BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA, JANUARY 30, 2017

 

Disc One (60:33)

  1. New York City Serenade
  2. American Land
  3. The Ties That Bind
  4. No Surrender
  5. Land Of Hope And Dreams
  6. Trapped
  7. Spirit In The Night
  8. Glory Days
  9. Hungry Heart

Disc Two (58:28)

  1. Wrecking Ball
  2. Youngstown
  3. Something In The Night
  4. Darlington County
  5. Brown Eyed Girl
  6. Murder Incorporated
  7. Death To My Hometown
  8. Racing In The Street
  9. Because The Night

Disc Three (68:03)

  1. She’s The One
  2. The Rising
  3. Badlands
  4. Thunder Road
  5. If I Should Fall Behind
  6. Born To Run
  7. Dancing In The Dark
  8. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
  9. Shout
  10. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

Label : Live.BruceSpringsteen.net

Venue : Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide, Australia

Recording Date : January 30, 2017

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Concert Review (The Adelaide Review) : What a strange, emotional fortnight this must be for Bruce Springsteen. Barely ten days ago he was performing an intimate White House gig to farewell Obama staffers, and now he’s stuck halfway across the world observing the first steps of his homeland’s new era, and the queues of distressed refugees, travellers and permanent residents he’ll have to pass through when he flies home. How daunting it must be, to stand at the beginning of another long stretch as one of liberal America’s few indefatigable beacons throughout the next four to eight years in the wilderness. Every new record will now be evaluated as a call to arms or sober eulogy to the republic, just as he’s had to do basically every few terms for the last thirty years. What if the guy just wants to do a nice album of jazz standards, America? Springsteen seems solemnly aware of this duty, beginning the show with this statement, uttered just before launching into the jaunty 2012 B-side American Land: But you could be forgiven for almost forgetting America’s latest race-baiting, truth-blurring, bronzer-abusing predicament for the next three hours, seven minutes and thirty four seconds (uninterrupted!). It won’t shock you to read that Springsteen and his longtime E Street pals are exceedingly good at what they do. Sure, between all the top hats and bandanas these stalwarts might now resemble pirate extras from the set of Hook, but every song is taut, hot-blooded and strutted out as if by muscle memory. Even if each guitar-hoisting rock pose and silly facial expression exchanged by Springsteen and guitarist Steven Van Zandt represents just another night at the office, it’s done with a self-evident joy. bruce-springsteen-andreas-heuer-adelaide-review It’s a beautiful moment watching Springsteen stand arms wide, eyes shut as he basks in the crowd’s unprompted singalong of Hungry Heart’s opening verses. So too is watching him graciously crowd surf halfway across the arena during its chorus. Another light moment comes as a group of fans are invited onstage to sing Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl, having caught Bruce’s eye by dressing as the cast of 1950s American sitcom The Honeymooners, a show referenced in some mid-90s deep cut. He seemed to appreciate the sentiment, even if he had to explain the show to us uncultured Australians. Save for his threadbare, solo delivery of If I Should Fall Behind that brings the entire arena to a deathly hush, it is not a particularly nuanced show. But if you came to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre expecting to hear Nebraska in full or pick out the unique timbre of one of the three guitars being played at any given time, you’ve only yourself to blame. bruce-springsteen-andreas-heuer-adelaide-review Disregard the refrain of the classic Born In The U.S.A. cut that’s aired early in the set, this is a night that is absolutely about surrender. It’s a fist pumping, hand-waving, emphatically ass-shaking exercise in thunderous musical euphoria triggered by abundant saxophone solos, twinkling piano melodies and that gruff baritone voice you either conceived to or were conceived to. For goodness’ sake, Richie Sambora inexplicably appeared onstage to play the final few songs. No explanation given or needed, it’s just that kind of show. From the harmonica intro of Thunder Road to the sight of The Boss in a bedazzled cape, jokingly pretending to leave the stage prematurely as the E Street Band perform a rollicking cover of Isley Brothers standard Shout!, it’s about celebrating the good things, with maybe a hint of youthful regression. Certainly for Springsteen and much of his audience, Glory Days is a little more pertinent than when he first wrote it 30 odd years ago. bruce-springsteen-andreas-heuer-adelaide-review But maybe that’s just what we need to get us through the next couple of months until Trump is impeached, or self-implodes after being sledged by Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Twitter (choose your own equivalent scenario). Or even, heaven forbid, another eight years. Maybe all we need is a good night out with good people, some of whom may have voted for basically the same immigration policies here in Australia but many who probably didn’t. Give us plenty of soaring choruses, some amusingly decorated fan-made signs, an obscene variety of tour merch and an unfailingly likeable man in a vest singing songs we all seem to implicitly know by heart. Maybe that’s what will get us through, together. Okay, probably not. But it makes for a thumping great show anyway, and I bought the bloody t-shirt too.

