From: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org (LuckyTown Digest) To: luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Subject: LuckyTown Digest V9 #75 Reply-To: luckytown@luckytown.org Sender: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Errors-To: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Precedence: bulk LuckyTown Digest Saturday, August 24 2002 Volume 09 : Number 075 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: Viva Las Vegas ["Jon Greer" ] viva las vegas [BossBand@aol.com] Re: European show / Paris on-sale soon; Germany tickets [Mannherz@t-onlin] Tacoma Review 8/21/02 [Mike Anderson ] re: Penn explains the greatness of Bruce ["Ron Cecchini" ] I Can't Help It ["danv"] 18 YEARS [RichLab5353@aol.com] Bruce's Portland Show [cynthia orlando ] Tacoma Show ~ Awesome ["Ronnie T." ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 21:30:00 -0700 From: "Jon Greer" Subject: Viva Las Vegas A rested Bruce Springsteen took the stage in Las Vegas on August 18, after a four-day rest, and you could immediately tell that the time off had helped. His voice sounded great, and he and the band seemed relaxed and relieved to be out on the road and away from the frenzy that had developed on the East Coast. [I'm now out on the road for my family vacation -- pardon the somewhat late post on this show] In Vegas, the GA floor appeared to work fine. I don't know how early you had to get there to get into the pit, but I got inside at about 6:20 and easily got a spot 15 feet behind the pit barricade between Bruce's mike and Steve's. Anyone arriving within the next hour or so could have had as good a spot as they wanted, unless they wanted to stand up against the barricade or directly facing Bruce. By showtime two hours later, it was as packed as you would expect, and sure, there were times I couldn't see the whole band or even Bruce, but that was more than compensated for by the fact that I was only 50 feet from the stage and dancing the whole time. And most of the time, I had a great view (and I'm only 5'8"). This was my first chance to see the new Bruce in person, and I was stunned. The man looks like he has literally discovered the fountain of youth. In hindsight, he looked a bit paunchy and middle-aged on the Reunion Tour, but he has lost at least 15 pounds and toned his body -- he looked 42, not 52. Clarence, who has also lost a lot of weight, looked terrific as well. It was cool having Soozie Tyrell in the band -- she has a great voice and a great presence on stage, in addition to her violin-playing skills. Playing wireless electric violin, she could both play and sing at the same time. Bruce was intense for most of the show -- he rarely spoke to the audience and seemed intent on keeping a fast pace. I attribute this to an effort to maintain the emotional intensity of the show, and perhaps also to the fact that he and the band are still learning how to present the new music in concert. There was one unscripted moment I found interesting -- Patti and Soozie were talking to each other onstage before a song early in the show, and Bruce and the rest of the band were ready to start the next number. Bruce turned to them and said, "ladies, what could possibly be so important?" Patti blushed but Soozie looked absolutely crushed. So during the song, Bruce made an effort to dance over to her and say "come on, Soozie," in an effort, I thought, to reassure her and keep her head in the show. The setlist was the same as the previous several shows, with one exception: the inclusion of a ragged but fun "Viva Las Vegas" during the first set of encores. At least this time around, I was completely happy seeing the show performed in the exact form in which Bruce had designed -- it gave me the opportunity to think more deeply about the messages he is trying to send with this tour and this album, and to listen to the first full rendition of Bruce's new rock voice. Clearly, the set is intended to cover the full range of emotions, from somber and mournful to cathartic and joyful. I thought it was a brilliantly conceived setlist, without a slow or dull moment, and the band sounded great. It worked so well from beginning to end that even though it was "only" 23 songs, at the end it felt like a complete show and that nothing was missing. The Rising and Lonesome Day open the show, two songs that themselves include most of the themes Bruce would explore throughout the show: commitment, sacrifice, sadness, joy, longing, and finally, emotional release and a sense of the continuity of life. Next is Prove It, which gives the audience a chance to relax with a familiar favorite. Bruce's big guitar solo is even more scorching than the last tour. After Prove It comes The Fuse, which has gotten mixed reviews in postings on the net but which I found quite entertaining. Bruce and Patti sang the song largely as a duet, and it was the first of several times during the show that the two of them allowed the audience to see them as a loving, intertwined, married couple. [Quick aside: on the Tunnel of Love tour, when they were first flirting and then having the affair that ended Bruce's first marriage, their chemistry onstage spoke simply of sexual temptation. Patti didn't tour with Bruce again until the Reunion Tour 10 years later, and they did not display much of their relationship onstage -- they acted more like bandmates than spouses. On this tour, it appears that Bruce has gotten comfortable showing his affection for Patti and acknowledging that, in fact, that's his wife standing over there singing background vocals.] Next was Darkness, a standard rendition (of one of my absolute favorite Bruce songs), followed by the "quiet" portion of the show, the largely acoustic Empty Sky followed by You're Missing. I'm told this was a "bathroom break" for people in the seats, but on the floor, no one moved. Unlike the first few shows of the tour, Bruce did not suggest the audience sit down (which would have been tough on an SRO floor) -- he just politely asked for a little quiet. Musically, I thought it was a wonderful performance of both songs, with Bruce and Patti sharing haunting, soulful vocals on Empty Sky. After bringing the audience down, Bruce offered another release: the joyous sing-along Waitin' on a Sunny Day. A good chunk of the crowd knew the chorus when the song started, and with Bruce teaching it, the rest knew the chorus by the end. Bruce strolled the stage playing acoustic guitar and leading the sing-along. The Promised Land came next, followed by Worlds Apart. This song starts with a tape of the qawwalli singers from the album, then the band kicks in, and then the tape comes back on toward the end. In one of his more subtle statements, Bruce had the band take over the "la la las" from the taped singers, metaphorically mixing the two sets of voices who come from "worlds apart." Standard versions of Badlands and Bobby Jean followed, leading into Mary's Place. The song certainly works well in concert, but I think the band is still struggling with it a little. Countin' on a Miracle came next, which I thought rocked harder in concert than on the album. The main set closed with American Skin and Into the Fire. American Skin is improved from the Reunion Tour -- it's less preachy. Before seeing the show, I thought it was an odd choice for this setlist, given its essentially anti-cop message. And why would it be leading into Into The Fire, probably the greatest song ever written about civil servants? It hit me during this show -- both songs are about the fact that "you can get killed just for living in your American skin." We know the message of American Skin is about the abuse of state power in the death of a poor immigrant, but what Bruce is saying with this juxtaposition is that hey, you can be doing your job as a good and loyal American and still get killed for what you believe in and what this country stands for. The first encore set is, in my opinion, a reward, a way to make sure that no one leaves saying they didn't hear the big hits. Thunder Road, Glory Days and Born to Run are huge crowd-pleasers as always, and in the context of this show offered even more deeply felt catharsis than you would normally expect. (Viva Las Vegas was played in the slot before Glory Days) The second encore brings the audience back to other themes of the show. Bruce opened the set at the piano, accompanying himself on the first two verses and the chorus of My City of Ruins. This song is starting to blossom in the full band version, with a very dramatic closing transition from "with these hands I pray" into "come on, rise up." The audience had its hands in the air and shouted out "rise up" along with Bruce. Before My City of Ruins, he made his now-standard pitch for a local charity, but before the next song, he launched into his new concern, the erosion of civil liberties in the post-9/11 world. He told the audience to remain vigilant and to follow what was happening in the news, because "it's part of your job if you are born in the USA." It was a perfect and unexpected lead-in to the song, which was great to hear again in the full band version. Max was absolutely wailing on the drums toward the end, looking like he had been temporarily possessed by the ghost of Keith Moon. The show closed with Land of Hope and Dreams, a classic Springsteen ending about hope and faith. It's very interesting that the non-Rising selections in the setlist are drawn exclusively from three albums -- Darkness, Born to Run and Born in the USA (plus American Skin from the last tour). It's easy to explain why BTR and BITUSA -- those are his two most famous and acclaimed albums. But why Darkness? I found a quote from Bruce in the "Songs" songbook that may explain it -- he said that making Darkness, he discovered his "adult voice." I think the songs chosen from Darkness are the purest expressions of what was then a newfound voice. On The Rising, Bruce once again found a new voice, this time the voice of a fully grown and responsible adult, and the Darkness tunes rurned out to be good complements for the new songs from The Rising. Since discovering him in the mid-70s, I've always maintained my faith in Bruce's greatness as a rock and roll artist. But it was tough during the 90s, when he lost his rock voice and seemed to be drifting toward near-irrelevance. Now that I've absorbed the new album and seen him live, I can definitely tell you this: faith has been rewarded. Bruce is back, as good and as relevant as ever. Jon Greer [text/html attachment deleted] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 15:34:41 EDT From: BossBand@aol.com Subject: viva las vegas 
To start off with my Twin brother and i assumed that we were the only bruce
fanatics that were crazy enough to stand in line at 6 am just for the chance
to get in front of the stage. To our surprise we got to the Thomas and Mack
at 6 am (we were 41 and 42 on the list) and saw a guy in a Notre Dame hat
with a sign in list sorry we cant remember your name, but he is the reason
why my brother and i stood in the second row and had the best experience of
our lives. He is the reason we got to shake Bruce Springsteens hand. we want
to thank him and all the guys who organized and controlled the 300 bruce fans
in 100 degree weather and  who were all eager to rush the stage. These guys
even controlled everyone when the security guys split the line in two. Thanks
again for making it possible for two 24 year old bruce fans to experience
Bruce and the band up close. hope to see you at future GA lines. dominic and
vincent pennisi

