From: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org (LuckyTown Digest) To: luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Subject: LuckyTown Digest V9 #72 Reply-To: luckytown@luckytown.org Sender: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Errors-To: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Precedence: bulk LuckyTown Digest Monday, August 19 2002 Volume 09 : Number 072 NOTE: Sale/trade posts should be emailed to luckytown-ads, *NOT* to luckytown. That includes tix wanted/tix grovels, post them to luckytown-ads, please. Contents: Bruce on TV tonight and tomorrow (8-19 and 8-20) [wkm@sei.cmu.edu]] Bruce in the New York Resident [mark rifkin ] Springsteen & Earle [Barry & Lisa McCann ] 8/12/02 - Healing hearts in NYC ["Magnus Lauglo" ] Are all shows general admission on the floor? [Kevin Routh ] Re: Chicago tickets [Debbie Glienke ] late take on Cleveland ["Dave Purcell" ] 8/14/02 - Waiting for a shout from the crowd ["Magnus Lauglo" Subject: Bruce in the New York Resident I haven't posted for a while, but if you're interested, you can read my review of THE RISING--which I love--at resident.com by clicking on the cover. "New York Resident" is Manhattan's largest local news magazine. I hope you like the cover image--a friend of mine created that sculpture specifically for the "Resident." In next week's paper I'll review the CAA and MSG shows. If you also click on Arts/Events and then Media, you'll read another article, called "Back into the Fire," about the media attention surrounding Bruce. It's by Brad Balfour, who used to write for Rolling Stone, Spin, and Creem. - --magicrat1994 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 21:38:30 -0600 From: Barry & Lisa McCann Subject: Springsteen & Earle An interesting piece comparing and contrasting Bruce and Steve Earle's musical response to 9/11. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID823 Barry McCann Fort Collins, Colorado ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 10:42:17 -0400 From: "Magnus Lauglo" Subject: 8/12/02 - Healing hearts in NYC Hi all, Finally back from roadtripping out to Detroit and then to NJ for Clearwater, here are a few notes from the NYC show, better late than never: I had high hopes for the NYC show for many obvious reasons. The emotion in the air was apparent at several times and the energy level seemed to me to equal, if not indeed surpass that of the DC show. Of the first 4 shows I saw, this was the one I enjoyed most. DC was a great improvement over Jersey, but I found myself constantly hoping for a new song each time a song ended, nearly always in vain. By the NYC show, I had pretty much gotten used to the idea of the set being pretty much the same each night (although I was privately hoping for Darlington County in the encores), and was able to enjoy the show without obsessing about the imperfect setlist. This I believe, is the way to enjoy these first shows. While many of us aren't entirely satisfied with the pacing of the show, it seems unlikely to change any time soon, and you just have to take what you get. In truth what we get is a very strong enjoyable show, with a setlist that worked surprisingly well with attentive audiences of the East Coast. Into The Fire seemed to work better as a set closer at this show than any of the other ones, perhaps because of the undivided attention of the NYC crowd. I was behind the stage in the 300s, which were actually not so far up, and the sound was a vast improvement over the Washington show. While the older songs seemed to lag a bit in DC, MSG got treated to red hot performances of every song, old and new. One of the things I noticed sitting behind the stage, is that Bruce could play to the back of the stage a little more than he does. On a couple of occasions, he walked along the ramp at the back of the stage, but returned to the main stage earlier than he really had to, giving his rear stage jaunts a nearly rushed feeling. The NYC crowd was all in all very good, but the loud cheering after the "I want an eye for an eye" line in Empty Sky made me for one, feel very uncomfortable, and I almost wondered if Bruce would say anything after the song. He chose not to, probably wisely, as it would have been a losing battle in front of the NYC crowd. American Skin was recieved pretty well where I sat, but according to fans I spoke to, there was scattered booing in some sections. There seemed to be a scuffle of some sort on the floor at one point. I'm not sure just happened, but I saw a dozen or so security guards hustling someone out very quickly, during the encores I believe. Still all in all, the crowd was probably the best of the first 5 shows. The most overt 9/11 material is getting a lot of attention from East Coast audiences. Interestingly, the slower songs seem to keep the audience's attention more easily than the loud, but slow rockers like Countin' on a Miracle and The Fuze, although that may be something to do with the pacing of the songs. The performance was just that little bit tighter and smoother than DC, and the show was clearly very emotional