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Review:
Bruce Springsteen And The E-Street Band-Live In New York City
Written By Rick Ellis, April 8th, 2001
The truth is
that most people stop listening to new music after their college
years. The world is filled with people listening to classic rock,
Seventies soul, and cover bands cranking out flaccid versions of
"Jessie's Girl" and "Funky Cold Madina."
And that market
is a huge one. Bands and artists of the past reform, stage reunion
tours and release endless repackagings of past glories. And while
there's nothing wrong with that in theory, the reality is that for
most of those bands--their creativity is long behind them. The Eagles
reunion tour--overpriced and pointless. The Go-Go's/Bangles summer
extravaganza. Sorry...I think I'm busy that month.
It's tough to
remain relevant musically. To walk that line that allows you to
satisfy your old fans while still creating vital new works. To sing
that hit single yet another time after 20 years and still make it
sound fresh and worthwhile.
When the reunion
tour of Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band was first announced,
my first reaction was dread. Here is a group that played together
for more than decade, stringing together a long series of explosive
concerts. At a time when electronica and disco ruled the day, Bruce
and company played amazing three-hour plus ROCK concerts. Full tilt,
no prisoners, we're gonna play till we can't move barn burners.
And when I heard they were touring again after a long time away
from each other, I wondered....can they still do it? Are they too
old, too tired, too fat and happy?
The answer--as
it turns out--is that despite their age, and the time spent on solo
careers, the E-Street band is as vital as ever. And for exhibit
one, allow me to point you to the new HBO concert "Live In
New York City." a performance which seals their fate as the
best live band touring today.
The concert,
culled from two nights of shows at Madison Square Garden, explodes
from the beginning with a blistering three-song back-to-back shot
of "My
Heart Will Not Let You Down," "Prove
It All Night," and "Two
Hearts." The music is joyful and wild and carefree. You
barely see the audience in the beginning. No stock shots of the
audience having fun--you can tell that they are. Instead, the cameras
lock in on Bruce and the band. Sure, they've been on tour for months,
they're all pushing fifty or so. But they just don't care. They
blaze away as if their lives depended on the results, and maybe
in some karmic way, they do.
The set then
slows with a block of lesser known solo tunes like "Atlantic
City" and "Mansion
On The Hill," along with a version of "The
River" that is reworked to the point of literally being
a new tune entirely. It's a risky move, asking the audience to stop
and listen to the words, to the sad refrains of lost working man
tales that inhabit the best of Springsteen's solo efforts. But the
audience does listen, and moves along with the band as they pick
up the pace slowly with "Youngstown"
before unleashing the whirlwind percusive energy of "Murder,
Incorporated."
The next block
of tunes is a textbook example of how a real rock and roll band
operates. If you're exposure to rock still consists of alternative
one-hit wonders and the flaccid stylings of "Third Eye Blind,"
you may need to sit down for this part of the show.
"Badlands"
has the audience back on its feet, and "Out
On the Street," perhaps the finest frat rock tune in Springsteen's
arsenal sends the crowd and the band itself into a frenzy. Watching
Bruce, Little Steven, Clarence Clemons, Nils Lofrgren and Patti
Scialfa trading lines at the end of the song, you're reminded that
this is what music is supposed to be. Glorious, fun, gut-wrenching.
It's what's missing from today's goatee-toting weenie-bands. There's
a great moment in the middle where Springsteen jumps up on the piano,
cocks back his head, and then reaches down and literally wrings
out a couple of cups of sweat out of his shirt. He's panting and
perspiring so much he almost glistens. But then he hits the floor
and it begins again.
But what is
even more refreshing is that even the two new tunes included in
the concert are keepers.
It's tough to
follow a one/two punch of "Born
To Run" and "Tenth
Avenue Freezeout," but the new "Land
Of Hope And Dreams" manages the feat, as it combines a
Woody Guthrie sensibility with a rock-solid hook.
The concert
ends on an unexpectedly quiet note with "American
Skin (41 Shots)," a new tune that talks about the shooting
of an unarmed man by New York City police. It's as topical as any
rap tune, and controversial enough that it prompted protests by
local law enforcement officers. But in the end, what it shows is
that Springsteen is still capable of being honest, relevant and
meaningful to a new generation of listeners.
It's instructive
that the show skips his last two hit singles--"Secret Garden"
and "Philadelphia" -- as well as anything from the uberhit
album "Born In The USA." The challenge for both Springsteen
and the rest of the E-Street band is to convince the audience to
forget the hits, and concentrate on the music.
Because in the
end, what matters to Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street band is
the music. And in the end, that's what separates the great bands
from the ones inhabiting the "Behind The Music" timeslot
on VH1.
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