------------------------------

Date: 22 Aug 2002 20:01 GMT
From: Mannherz@t-online.de (Uwe Mannherz)
Subject: Re: European show / Paris on-sale soon; Germany tickets

Hi Clement and everyone else,

for Germany you can try "Tickets per Post" in Frankfurt
(www.tickets-per-post.de), phone +49 (0)69 944 366 0.

They accept pre-reservations via fax. Last time (re-union tour) this worked for
every concert in Germany except Munich. Especially Berlin...

Good luck
Uwe.


> Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 21:14:53 +0200
> From: "CS" 
> Subject: European show / Paris on-sale soon

> Hi,

> Paris is supposed to go on-sale this Staurday: Aug. 24th
> Check www.fnac.fr and www.ticketnet.fr !

> Barcelona & Berlin interest me: anyone out here to help me ;-) ?

> Rave on,
> Clement





[text/html attachment deleted]

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 00:57:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike Anderson 
Subject: Tacoma Review 8/21/02

Hello all,

Just rolled in from the Tacoma show and it was a
barnburner.  The Tacoma Dome is massive and was
probably 80% full -- which means that there was
probably 18,000 people there.  I truly felt like I was
in a barn and a Springsteen show broke out.  Decent
acoustics and great sightlines to the stage.

I'm guessing that everyone wants to know about Dancing
in the Dark since this is the first full band version
of the song since the Tunnel tour.  It ROCKED!!  The
famous keyboard hook was present but wasn't the main
focus.  Dancing was very much driven by a guitar
attach lead by Bruce.  They nailed this thing and
finally brought it back from Bruce hell by finding an
arrangement that rocked and brought the song back into
the present -- Dancing In The Dark 2002 if you will.
Bruce was loving it and smiling ear to ear the entire
song and the crowd went crazy when Bruce introduced
the "debut of his biggest hit".  It was so much fun
for everyone - the band and the crowd.  This thing is
staying in the set and if you're seeing an upcoming
show pray that you get it because it is awesome.  No
joke.  I think if Bruce would have played Glory Days
after Dancing the building would have collapsed in on
itself, but Ramrod still captured the crowd.

First time hearing Darkness on this tour and really
like the altered guitar part by Bruce -- a nice touch
and brought new life to the song.

Worlds Apart is a masterpiece.  I still don't know if
it's in the right place in the set but the live
version is fantastic.  Soozie adds so much to this
song (and others) that she is making this tour that
much more special.  Her participation on this tour is
putting it over the top in a lot of ways.

Thunder Road was the normal rock version.  It wasn't
acoustic or altered in any way from the normal version
played during the encores and it worked well in this
position.  The only small change I could see was that
Bruce didn't really meet Clarence at the front of the
stage like he does when it's in the encores.  If you
know Into the Fire is next this song is a little less
joyous than normal and I think it had an effect on
Bruce because of this.  It worked well in this
position though and wouldn't mind seeing it pop up in
this slot from time to time.  I knew when he brought
this out in this slot instead of the encores that we
were getting Dancing since it was soundchecked in
Portland.  Dancing was amazing but I already mentioned
that.