for many people in the audience. Suzie played her violin intro part twice at the beginning to Waiting on a Sunny Day, to great effect. MCOR was played to perfection, and is quickly becoming a highlight of the high energy encores, blending various styles of music and giving Clarence, Danny and Suzie all a chance to shine with their own solos. When Bruce sang the "C'mon Rise up" line, the crowd joined him and it was just about the most poerful moment of the evening. Hearing songs like Countin' on a Miacle, Into the Fire and You're Missing in the Garden was a tremendously powerful experience for me. I can only imagine what it must have been like for those whose lives were affected directly by the events of 9/11. I was sitting next to a longtime fan whose young daughter had a friend whose father died in one of the towers. I knew that the NYC show would be special because of the 9/11 connection, but talking to him before the concert helped personalise, or give a face to the whole tragedy for me. I saw him listening attentively, head in his hands, eyes down to every word of Empty Sky and You're Missing. Moments later he was singing along to Waiting on a Sunny Day and Promised Land, his face shining. It was a show like this that showed just how lucky the world is to have a guy like Bruce, doing what Bruce does. The set which worked so well at the Garden may not be the best show that could be put on elsewhere in the country (or the world), but for this one night, Bruce commanded the attention of the crowd and put on as good a show as anyone could have hoped for. What can you say, the man is a gift. Magnus _________________________________________________________________ Join the world's largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 10:55:14 -0400 From: "Daniel Mc Cole" Subject: Bruce derivative of Bruce While we're talking about being derivative, Bruce seems to be borrowing from himself on Worlds Apart. When I listen to it, it reminds me of Blood Brothers. Not the Greatest Hits version, but the alternate from the 5 track cd, that came with the video. Musically, they have somewhat of the same feel. Lyrically, Worlds Apart's "mountains draped in stars" verse brings to mind the alternate's "moon's dirty light" one. There are a few other things lyrically, some that even seem to link the two with American Skin, but that's another post. I would love to see the alternate version of Blood Brothers pop up in the setlist of the current show. Dan _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 21:51:25 -0400 From: Kevin Routh Subject: Are all shows general admission on the floor? I think that I remember reading that all the shows on this tour are general admission floor seating. Is that true? If so, how are they handling admission and seating? I have a friend with a couple tickets on the floor and he wants to know. I'm not lucky enough to have that problem myself! But I AM taking my teenage kids to the show... their first Bruce concert.... so I opted for 4 tickets together a little ways above the floor! A side comment: despite some of the opinions I've read here, I'm still VERY excited and am looking forward to the show for which I have tickets. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll be able to catch more than one venue on this tour. The new CD does indeed sound different to me than the older ones, but I'm keeping my ears and mind and heart open for what Bruce has to say. As careful as Bruce is with releasing CDs, I'm confident that it sounds just as he intends it to sound, and it's up to me to listen for his message, not only in the words, but in the music. It sounds the way he wants it to, and I believe that he has a lot to say to me, so I'm going to be patient and listen to the CD as many times as it takes for me to hear his message... his musical message AND his lyrical message. He's The Greatest, in my opinion. I've been in love with Bruce's music since the I first heard Darkness, just released, for the first time on a late night album oriented rock station. It was love at first listen, and no music resonates more with my heart and soul and life than does Bruce's. There's not even a close second. I can't wait for the priviledge of seeing and hearing Bruce and the Band again. I can't wait. Kevin ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 21:43:17 -0700 From: "joel ransom" Subject: Subject: MSG 8/12 - my biggest disappointment (Darlington County) >> "Our pa's each own one of the World Trade Centers", Good lord, I'd forgotten about that. I wonder if he'll ~ever~ (great, now you've got me doing the tilde thing) play that song again. not that I'll miss it terribly... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 09:31:18 +0100 From: William.Blaik@Zarlink.Com Subject: Born to bat The Rising has slipped from last weeks 2 position to number 7 in the UK charts. Does anybody know if there is going to be a single. Radio 2 gave a lot of promo the week of release, but not much now. I meant to post earlier, On the day of the Rising's release Channel4 finished its' cricket coverage with the presenter saying, What a day, England beat India and Bruce Springsteen releases a new album, we then went in to a (slightly) edited Born to run over a montage of the match's highlights. I'm not a cricket fan ( I am Scottish), a fellow Bruce fan who is a cricket fan showed me his taped copy. I think this was a one day match ( for you non cricketing nations, matches usually last 3 days). Anyhow a great montage, almost had me wanting to watch a cricket match...almost. Will ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 22:45:46 -0700 From: "Ronnie T." Subject: Tacoma Pre Show? Hi all; I love this group! Are there any LT folks meeting before the Tacoma show Wed? Comin' in from Vancouver. Hopin' to hook up with some folks for some pre-show solidarity. Any plans? .. post online, or send me an e-mail. Ronnie T. ronnie_t@canada.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 20:01:36 -0500 From: Debbie Glienke Subject: Re: Chicago tickets >Here's the deal with Chicago... the United Center caters to their season >ticket holders for the Bulls and Blackhawks. I know from experience. My >uncle is a season ticket holder for the Blackhawks (section 205 - row 4 - >seats 5 and 6) since 1984.. >fax back - from either the Blackhawks or Bulls ticketholder - gets those >seats. The other ticketholder is provided different seats - however, the >point here is they are provided "comparable" seats... 200 levels for 200 >levels... 100 levels for 100 levels. This is true for the 200-level ticket holders only. One of my bosses has had Bulls season tix in the 100 level since the early 80's and my other boss has had Hawks season tix in the 100 level since the early 80's. Neither one of them gets ANY offers for concert tickets. Believe me, I've worked for them for many years and I see their all their United-Center-related mail and faxes, so I would know! :). The priority fax stuff for concerts is ONLY available to skybox holders (of course) and people in the 200-level ("Club Level") seats, like the ones your uncle holds. We also had an employee that had Bulls tix in the 200-level and I saw his priority seating faxes for concert tix come thru (while my bosses got nothing). Unfortunately he left our company before Bruce toured in 1999 (darn it!!). So what happened to the 100-level seats in the UC for Bruce this time around is anybody's guess. DebbieG ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 12:59:38 -0400 From: "Dave Purcell" Subject: late take on Cleveland Just a few quick thoughts on the Cleveland show. I'm puzzled that anyone is disappointed by this show, or any show on the tour that's of the quality of the Cleveland stop. Granted, this was only my second Springsteen concert -- the first being the Cincinnati stop of the last tour -- as I'm a relatively new fan (bought Nebraska in '93, have been growing in fandom ever since). I'm a musician and a former music journalist, and as critical a concertgoer as you'll find (if only you could ask my friends about my recent rants on Wilco & Pete Yorn), and I loved the show. I drove four hours to Cleveland, got two hours of sleep and drove back, and it was worth every second; I'd do it again tomorrow. I have floor tickets for Cincinnati and Lexington and absolutely can't wait. FWIW, I was there with three lifelong Springsteen fans. Joe saw his first Bruce show during the "Wild, Innocent..." tour, courtesy of a cool big sister. Michael first saw him on Darkness, as did Jimmy, who's seen him over 20 times. All three were blown away -- even Joe, who was skeptical about ever enjoying an arena rock show again. The show was one non-stop highlight for me. I especially dug The Rising, Darkness, Empty Sky, and the segue from LOHAD into People Get Ready, one of my fave songs of all time (another fave concert moment is seeing U2 play it on the Joshua Tree tour). Cheers, Dave - --Dave Purcell, newport@one.net Pike 27: http://www.pike27.net/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 10:49:41 -0400 From: "Magnus Lauglo" Subject: 8/14/02 - Waiting for a shout from the crowd Hi all, My belated review of the Cleveland show: I was excited about travelling away from the East Coast for once, to catch a Bruce show, and Cleveland certainly has more Bruce history than most places. I and my tour buddy Andy had planned to visit the Rock "n" Roll Hall of Fame, but the $17 ticket was far more than we anticipated paying, so we passed. Next time perhaps. I was surpised by how few people in town had heard about the concert. Unlike in Washington, where the local classic rock station was playing Bruce all day, and many people knew about the show, the tour really didn't seem to have descended upon the city at all. The show had apparently sold out a few days previously, but there were fans and scalpers alike trying to sell tickets outside the venue for well under face. Many ended up eating tickets, I heard a rumour which actually sounded feasible about someone selling 2 upper level tickets for 2 dollars apiece. Before the show we hung out with a bunch of people from the Greasy Lake website, who had reserved a separate room at the