Concert Review (Upside Adelaide) : Having bypassed Adelaide for most of his career, Bruce Springsteen has now played three concerts here inside three years. And while last night’s show at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre was an entirely different beast from the previous tour, it was every bit as awesome. This time around the ensemble is slightly smaller (no brass / woodwind section this tour and without Tom Morello) and, perhaps in keeping with the spirit of his recently released autobiography, the setlist mines down to the very early days of the back catalogue (hence opening with 1973 opus, ‘New York Serenade’). Of particular note though, Springsteen showed himself to be in a fierce, combative mindset for this Adelaide show, rallying against the injustices he can see unfolding as he watches his country from afar. You get the feeling the setlist for this gig was careful curated to express this distaste at Trump’s draconian immigration policies and to show solidarity with those protesting at US airports. The intent was laid out from Bruce’s first words to the audience to introduce second number, ‘American Land’, a song pointedly celebrating the rich multi-cultural fabric of American society. “Tonight we want to add our voices to the thousands of Americans who are protesting at airports around our country the Muslim ban and the detention of foreign nationals and refugees,” he rallied. “America is a nation of immigrants and we find this anti-democratic and fundamentally un-American.” The E Street Band then ripped into a succession of uncompromising numbers, each given renewed focus through this lens: ‘The Ties That Bind’, ‘No Surrender’ and ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’ (notably, the song Obama used to exit from his final speech). Springsteen underscored the point further, dedicating Jimmy Cliff cover, ‘Trapped’ to those suffering in detention, and although Bruce didn’t enter into any commentary of domestic politics, the local parallels are embarrassingly evident. There are, of course, many facets to the performer, and the party wasn’t far away. With ‘Glory Days’ and ‘Hungry Heart’ the crowd erupted singing along and the Boss ventured out into the arena, proving he still enjoys a crowd surf. In the most bizarre (and funniest) moment of the night, Springsteen picked out four members of the crowd dressed up as 1950s sit-com The Honeymooners and collaborated with them on an impromptu cover of ‘Brown Eyed Girl’. Bruce and the band were genuinely amused (and slightly bemused). In a show full of highlights, the main set wound up with some of the best material of the evening: ‘Because the Night’ (the song Bruce gave to Patti Smith), ‘The Rising’, ‘Badlands’ and the full band version of ‘Thunder Road’. It was another epic performance from Springsteen who never left the stage for the duration of the three and a quarter hour show, moving straight into a tender acoustic encore of ‘If I Should Fall Behind’ before the full E Street Band ripped into that colossal opening chord of ‘Born to Run’. Most of the crowd were up and dancing to ‘Dancing in the Dark’ with the mandatory selection of audience members who got to dance on stage with the band. The surprises kept coming with Bruce nonchalantly introducing Richie Sambora to accompany the band on ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze Out’ (dedicated to fallen E Street members Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici) and ‘Shout’. With the latter, Springsteen turned revivalist preacher of the gospel of rock’n’roll, complete with false endings and James Brown style theatrics. The night ended as it had begun, revisiting Bruce’s first record in a rambunctious version of ‘Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)’; it was the perfect closer. Throughout the evening, The E Street Band were in fine form: Steven Van Zandt colluding with Bruce in the showmanship, the dynamic Jake Clemons capably filling the considerable shoes of his uncle on the saxophone, Nils Lofgren contributing fantastic guitar solos and pianist Roy Bittan given some star moments across the show. Meanwhile, Max Weinberg and Garry Tallent were precise and reliable as ever holding down rhythm section, and the multi-talented Soozie Tyrell and Charles Giordano delivered even further variation to the ensemble’s immense sound. The night was everything a rock’n’roll show should be from a master performer. We had the privilege of witnessing two sides of Springsteen: the political activist railing against injustice and the master of ceremonies who brings the party; and absolutely every moment counted. We are fortunate that Adelaide now seems to have found its way onto the regular E Street touring schedule. Let’s hope we stay there!