Ramrod was exactly like the reunion tour version.  A
lot of fun and rocking big time.

The crowd around me -- section 7A -- were very quiet
during the entire show and didn't cause a fuss if you
were standing up instead of sitting down.  Very cool.

Waiting On A Sunny Day is an absolute stand-out along
with Mary's Place.  Both huge crowd pleasers.
Countin' On A Miracle kind of gets lost in the shuffle
since it starts out acoustic and everyone starts to
sit down and then the band kicks in and the crowd
doesn't know whether to sit or stand (most of the
remained seated).

Born In The USA continues to kick major ass -- Bruce
just wails on the guitar and Max is an absolute animal
on the drums.  Max's arms were a blur on a couple of
occasions.

MCOR is also a major crowd pleaser and I really enjoy
the instrumental section after Bruce leaves the
piano...Clarence, Danny, and Soozie all have nice
solos.  Beautiful song...a classic.

I'm done with this leg of the tour (I think) and the
Portland and Tacoma shows did not disappoint.  I was
not looking forward to going to two shows in two
nights with the exact same setlist but Bruce didn't
disappoint.  Glory Days, Dancing, Backstreets,
Atlantic City, and all the new material put these
shows high on my list of favorite shows.  The material
is working so well live and the crowd seems to really
enjoy the songs even if they don't know all the words.
 The setlist and length of the show is nearly perfect
and I think Bruce knows it.  This is one tour that I
would suggest everyone gets out to see.

Now release Sunny Day as the next single and we might
have a true hit single off of the new cd.

Mike

PS -- There was a new piece of merchandise at the
Tacoma show that I didn't see in Portland...a 2003
"The Rising" Calendar.  Some great photos from the
Rising sessions including Bruce in the studio on an
acoustic with Clarence.  Must have especially if they
don't do a tour book for this leg -- it's essential if
you're making boot artwork as well!

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs
http://www.hotjobs.com

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 05:39:53 -0400
From: "Ron Cecchini" 
Subject: re: Penn explains the greatness of Bruce

Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 22:49:30 -0300
From: kent archibald 

> If you could be The Boss why aren't you?
> Penn explains the greatness of Bruce
> By Penn Jillette . Photos by Joe Pickett III

> I saw an ad for "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J."
> when I was in high school in January of 1973. The
> ad was just the lyrics to "Blinded by the Light."
> That was enough for me. I bought the album the day
> it came out. I've been a Springsteen fan as long as
> possible without living in Jersey in 1970.

Jesushchrist... i wish i knew this when i actually
met Penn at the Boston Freak Club that i frequent...

(where i've often been labelled a sorta "freak amongst
 freaks" for being the lone Springsteen Nut...)

Who'da known!

& to think that i also didn't find out Penn was a big
Sagan fan & CSICOP guy until after i met him.  Shoot.

> My friend Max Weinberg invited me to go

Name-droppin' bastard...

> I was really one with all of those people at Madison
> Square Garden, and that's really amazing because I
> am a real creep.  I have many deep political, social,
> moral, ethical and stylistic differences with the
> people around me at a Springsteen concert.

...like i said, it was at a "freak club"...

Anyway, thanx for posting this!

p.s. i'll leave out what Penn was doing that night...

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 09:02:04 -0400
From: Dave Marsh 
Subject: Gore tickets

I hate Al and Tipper Gore 100x time as much as Arlen Schumer hates Bruce
Springsteen's albums.

But that story is complete crap. It just didn't happen.

Why the Gores stuck their hands in this particular tar baby and then
couldn't pull it out, I don't know. But I do know that the stupidest
part of it all is, they never even asked anybody for tickets (or at
least, not anyboyd who could have said yes or no).

