams * * * We Are Alive Thunder Road Born to Run Detroit Medley Dancing in the Dark Tenth Avenue Freeze-out American Land Twist and Shout     - from Backstreets.com, which also has a good review of the concert)

"My City of Ruins" included a break to introduce each band member. People went especially nuts for "Spirit in the Night." Then most people in the crowd rose to their feet when Roy Bittan struck the opening piano notes to "Badlands" and didn't sit down 'til it was clear that the E Street Band h was gone for the night and not coming back. The rocking-out got really serious with the oldies set (Detroit Medley) of "Devil with a Blue Dress On" and "Good Golly Miss Molly." "Dancing in the Dark" had the audience singing along with every word. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out" slammed to a halt at the line "the Big Man joined the band," and a video montage of images of Clarence Clemons was played (his nephew Jake Clemons was playing his uncle's sax parts during the concert).

A great time was had by all (really), although the Mr. was definitely uncomfortable with some of the volume. (My ears still feel a bit stuffy, but I expected it.) We have swag (a tour T-shirt for me, and a hoodie for the Mr.). And we didn't get to bed until 2:00 a.m. (part of that was the Metro trip back.)

Comments

[rroselavy]

Sounds like a fantastic time! I nearly LOL'd at the "relevant" comment. Can't an artist mellow with age and take the long view sometimes?

[chomiji]

I've also got to wonder about people who assume that what was relevant 30 years ago is not relevant now. Sometimes that's true, but when you're talking about things like being in love, marrying too young, trying to escape from poverty, working hard for a very small reward, admiring your home country, facing getting older, etc., the issues remain relevant for an awfully long time - perhaps as long as humans are human!

Springsteen wrote "Glory Days," for instance, in 1985, when he was about 35. It's just as relevant today to him and to his listeners past the age of 21 or so as it was then.

[chomiji]

Ah ... here is the last 30 min. of the concert on Youtube, starting right after the instrumental bridge in "Born to Run." It's pretty amazing hearing everyone singing along with all the oldies. And I just found the real time Twitter posts.