From: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org (LuckyTown Digest) To: luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Subject: LuckyTown Digest V9 #102 Reply-To: luckytown@luckytown.org Sender: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Errors-To: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Precedence: bulk LuckyTown Digest Sunday, November 3 2002 Volume 09 : Number 102 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: decent [Paul van Mieghem ] London review (long) ["Magnus Lauglo" ] London review [Roberto Sasso ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 11:08:52 +0100 From: Paul van Mieghem Subject: decent it's been a while, but bruce' ahoy rotterdam show inspired me to resurface, just for this once though. the october 22 concert was one of the best i have ever seen. at least in terms of energy and interaction with the audience. i felt the same excitement as i did on the 28th of april 1981. same place, same performers. back then i was a 17-year-old school kid, trying to figure out what to do with my life. 27 bruce shows later, i was there with two kids of my own, one a first timer, the other already an old hand, seeing bruce play for the fourth time. the last time bruce was in rotterdam (february 25, 1996, de doelen) my oldest daughter left the building with a harmonica in her hand. this time she was jumping around all night, a few metres from the stage. the other one was next to me, in the stands. more than a week later she is still recovering from the experience. on may 6, 2003 they'll both be in rotterdam again. and as you probably guessed already, their little sister will be joining them. i read a few less enthusiastic comments on 'dumb dutch fans'. of course inevitably every now and then you will be in the company of the occasional moron, but over all i agree with long-time bruce fan and journalist roel bentz van den berg, who said on dutch television that 'the springsteen audience is remarkably decent, always looking after each other'. let's keep it that way. pAUL ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 13:41:29 -0500 From: "Magnus Lauglo" Subject: London review (long) Just getting tickets to London was quite an achievement in itself. With Bruce playing just one show in the UK in a pretty small arena, the show sold out in a matter of minutes, and thousands of fans were left disappointed. Friends of mine were kind enough to get me a ticket, and it seemed that many other fans who had initially been shut out were able to get tickets in the end somehow. But many ended up having to go to scalpers. The day of the show, I heard of fans paying #80 to #150 for tickets which were #50 or so at face value. I last had seen the band in Detroit, and was very much looking forward to seeing how far the band had come since the beginning of the tour. Armed with a much coveted GA ticket, I decided to go the day before the show in order to get as close to the stage as possible. When I arrived at 2pm on Saturday I was only the eighth person to arrive. The first people had apparently gotten to the arena over 24 hours before me, and were braving the weather for over 48 hours to get the best spots in front of Bruce. There were in fact two separate entrances for those with GA tix, on opposite sides of the building (each GA ticket stipulated whether you were to go through the red or the green turnstiles) and we ended up with two different GA lines. By Saturday evening, a few more people had arrived and some of us towards the front of the green line decided it was time to organise a GA list. I ended up as one of the line organisers, and it turned out to be less daunting than I had anticipated. People arrived, signed in, got a number on their wrist and were then free to leave until the early morning. The night and early morning were pretty grim, as the carless huddled in sleeping bags beneath a wet windy storm which actually claimed several lives in the UK. As I lay shivering unable to sleep, I found myself reminded of some of my best memories of Bruce's music throughout the last 13 years or so, and I knew camping out like this through the worst storm of the season was worth it. At 8am on Sunday, about 40 or had arrived on our side (slightly fewer on the red side), and we started doing roll calls every hour, with the understanding that you could be absent from one roll call, in order to give everyone a 2 hour window in which they could go to eat, shower or whatever. We decided against having a roll call every 2 hours early in the day, because apparently in Berlin part of the problem with the GA line was that fans were arriving, being told that they were number 200 in line, but only seeing a few dozen people milling around, and then getting angry. By having hourly roll calls, everyone stayed in the general vicinity of the arena, even if they were huddled in their cars, waiting for the rain and wind to stop. Compared with the terrible way the Palace in Detroit handled things (my last GA experience), the Wembley staff were most helpful and supportive, and they deserve much credit and thanks for their cooperation with us. They