- --
My feeling is that if you want to listen to something primitive, you
should listen to Mozart.
Because if you hear Mozart, there's almost no rhythmic variation in it,
it's 1-2-3-4 forever.
 No cross-rhythms or polyrhythms to speak of. The way that music's
interpeted, all of the
 tonal qualities of the instruments tend to be very clean and pristine.
There's no kind of
 textural variety like you would get in the blues, in terms of
roughening the texture out on
certain words, playing around with the pitch on certain words. Nothing
like that in Mozart."
Robert Palmer in Toby Gleason's Bluesland: A Portrait in American Music.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 06:43:27 -0700
From: "danv"
Subject: I Can't Help It

I've been convinced since I first heard "Growin' Up" so many years ago. I
want(ed) to love "The Rising", but I can't get passed the poor production of
this record. There's a shrillness to the overall sound that I find hard to
listen to especially since I know there is technology out there that sounds
more "real". The kick drum sounds like a bad sample of someone slapping a
piece of meat. The hi-hat is obnoxiously high in the mix. Clarence is barely
audible, and most of all, what happened to "more guitar"? I was shut out of
the current tour, but I hope the songs (which I think are great) sound better
live.

danv


- -
of all the treasures you may seek
you'll find the journey is the prize

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 21:07:52 EDT
From: RichLab5353@aol.com
Subject: 18 YEARS

Hello fellow luckytowners, I'm hoping someone can clear something up for me.
Everyone whos interviewed Bruce about the Rising has referred to the new
album being the first recorded with the E-street Band in 18 years, yet the
credits on the Tunnel Of love album state Bruce & the E-Street band??? Can
anyone clarify for me.
       Thanks, Rich

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 07:57:13 -0800
From: cynthia orlando 
Subject: Bruce's Portland Show

Bruce's Tuesday night concert in Portland was simply the best rock n' roll
concert I have been to in my life.  Granted I've only seen him in concert
three times before, and _never_ with the E-Street Band, but I was totally
amazed at the seamless way all of the material was presented, both old and
new, and at the greatness exhibited by each individual member of the
E-Street Band.  Clarence was unbelievable - he held out one long note so
long I don't think anyone could believe his lung-power; and Max on drums
was just so "ON" all night it blew my socks off!

I read earlier that someone said at one of the previous shows Bruce didn't
seem to sing Thunder Road with much conviction.  Well maybe he reads
LuckyTown Digest then, because he & the band poured everything they had
into that song.  Highlights of the show for me: Atlantic City, Badlands,
Born to Run, which brought the house down, Thunder Road, Worlds Apart,
Mary's Place, and The Rising.

Q: SETLIST: If someone hasn't posted the setlist by the time this goes out,
could someone please post it?
Thanks from a fan in Oregon. (p.s. Bruce, every time you're here you
mispronounce Oregon. For next time: don't say "Ore-Gone," say "Ore-Gun!")

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 10:03:02 -0700
From: "Ronnie T." 
Subject: Tacoma Show ~ Awesome

Hey everyone:

Either Bruce and the Band think exactly like the LTers or someone
from the tour has been evesdropping...

Last night's show had a few changes as suggested by the LTers
here. It seemed to flow really well with all the same songs in a little
change of order. Bruce noted the he had been here before, and
remembered that he had spent a week here one night when he
was so sick with the flu a show was postponed. [10/19/84 the first
show without Rosy post 74]

Special note: during Mary's Place band intros Bruce couldn't get
Patti within 20 feet of a microphone to do her "wail". After Mary's
Place Bruce shouted something  to Nils and everyone went
scrambling to pass the word that there was a change? An
energized "Thunder Road" followed instead of 41 Shots. Main set
ended with Into the Fire.

First encore: Dancing in the Dark and Ramrod with Bruce at his
best '84 ham self, Steve couldn't keep from laughing so hard he
couldn't sing at some points. Then Born to Run.

Last Encore: MCOR, BITU LOHAD. In order for Bruce to keep his
civil liberty speech on track with no confusion, someone came out
and taped it to the floor before this encore.

With 1 exception the show was technically awesome! The guitar
break in Badlands was Steve's and he was playing it but we
couldn't hear it. About 10 bars into it, Steve didn't hit anything but
the sound suddenly came on, like a sound board error?

Other than that mistake, I wouldn't have changed a thing! I loved
every second!

Ronnie T.

------------------------------

End of LuckyTown Digest V9 #75
******************************


*********************************************************************
** 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.