BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : OMAHA 2012

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : OMAHA NOVEMBER 15, 2012

Disc One (68:35)

Reason To Believe
Johnny 99
Atlantic City
Hungry Heart
We Take Care Of Our Own
Wrecking Ball
Death To My Hometown
My City Of Ruins
Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?

Disc Two (59:10)

Sherry Darling
Lost In The Flood
State Trooper
Trapped
Open All Night
Shackled And Drawn
Waitin' On A Sunny Day
Raise Your Hand
Highway Patrolman

Disc Three (58:42)

Backstreets
Badlands
Land Of Hope And Dreams / People Get Ready
Thunder Road
Born To Run
Dancing In The Dark
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

Label : Nugs.net

Venue : CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Recording Date : November 15, 2012

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Concert Review (Nugs.net) : When Bruce Springsteen released his risk-taking acoustic masterpiece Nebraska in 1982, it sparked questions about its future in live performance. Would he tour the record solo? How would he perform its songs with the E Street Band? The first answers came on the Born in the U.S.A. tour, when Springsteen featured a rotating handful of Nebraska songs each night, most gathered in a mini suite during the first half of the show. All ten tracks from the album eventually made their way to the set in band readings ranging from gently augmented (“My Father’s House,” “Used Cars”) to fully electrified (“Atlantic City”). Springsteen would go on to play true solo versions of Nebraska material in concert, first at a pair of revelatory 1990 benefit shows in Los Angeles for the Christic Institute (available as part of the Live Archive series), and on both the Ghost of Tom Joad and Devils & Dust tours. The album remains his body of work most covered by other artists. As the subject of a forthcoming major motion picture centered around its creative origin story, the long-standing and deserved appreciation for Nebraska should only intensify. Springsteen’s own arrangements of Nebraska songs have evolved in both band and solo incarnations. On the Reunion tour, led by Nils Lofgren’s pedal-steel guitar and Danny Federici’s accordion, “Mansion on the Hill” became a Nashville ballad. In 2005, Springsteen unleashed bullet-mic, blues sides of “Reason to Believe” and “Johnny 99.” Unexpectedly but appropriately, Springsteen’s deepest dive back into Nebraska came at a late 2012 stop on the Wrecking Ball tour. Rolling into Omaha for only their fifth show ever in the Cornhusker State, he placed six songs from the album in the set, the most in an E Street Band show since the ’80s. This one-off Nebraska showcase makes Omaha, November 15, 2012, a distinct performance and presents the opportunity to revisit how this seminal work has developed on the concert stage. Walking out to a fitting recording of Jimmy Reed’s “Big Boss Man,” Springsteen welcomes the CenturyLink Center faithful with a trio of Nebraska tunes, each radically different from the original master recordings. Attention is immediately captured as he sings and blows harmonica into a bullet microphone to launch “Reason to Believe.” This rocking band rendition first appeared on the Magic tour in 2007, an arrangement derived from the solo takes Bruce had done on the Devils & Dust tour. The recharged “Reason to Believe” owes a small debt to Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited,” while Stevie Van Zandt’s guitar line is straight out of ZZ Top’s “La Grange.” Springsteen joyously surfs the bluesy vibe, chewing on lines like “that dog get up and