must have been unhappy with some of the scalper related incidents that had occurred when tix went on sale, had perhaps heard of some of the problems at other GA lines in Europe, and subsequently sent out security staff to help us keep the line in order. It probably also helped that there was a properly organised GA line, which was working and which the fans seemed to support. From my limited experience at running a GA line, I would say that communication with the venue, and polite but firm consistency with the fans are key elements to avoid problems. We heard that between 200 and 300 would be allowed into the pit altogether, and we stopped writing down people's names after just over 200. By then it was the mid afternoon, and those arriving just lined up in orderly British fashion. In the late afternoon, we could hear the band soundchecking several songs, most notably The River, American Skin and what might have been Downbound Train. It was probably some time in the later afternoon that some tickets were dropped from the box office, although I have no idea how many. There seemed to be a drop line, but it looked very short whenever I walked past it, as few as a dozen or so people. I think security finally let us in at about 6 pm or so, and gave us wristbands as we entered. They also frisked us at this point, which honestly made me feel quite reassured. With the world being what it is today, I imagine that an event like a Bruce Springsteen concert would make for a tempting terrorist target, and it unfortunately only takes one crazy person. Finally inside, I made it to the front, in between Bruce and Steve's mikes, feeling incredibly excited, as friends from the front of the line surrounded me. Unfortunately, there was a barricade between the front line and the stage, because apparently the front lip of the stage is on rollers, and after one of the first European shows, it had actually moved due to the pressure of the crowd. Safety is paramount, and I can fully understand why they erected the barricade, but a cameraman I spoke to said that when they go back to the US next week, the front row will be up against the actual stage again. (Perhaps a different stage is being used in Europe?) This same cameraman also noted that he had; "Just seen the setlist and can't believe it", so we were left to ponder what he meant by this. We had sat down to begin with, but after a few minutes everybody suddenly stood up and pushed forward, forcing us to do the same. This was annoying, as everybody could have sat down and rested a bit before the show. The arena filled up much faster than usual, perhaps because no one wanted to hang around outside in the dreadful weather. Some fans spotted Ringo Starr in the seats beside the stage. There was the usual array of international flags and request signs. I had made a Sandy sign, and there were several people around me with request signs for Racing in the Street. I also saw a big Glory Days sign. (Although none of these songs were to be played during the show, it is hard to imagine that anyone could have left the arena 3 hours later feeling in any way disappointed.) There were no seats behind the stage, but a large curtain of metal fencing and black material had been hung behind the stage. When I looked back, I could see the pit filling up with what must have been far more than 300 people. There were rumours that they were going to let in as many as 800 into the pit. I think at least four or five hundred made it in to the front area. The lights went out just after 8pm, the crowd roared and surged forward, as the band came out in ones and twos, Bruce and Clarence last. Bruce gave a quick greeting to London and kicked into The Rising. Based on reports from shows, I was looking forward to the band being much tighter than they had been in August, but I honestly couldn't really tell much difference from the first two songs. But when they kicked in to No Surrender I knew why I had waited out so long to get so close. It was one of those priceless Bruce moments you never forget, that magical moment when he unexpectedly plays a song you wished to hear live for years and years, but never actually dared assume you would. There would be more of these moments for me throughout the evening. After hearing the soundcheck, I had expected Downbound Train, figuring he was going to give No Surrender a rest after playing it in Stockholm. In fact from the setlist we looked at later, it seemed that no Surrender was an audible. No Surrender was probably the very first Bruce songs that ever meant something important to me, and when he sang it in front of me the words hit home like never before. I can honestly say that it was the best full band version I've heard, and Bruce sang it with all the intensity and power that he could muster. I was hoping for FOUTR next, as I hadn't seen it live since that last tour, but in all honesty, The Fuse is a much better song live, and was certainly much appreciated by one friend of mine, who brandished her "Bruce, my Fuse is Burning" sign with great gusto... (She was to get Bruce to autograph this after the show.) Next, Bruce clearly