Originally published in Upstage Magazine
Bruce Springsteen
Rehearsal Show
Paramount Theater
by Ken Shane
In the aftermath of 9/11,
I imagine that Bruce Springsteen felt pretty much like the rest of us; shocked,
saddened, and afraid almost to the point of panic. In the wake of that terrible
tragedy, he recorded an album that he called “The Rising” but could have been
called “The Healing”, for that is the effect that the music had on a great many
people.
The opening song on “The
Rising” is called “Lonesome Day”. In that song, Bruce sings, over and over
again, “it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright”, as if to convince himself as
much as to convince us. It helped a lot of us get through the darkest days that
this country has ever known.
Last week, Bruce was back
in his adopted hometown to let us know that even if it’s not fully alright yet,
it is better. We are better. He performed two shows at the Paramount Theater.
He called them rehearsals. If they were indeed rehearsals, then surely they
were dress rehearsals. All the lines were learned, all the cues were in place,
all the lighting and stage sets were ready. It seems likely that the only thing
that will change now on his upcoming tour will be, to some extent, the song
selection for each show.
Bruce was relaxed and in
good humor as he laid out “the rules” before beginning. No cell phones, and no clapping along, as he described his sense of
rhythm when playing on his own is “tenuous at best”. I should add here that, to
my surprise, the
Having laid out the rules,
Bruce stood in a spotlight, armed with only his harmonica and a dispatcher’s mic, and launched into his opening song, barely
recognizable as “Reason to Believe”, and sounding more like something that was
recorded by Alan Lomax in the fields of Mississippi
in 1932. It was a completely unique and chilling opening to the show.
Taking a seat center
stage, and picking up a guitar, Bruce continued his set with the title track
from his new album, “Devils & Dust”. It’s a deceptively simple song, but
one with a powerful message about “what we do to survive”, and how we’ve
changed as a nation in the aftermath of September 11.
War is often based on
economic factors, though politicians will always deny that, and Bruce continued
to drive home the message with his next song, “Youngstown”, a song which deals
with the harsh economic realities of rust-belt Ohio, and contains the lines
“…we sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam, now we wonder what they were dyin’ for”.
The Rising’s
aforementioned “Lonesome Day” was up next. On the whole, the songs from “The
Rising” did not fare quite as well as the rest of the set. But it was important
that they be played because “Devils & Dust” has a lot in common, in terms
of feeling and lyrics, with “The Rising”. People will make the more obvious
comparison with Bruce’s other acoustic-based albums, “Nebraska”, and “The Ghost
of Tom Joad”, but they should dig a little deeper for
the real connection, which is with “The Rising” and “Tunnel of Love”.
Next came two songs from
the new album, the upbeat “Long Time Comin’”, sure to
be a fan favorite with its depiction of happy family life and the determination
of a parent to avoid mistakes of his parents, and the lovely “Silver Palomino”
in which Bruce mourns the loss of a neighbor who died too young by writing a
song for her children.
Bruce moved over to the
piano for what was to be one of the highlights for me. He introduced “For You”
as the best love song he’s every written, and it would be very hard to argue
the point. There were very few dry eyes in the house during this one, and mine
were not among them. He followed that with the rarely performed “Real World”
from the “
It was back to the guitar,
a heavily tremeloed electric this time, for the
surprise choice “Part Man, Part Monkey”, which was delightful. Then came “Maria’s Bed” from “Devils & Dust”, the stunning
“Highway Patrolman” from “
It was back to the piano
for my other favorite moment. Bruce dedicated “Racing in the Street” to
long-time supporter Miss Obie. He talked about seeing
a movie recently, the Peter Fonda directed “Two Lane Blacktop” that seemed to
reflect the story told in the song, and gave us some insight into how the song
was written, especially in regard to choosing to include a woman in the story
as opposed to just making it about two male friends. I will never be able to
write about “Racing in the Street” as an objective journalist. It is simply one
of my favorite songs ever.
The title track from “The
Rising” and the underappreciated “Further On Up the
Road” were played next. The former was probably the weakest song of the set,
though it’s all relative to the strength of all the other songs.
All of the rest of the
songs before the encore came from “Devils & Dust”. “Jesus Was An Only Son” was first up, and Bruce explained his
songwriting process while playing it. Then came the
tender “Leah”, the cinematic boxing tale of “The Hitter”, and finally the
exquisite “Matamoras Banks”, in which a man who has drowned trying to cross the
border into the
The three song encore
began with “Waiting On A Sunny Day”, in which Bruce
finally gave the crowd permission to let loose and sing along, but thankfully
didn’t allow it to go on too long. Bruce’s fans love “Bobby Jean”, because it’s
widely known to be a song that Bruce wrote for Steve Van Zandt. The acoustic
version presented here naturally lacked the grandeur of the original, and the
lyrics seemed somehow rushed in this setting. Finally, the audience was treated
to a drastically rearranged version of “The Promised Land”, in which Bruce not
only played his guitar, but used it as a percussion device.
This was a beautifully
produced show, with excellent sounds and lights throughout. Pre-recorded
strings were used very subtly on a few songs, and one song featured a
tambourine played offstage. Bruce’s comments about his rhythmic shortcomings
came to mind during that one, though the fault could lie with the tambourine
man.
Bruce Springsteen returned to
that’s
not to say that there aren’t urgent problems that need to be address. He told
us that war is not something to be entered into for the wrong reasons, that
this country needs a much better immigration policy, that relationships are
fraught with peril, that faith can be salvation, and that love, in the end, can
conquer all.