run, ruun, ruun, ruuun.” As the horn section kicks in, Charlie Girodano sweeps his organ keys and Lofgren takes his own counterpoint solo to Van Zandt’s primary lick. Barely a second passes before “Reason to Believe” yields to “Johnny 99” in a rollicking run powered by Max Weinberg’s drums, Roy Bittan’s honky-tonk piano and Van Zandt’s sympathetic backing vocals. The underlying rock arrangement of the song dates back as far as The Rising tour, though with the addition of the horns and percussion, the Wrecking Ball edition of “Johnny 99” proved even bouncier and brasher. More cowbell! Omaha’s Nebraska triple shot wraps with what remains the greatest band interpretation of any of its songs: “Atlantic City.” The electric arrangement debuted to slacked jaws on opening night of the Born in the U.S.A. tour in St. Paul, Minnesota, back in June 1984. With its heavy beat, portentous chord strumming, and thrilling dynamics between verse and chorus, it has captivated audiences ever since. Moreover, “Atlantic City” is that vital recurring number in Springsteen’s set that always seems to play for keeps. This night is no exception, with an extra-long crescendo before the last verse kicks in, sparked by Van Zandt’s mandolin picking and collective vocals that carry the chorus refrain through the song’s conclusion. As the least played song from Nebraska, an appearance by “State Trooper” is special and a touch foreboding. For this take, Springsteen offers a hushed, moody vocal until he hits verse three and the dream state of those “wee wee hours,” where “your mind gets hazy.” Opting for his Gretsch electric guitar, he takes full advantage of its whammy bar to bend notes and twist chords, all of which combine for a seductively disconcerting solo performance. Omaha stands as the last version of “State Trooper” played to date. Band and horns are back for “Open All Night” in a swinging arrangement that became a stalwart on the 2006 Seeger Sessions tour and popped up again in Omaha and a handful of other shows in 2012. Springsteen clearly enjoys this version, resurrecting it in stonking fashion to start an outstanding show at The Forum in Inglewood, California, in April 2024. The last Nebraska song featured in Omaha is arguably the most intriguing: the first full-band “Highway Patrolman” since 1985. It drafts on the Born in the U.S.A. tour arrangement but distinguishes itself, with Soozie Tyrell on violin, Girodano on accordion, Lofgren on pedal steel and Van Zandt adding backing vocals to a song he has never performed on stage before. Springsteen leads the way on acoustic guitar, picking the familiar melody but with a repeated low-string bass note that subtly changes the song’s tone, drifting towards “One Step Up” territory. It’s fascinating to hear how “Highway Patrolman” matured over three decades. Like “State Trooper,” it has yet to be performed again. The other 20 tracks performed in Omaha more than hold their own. The five core songs from Wrecking Ball (“We Take Care of Our Own,” “Wrecking Ball,” “Death to My Hometown,” “Shackled and Drawn” and “Land of Hope and Dreams”) are played with spirit and vigor. There are truly fine takes of “Lost in the Flood,” “Trapped” (boasting strong saxophone work from Jake Clemons), and “Raise Your Hand” by sign request, and the first “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” of the season, a tour premiere. (The prior show, in St. Paul, another pick in the Live Archive series, featured its own remarkable premieres, “Stolen Car” and a full-band “Devils & Dust.”) But this Omaha night belonged to Nebraska: revisited, reimagined, and forever revered.