diverged from the printed setlist again, dedicating the next song to some fans he recognised in the audience. Max began drumming machinegun-like and the band strode confidently into the first real surprise of the evening; Jackson Cage. On the original setlist, Jackson Cage should have been in between Lonesome Day and the Fuse. The song originally slated for this slot was Darkness, which was not played at all. Jackson Cage sounded much like the album version, but had less sinew and more muscle, with Bruce playing the solo on his guitar, not harmonica. Jackson Cage and No Surrender are two of the older songs which actually seem to have some kind of thematic connection to the new material, and they work very well in the set. Bruce asked for some quiet, and aside from the "Bruce, I fookin' love ya" character of Brixton Nights fame, the crowd complied. I couldn't quite tell if Bruce was put off or not by this guy, he paused for a few seconds before quoting Jerry Lee Lewis; "Too much love drives a man insane..." Empty Sky and You're Missing sounded great as always, with everybody around me certainly, listening attentively and behaving appropriately. It is great to see Patti's vocals being used so well this time around. Then came the jubilant Waiting on a Sunny Day, which had Wembley singing along even louder it seemed, than New Jersey. This is a great live song, and should absolutely not be dropped from the set at all. As much as Suzie adds to the song, I found my eyes glued to Bruce as he moved to and fro courting crowds on both sides of the stage. With no audience behind the stage, Bruce ran up and down (and even skidded on his knees) along the front lip, while Clarence got his first real chance of the night to shine. I was expecting Promised Land, but the next song up was another old chestnut that I had previously only heard live through the magic of bootlegging. Does this Bus Stop at 82 Street came seemingly out of nowhere, completely unexpected and a lot of fun. It sounded just like the versions from the last tour, although I think Bruce sang one of the lines or verses twice by mistake. Clarence got a bit more of the spotlight towards the end of the song, which was nice. Worlds Apart and Badlands followed, sounding much as they always do, although Bruce did seem to outdo himself on the guitar during the end of Worlds Apart. I caught Patti looking over at him at one point with a surprised puzzled expression of; "What IS that guy doing?" Nils seemed to be playing more on this song as well, which was nice. I remember at the beginning of the tour he was being shamefully underused, but that has changed a lot by now. Next up was She's the One, one of my favourite songs of all time. The band is playing a very powerful straight ahead version of it this time around, with less emphasis on Bruce's guitaring, and more on just the whole band coalescing together into building a towering powerful wall of sound around that incessant infective Bo Diddley beat. Bruce and Clarence (with maracas) moved around at the front of the stage, and for a moment there I pretended that I was at one of those legendary shows back in '78. Another surprise followed, an unexpected jaunt through Night. This was another of those songs I have been dying to hear live for maybe 10 years, but never really expected to. The song sounded just like it does on all those bootlegs from the 70s, it is amazing how the band has aged so well over the years. I seem to remember that this song was not on the original setlist at all. It is great that this unique old song is getting played regularly again for the first time since the early Darkness tour. Mary's Place seems to be getting better all the time, and the band sounds great playing it; although being the perfectionist that he is, Bruce was heard soundchecking the ending of the song before the show. Some of the band introductions prompted surprised reactions from band members; Roy was referred to as having "merciless fingers", Steve was introduced as something along the lines of "the only guitar player who has no shame wearing his pyjamas in public" and when Clarence's turn came, Bruce roared out; "Finally London is ready for The Big Man!" to much applause. I had heard some rumblings about there being a new Nils solo at the beginning of Counting on a Miracle, and was very much looking forward to hear it, as I have always thought that the song needs more of a kick start in the beginning, especially considering the slot it is placed in the show. I don't know quite what I was expecting, but I was certainly surprised and blown away when Nils came forward with an acoustic guitar and started doing one of his unbelievable acoustic guitar solos, (much like the stuff on his excellent Acoustic Live album). This is a certain style of Nils's that I have always loved, but have only heard in his solo material, and it is great that he is finally showcasing it the Bruce fans of the world. His solo seemed quite rightly to wow the audience through musical skill alone, although I am not sure if it really works so well as an intro to the song. In my opinion, Counting on a Miracle is