local sports bar. This proved to be a great idea, because the bar filled up soon, but we had plenty of space to mingle and chat. If anyone is planning pre show parties at bars close to arenas, it may be a good idea to reserve a room, to avoid the kind of cramped conditions that many fans experienced at Mustang Harry's in NYC or the Childe Harold in Washington. Onto the concert; I was high up on Patti's side of the stage, where the sound was not perfect, but much better than it had been in DC (where I had compareable seats). The band came out around 8.10, and went straight into The Rising as expected. From the beginning though, it was clear that the Cleveland crowd was quite tame and suffered by comparison to the East Coast crowds at the first few shows. My section seemed to have between a quarter and two thirds of the people standing at any given time, except during the slow songs, when everyone understandably enough sat down. Certainly not everyone stood up during Badlands; and Bobby Jean saw half a dozen people in front of me get up to get beers. There were 4 very rude fans sitting right in front of me who insisted on talking loudly through much of the show despite several people asking them politely (at first) to quieten down. Finally in the midle of MCOR, the fan sitting next to me told them in no uncertain terms to "Shut the fuck up!", and they seemed shocked enough to comply for the most part for what remained of the show. It's definetely a good thing that Bruce asks for quite before his first slow songs, but this clearly isn't enough. Perhaps a modified STFU speech would be in order? Ideally the sale of beer should also be halted once the show starts. This seemed to work very well in Pittsburgh on the last tour. I heard from many other fans who thought the crowd was fine, but from where I was looking, the upper levels especially, were much less into the show than at the three first concerts of the tour. The songs continue to grow and develop, and the improvement curve so early in the tour is great to watch from show to show. I may be wrong, but I think I remember that Suzie did not play a solo at the end of Worlds Apart at this show. Certainly, Bruce's churning ever-lengthening guitar solo dominated the terrific musical finish to that song. Nils's solo at the end of The Fuze also continues to change a little each night, and was a highlight of the song. I thought the performance in general was tight, but not extraordinarily spirited. I sensed that Bruce was playing hard, but ultimately wasn't inspired to one of his truly superhuman performances. A review of the show the next day in a local paper gave a generally favourable, but non-raving account of the show. The setlist remained exactly the same for the third night in a row. Unlike the NYC and DC shows the setlist didn't work so well with a less attentive audience, many of whom were scampering around for beer during Into the Fire. With a less fired up audience, the limitations of the setlist became more apparent. By the time he had finished Mary's Place, the crowd was just about in his grasp, and if there had been enough flexibility in the set to throw in a more familiar song next, the crowd might well have been won over for good. But the last three songs of the main set, while individually very powerful, bring the crowd down after the euphoria of Mary's place, without bringing it up again. I can understand that after playing Mary's Place, the band isn't able to maintain that high tempo intensity. But a more familar, lighter song would work much better instead of the intense still-obscure Countin' on a Miracle. Bobby Jean perhaps? The highlight of the show for me was undoubtedly the encores, which finally saw the not-quite-full-Gund Arena up and rocking at full tilt. Thunder Road is still sounding fine, the band seems to be having even more fun than the audience during the rambunctious Glory Days, and BTR never fails to please everyone. The second encore is more serious without being too depressing; rousing without allowing itself to be mistaken as jingoistic. Certainly, playing the full band BUSA again is treading a fine line, but so far the song seems to work very well indeed. The spooky muted green lighting during BUSA is very effective in helping to convey the dark nature of the song. LoHaD is building muscle, sounding as good as it did on the last tour. After seeing the first 3 East Coast shows, I found Cleveland to be a little disappointing, because of the comparatively tame audience. If this turns out to be the typical 2002 tour crowd, the set is in all the more need for some drastic overhaul in order for it to be all it can be. When I go to a rock show, I expect the audience to give all the attention and enthusiasm it has to enjoying an participating in the performance. But I also expect the performer (especially one as professional as Bruce) to be able to gauge the audience, and know just when to throw in an unplanned song or two, to take advantage of the of the crowd's excitement at essential points in the show. Right now, the setlist seems to me imperfectly paced and too rigid. rock on Magnus _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 10:04:00 EDT From: MJQuarry@aol.com Subject: D.C. was a C+ Hi everyone: A little belatedly about DC, but...