Review (Kieran's Thoughts) : In January 2021, I had the great fortune of working alongside the editors of Backstreets Magazine, having been asked to review that month’s Live Archive Series selection: St. Paul, November, 12th, 2012. A show of great excitement, the second night in the Twin Cities is one that also stayed true to the pureness of the Wrecking Ball World Tour, nicely highlighting the core themes in contrast to the “grab bag” shows of 2013 where fans had great opportunities to catch their rare favourites. At the end of that review I mentioned how “equally fun” shows in Omaha, Kansas City and Denver helped round the second North American leg out, and thankfully we can now enjoy one of them alongside St. Paul, with Omaha from just three nights later serving as the newest addition in the Archive Series. This night in Omaha follows on nicely from St. Paul, as it continued to blend the touring tribute to Clarence Clemons with the ongoing tilt into absolute spontaneity. In St. Paul it was the extremely rare performances of “Stolen Car” and “Devils & Dust” that stood out most, and in Omaha there’s more of the same, as several songs that many fans hardly expected to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play live again featured. The first hint of what fans could expect from this night in the CenturyLink Center is in the location. Being in Nebraska, fans couldn’t be blamed for anticipating one, if not two songs from the 1982 LP. And given that this was Nebraska, it would have been to rude to start with anything other than a song from Bruce’s first solo record. So, once again the core Wrecking Ball touring anthems were kept on hold in favour of something special to set the tone for the night ahead. It just so happened that one Nebraska song wasn’t enough for Bruce, and those fans praying on one or two album tracks were immediately treated to a trifecta. For many years now, and surely many to come, a wide selection of fans have talked ad nauseam about Electric Nebraska; what Bruce and the E Street Band worked through before the decision was made to release Nebraska as we know it. Until, or if, those supposed recordings see the light of day, the start of Omaha 2012 may be our best example of sequenced Nebraska songs played electrically. It’s the album closer that got this night underway, with “Reason to Believe” following on nicely from February’s Vancouver 2005 and its bullet mic performance on that show. Here he employed a similar vocal, one of nonchalance and venom – “down by the riverside,” “weeping willow tree” and in particular, “run, run, ruunnnnn!” – while the E Street Band show what was missing in 2005 and what made this song such a stand out in 2007-08 on the Magic Tour, playing a barnstorming, bluesy arrangement. That bridge prior to the fifth verse is, well, magic! A total tour de force of drums, guitar and harmonica. A pummelling “Johnny 99” followed, akin to an Irish wake in tribute to a cult hero, highlighted by several rowdy false finishes before swiftly segueing into “Atlantic City.” The third song of this opening trio has long been played in this arrangement with the E Street Band, but that didn’t make this performance any less special, and Omaha certainly savoured every spellbinding second – the last verse into the finale no doubt most of all. After the timely opening trio – not forgetting a bouncing “Hungry Heart” to well and truly warm all in the house up – the tour’s core opening four-pack shifted focus to the tour’s primary themes of strength and resilience in the face of loss and adversity. A deeply intense “We Take Care of Our Own” powered the sequence into motion with horns and “Hey!” galore, and alongside “Death to My Hometown” minutes later Omaha were served an effective socio-political statement. To complement these themes were “Wrecking Ball” and the naturally lengthy “My City of Ruins” that spoke for changing times, where we were, and – most importantly – who was and wasn’t with us. As was the case in St. Paul and other tour shows represented in the Archive Series, the Rising LP closer saw Bruce put those values of taking care of his own into practice, comforting his audience and bandmates – never mind himself – by addressing the loss of Clarence, and Dan Federici, too. This led to another snippet of Sam Cooke’s “Sad Mood” with equally lovely and gutting repetition – “oh yeah, it’s alright” and “sometimes I feel so lonely, sometimes I feel so blue” – as well as that seismic declaration of “the change was made uptown now…”. Clarence’s loss was so big that the pain of it couldn’t be hid, so the best course of action was to pay poignant tribute. Together. It was common for an early seventies track to follow “Ruins” on this tour, and that’s no different on this night as “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?” was next, preceded by more Asbury Park talk after some context during the previous song, anchored by sheer buoyancy – “drink THIS and you’ll grow wings on your feet!” – and capped off by a duel between Max Weinberg and Everett Bradley, preluding the tour de force fans would later feel Max and Anthony Almonte hit us with during “The E Street Shuffle” on the 2023-24 tours. The pomp persisted with “Sherry Darling,” led by Bruce and Little Steven Van Zandt’s animated antics – “Now SHERRY! My love for you is reeeaaalll… tell her this car just ain’t big enough!” – but the tone shifted upon the end of the River rouser. Not to worry, though, the sheer variety of songs still had all grinning from ear to ear. A cynical “Lost in the Flood” is a stark departure from the party noises of the previous song, but in a rare instance, this thundering performance isn’t the bleakest song of the sequence, never mind the night as a whole. The Greetings track was followed by another