a terrific song, but needs to start off with a loud electric riff of some kind, and still desperately needs to be relocated to the beginning of the set. Next up, Bruce came forward with a twelve string acoustic, and as I suspected, started playing The River. The new version retains the basic melody of the original, but the twelve- string and the absence of the piano lends an ominous rumbling sound to the song. Suzie played in the background to great effect, while the famous harmonica intro part comes in at the end of the song instead of the beginning. It was a great version, and Bruce is sure to continue playing it at future shows. I was almost expecting American Skin after hearing it soundchecked, but when Bruce moved over to the piano, I knew something else was in store. I didn't quite know what, but I had certainly resigned myself to the understanding that it wouldn't be Incident on 57th Street, as that song had been played the night before. I was thoroughly and wonderfully wrong. When the fans around me recognised those first notes, everyone let out brief gasps and cheers of disbelief, before quieting down to experience what for many of us was a dream come true. Among the diehard fans, Incident has taken on a status as the most legendary of the old classic songs, and for most of us, the notion of ever hearing it live was just a dream. Bruce it seems has realised this - he introduced this song as a request - and over 7 shows in Europe has played it as many times as he did on the entire reunion tour. I am sure that this epic will reappear in the US and make a lot more fans very happy indeed. Incident sounded much better than I had expected too, based on the solo versions I have heard on bootlegs from last year's holiday shows, and Bruce has definitely been working on his piano skills lately. Incident was absolutely magic, but after that song the strain of having cued up all night finally caught up with me; and in all honesty my enjoyment of the remainder of the show was somewhat muted by the physical state I was in. It seemed that other fans at the front were flagging as well, a friend of mine who had been waiting even longer than I had, was looking very tired by now and the woman who had been the first to arrive in line, actually passed out during Into the Fire, and had to be taken away by security. If you choose to do the GA line overnight, do be aware of what you are in for, especially with winter coming on now. Check the weather reports, bring lots of warm clothes and don't let yourself be dehydrated before the show. I wasn't able to catch every detail of the last part of the show, partly because I was almost waiting for it to be over. Into the Fire remains an incredibly powerful song, drags down the end of the show when it closes the set. Some of the setlist sequencing problems with the show have yet to be ironed out, and the placing of Into the Fire and Counting on a Miracle remain two major stumbling blocks. I was looking forward to hearing the new version of Dancing in the Dark, but was a bit disappointed to be honest. The song is played at the same fast pace as the original, but the keyboard is gone. I was expecting a ragged grungy guitar sound, but it actually still sounds very slick and streamlined. In fact it almost sounded to me as if Bruce was rushing through the song. The result was a fast paced, churning performance. I think the solo electric 92 version remains the only version that actually does the song justice. Ramrod was as fun as ever, perhaps even funner than it had been before. Compared to the versions on the last tour, it is less bouncy but more chunky, with possibly even more goofy onstage antics. All in all, a lot of fun with Bruce keeping it going seemingly forever through several false endings and some fun interaction with Steve; Bruce: "What time is Steve? It's time to go home now" Crowd and Steve: "NO!" Bruce: "Oh yeah, it's time to go back to the hotel now, and watch pooorrrnographic movies" Crowd and Steve: "NO!" Bruce: "Well if it isn't time to go home, then Steve, tell me... WHAT TIME IS IT?" Steve; "Its... BOSS TIME!" It was one of those magical moments of sheer Bruceness. There are some great imitators out there, but no one else can play a crowd quite like this. The second encore was pretty standard fare, with Bruce introducing BUSA as a prayer for peace. The transition between that song and LoHaD remains a bit clumsy, but I guess there is a thematic message that Bruce wants to convey in some fashion... After LoHaD, the band made as if they were about to leave, and let the audience work a bit for the last song. I had been hoping and actually kind of expecting something out of the ordinary in the encores, this being the last show of the European tour, but when Bruce took out his harmonica and began Thunder Road, I was reminded of one woman I had spoken to the night before, who was seeing her first show after being a fan since the mid 80s. She had said she really wanted to hear Thunder Road, and I had advised her that it might well show up, but not til toward the end of the show. I saw her jumping up and down a few minutes later, her