(and, this is all IMO, so don't get bent out of shape if my point of view doesn't agree with yours) My brother and I were probably 3 people away from the stage in the GA pit and left the show being "under-whelmed." Don't misunderstand, it was a 'good' show - even Bruce's mundane appearances will generally shine when compared to any other performer. But, in comparison to previous Bruce and the Band performances... Some observations were: 1. Sound was not good at all. Feedback, etc. Bruce, Nils, Clarence were continually looking off stage asking them to turn their instrument up. I understand that there will be small glitches that need to be worked out, especially at the beginning of a tour, but isn't that what all of those rehearsal shows were supposed to be for? 2. Bruce was trying to "direct" the performance too much. The connection Bruce and the Band have is one of the greatest in rock and roll, but Bruce (IMO) was trying to direct the songs too much - both with his hand gestures and by pointing at Roy, Danny, etc. while they were playing. This was distracting and almost a slight insult to the listener. In the past, the music has always been more powerful when Bruce just lets the music speak for itself - kind of a "less is more" type of thing. The DC show came off a bit "scripted" this way. 3. Bruce and the band gave probably the most-uninspired performance of Thunder Road that I've ever seen. If it doesn't feel right, or they're sick of it or whatever, then don't put it on the set list. 4. Steven absolutely had no clue what the words were several times, especially on Countin' on a Miracle. Bruce was also anchored to his monitor more than he should have been. Yes, it is a new album, etc. but that is what being a professional is all about. If you haven't had enough time to memorize the words yet, then take the time. 5. Is it possible for Bruce to play a guitar solo without the damn whammy bar? Again, for me IMO, just another thing that I feel Bruce is trying to cram into the performance. I think he is trying too hard to "wow" the audience with "this and that" instead of just sitting back and letting the music talk. 6. Nils has got to be the most under-rated performer of the band. He seemed to be taking way too much of a "back seat" in DC IMO. 7. I absolutely love Danny's organ. The solo on the CD at the end of You're Missing is incredible and it was such a treat to finally hear the organ more at this show than was done, say on the last tour, for example. Nice long solo at the end of You're Missing and My City of Ruins. A very welcome part of the performance. 8. What is this "civil liberties" thing? Bruce began his talk by saying "civil liberties" and then said "civil rights" toward the end. Slightly different topics. Not sure exactly what he's referring to, but this is what I don't want. In the past, Bruce has made many comments on stage regarding various issues. And, in the past, when he was younger and his audience was younger, maybe there was more room for him to do that. But, now, we're much older and he's much older. I don't need to hear a 52 year old rock musician telling me how or what to think. It's okay if that's his opinion, but I've also got my opinion. And, who's to say if I'm right or he's right? 9. Shorter band intro in Mary's Place and No Rumble Doll! The whole sermon thing during 10th went on way too long last tour and nothing, absolutely nothing, brought the concert to a screeching halt like Rumble Doll and that "plaintiff wail" did last tour. Sorry, IMO. Everything I've said is IMO. So, if you and I don't agree, that's okay. Just thought I'd throw my point of view out there in case others felt somewhat like I do. I'm still looking forward to going to future shows, though! Take Care- Mark Quarry Cincinnati, OH [text/html attachment deleted] ------------------------------ End of LuckyTown Digest V9 #72 ****************************** ********************************************************************* ** LuckyTown WWW URL ** The LuckyTown FAQ, back issues, web-based subscription/unsubscription, and many other things can be found on the LuckyTown WWW Page: http://www.luckytown.org ** LuckyTown mailing list addresses ** You can send email to go into the next LuckyTown Digest to: luckytown@luckytown.org You can send email to go into the next LuckyTown-Ads Digest to: luckytown-ads@luckytown.org Any questions for the list admin should be emailed to: owner-luckytown@luckytown.org To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@luckytown.org with message body: unsubscribe luckytown-digest To get further information on how to subscribe/unsubscribe/change your subscription address, as well as the other available commands, send email to majordomo@luckytown.org with message body: help ********************************************************************* The contents of this digest are not necessarily approved by the list admin.