eyes shining, and knew that she had just had that magical moment that we all know and love - the kind of moment I had already had several times that night. Thunder Road works better to end the show than it did in the first encore, and for those fans who aren't spoiled by having heard it dozens of times already, it is still probably a highlight of the show. Perhaps this says something about just how tight the band was when they started the tour, but overall throughout the show, I didn't really notice the band being any tighter than I remembered them in Detroit. Rather, songs were extended with longer instrumental breaks and intros. It seemed the band is having (even) more fun onstage and combined with the unpredictable setlist, the result is a more enjoyable show. Songs like Night and Bus stop inject some extra zest into the set, even if they don't really fit in thematically. The show isn't perfect and there is still room for improvement pace wise and more surprise in the encores. But the band clearly enjoy playing the mix of new and old material and the audience eat it straight up. The newspaper reviews I have seen of the show have all been very positive. If the band were smoking back in August, they are red hot now. And by next summer, they will be on fire. After the show, I joined throng of shell shocked fans leaving the pit, and limped over to the merchandise booths. There is a 2003 calendar on sale now, and several new t shirts, including a "skinny top" for women. There was also a T shirt specifically for the mini tour of Europe with the flags of the 7 countries, a Stars and Stripes and a picture of Bruce in front of a globe. After picking up a calendar, I stumbled outside and after a short while, heard some frenzied shouting coming from close to where the green GA line had been. Bruce had come out and was signing autographs and shaking hands with a crowd of lucky fans. He stayed around for maybe 5 minutes and spoke to someone on one fan's cell phone, before heading off for a well deserved rest. I was very close to getting a handshake myself, but he left before he came to me, amid shouts of "Thank you Bruce!" and female mutters of "I want to have sex with that man!" The tour is well past it's warming up stage by now. The band are unbelievably tight, in great physical form and there is still potential for this tour to become as great as the best ones of the past. In an unstable and often daunting new age, Bruce is delivering the kind of show that everybody in the world deserves to see at least once. Europe is already looking forward to next year's shows. Thunder's rolling down these tracks. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 19:54:53 +0100 From: Roberto Sasso Subject: London review Here are some notes about the London show. The queues for the two entrances were handled very well, which is hardly surprising, since we were in England... I arrived at 9 in the morning, and got number 60 (red entrance), which allowed me to get to the first row (Clarence side). There were about 400 people in the pit, but there was room for at least 200 more. Bruce seemed happy to return to the Wembley Arena ("it's nice to be back in this old building") The show lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes (25 songs). My highlights: - - The Fuse: it was the first time I saw it live, and I enjoyed the slide solo by Niles (finally some space for him!). I also liked the "a cappella" ending by Soozie and Patti alone ("fuse is burning"). - - Jackson Cage, highly energetic - - You're Missing, really moving (I saw a tear on Clarence's cheek) - - Does This Bus Stop At 82 Street, full band version (wow!) - - Night was called by Bruce, at the end of She's The One - - during Mary's Place, Bruce introduced Steve as "the only man comfortable in any part of the world in his pyjamas". Roy was introduced as "ten fingers that have no mercy", then Bruce lifted Roy's hand and shook it. And Clarence was... "probably the next king of England". Bruce added a parody of the famous "I have seen the future of..." sentence, but I wasn't able to hear what he said. - - the new intro to Countin' On A Miracle, featuring a beautiful acoustic solo by Nils - - before The River, a fan shouted "We still fucking love you, Bruce!". Bruce replied: "Too much love drives the man insane - Jerry Lee Lewis" - - the acoustic version of The River was excellent, and Soozie added a perfectly fitting violin touch - - Incident on 57 Street! (Bruce seemed not very comfortable with playing the final part of the song, but of course he's not a piano virtuoso) - - before My City Of Ruins, Bruce thanked the English audience for their "long time support" - - Thunder Road was dedicated to the fans in the first row, that have been following Bruce all over Europe during these 2 weeks. But the important thing is that Bruce said "See ya in the spring"... Ciao! Roberto Sasso "Faith will be rewarded" ------------------------------ End of LuckyTown Digest V9 #102 ******************************* ********************************************************************* ** 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.