Nebraska gem, “State Trooper,” and unlike the three played beforehand, it hasn’t been played since. Archive Series listeners are familiar with this one, as it was a stand out last time on Vancouver 2005, and Omaha seven years later again saw Bruce take a solo approach. Utilising an electric Gretsch over the acoustic guitar while employing a firmer vocal over the falsetto, he nonetheless managed to send shivers down his audience’s spine. Don’t worry, you’ll feel them too as soon as you hear that crazed “IN THE WEE WEE HOURS!”, and with his vocal nicely complemented by the intimate acoustics of the CenturyLink Center, those shivers are unlikely to ease up anytime soon. My favourite track from Nebraska, it can be said the mystique of “State Trooper” is helped by its rareness in a live setting – its twenty outings in 2005 is the most it ever got, surpassing just eleven on the Born in the U.S.A. World Tour – so it’s always special to see it unleashed, knowing that Bruce has called on it for a special occasion. Heightening the moment, Bruce perfectly paired his tribute to Suicide’s “Frankie Teardrop” with one of his most uplifting covers, Jimmy Cliff’s “Trapped,” allowing us to ponder if there’s a right turn for our driver in the future, one where he overcomes his mental anguish. Cliff’s cover serves a similar purpose on a previous Live Archive Series release, too, following “Nebraska” in the Meadowlands, August 6th, 1984. The penultimate Nebraska selection of the night is next, as “Open All Night” in its Seeger Sessions arrangement shifts the tempo in rapturous fashion. Containing several similar lyrics to “State Trooper,” it makes for an immense contrast with the E Street Band back onstage. That being said, Bruce likewise conveys a man descending into madness here, very fittingly in the third verse from “in the wee wee hours” onwards. Another lyrical similarity that Bruce actually refrained from singing in “State Trooper” soon follows, and “hey ho rock ’n’ roll, deliver me from nowhere!” is apropos on this night. Serving as the final lyric of both tone-shifting tracks, it’s no surprise why Warren Zanes opted for it as the title to his brilliant book on the making of Nebraska, and why it was retained for the upcoming Bruce biopic set to hit cinema screens later this year. Tour staple “Shackled and Drawn” restores some sociopolitical focus next, bringing Cindy Mizelle to the fore for a shining contribution, and its typical tour follow-up, “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” is also much fun afterward, albeit with a less than shining effort from the night’s hearty volunteer. The high tempo sequence ended solidly as Bruce opted for “Raise Your Hand,” removing the question mark pencilled in beside it on the written setlist to give Omaha a spirited anthem of pure certainty. Then, very arguably the highlight of the show. Another rare Nebraska track and one that rather appropriately calls on us to ponder the difficulty of making certain choices, “Highway Patrolman.” In its first performance with the E Street Band since September 1985, those onstage (plus those absent from the Born in the U.S.A. World Tour, Little Steven especially) pick up where they left off in Oakland with a most delicate performance. It’s apt on this tour as the music is almost identical, but the personnel is different, and those who remain are older – Bruce’s voice breaking as he sang “kid on the floor lookin’ bad” speaks for that – quite simply trying to do the right thing in their line of work. Upon hearing this in comparison to the previous four album tracks, it’s interesting to think about its place in that mythologised Electric Nebraska. Maybe its arrangement confirms it to have always been a myth, but regardless, this ensures that the album’s heart is present in the music, no matter the arrangement. The power of the “Highway Patrolman” performance and its final line, “man turns his back on his family, he just ain’t no good” was then magnified – especially in recent times – by the opening bars of “Backstreets.” An unsung anthem of brotherhood into the anthem in Springsteen’s songbook made for a most special moment in Omaha and alongside the combination of “State Trooper” into “Trapped” earlier, it shows just how on fire Bruce was making setlists in the year 2012. “Backstreets” also allowed another strong example of Springsteen and the E Street Band’s performance on this night, of course, sung with such conviction and played with sheer triumph by the pairing of Roy Bittan and Charlie Giordano primarily. A sentimental “Me and you, baby… to the end…” interlude brings a quieter emotion to the song, serving as one more moment to remember in Nebraska. The night was far from over, too! “Badlands” helped ensure a thundering finale to the main set, much to the CenturyLink Center audience and one ten-year old with a sign’s (per a “My City of Ruins” promise) delight. A touch of vocal fatigue was noticeable from Bruce to further show the strength of “Backstreets,” but it wasn’t entirely detrimental to the Darkness track’s intensity with him strongly supported by ardent efforts from Little Steven and Jake Clemons. Thankfully, that vocal wear could hardly be heard in the songs that saw the show out, starting with a resounding “Land of Hope and Dreams,” which featured more highly passionate efforts – from Bruce’s “for this part of the ride!” to Jake’s sax to the backing of the E Street Choir – to bridge all into the home stretch. The encore was short, sweet, and quite simply down to business. “Thunder Road,” “Born to Run” and “Dancing in the Dark” overjoyed Omaha as arguably the essential trio in Bruce’s catalogue, and a first “Santa Claus in Comin’ To Town” of the tour raised festive spirits before “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” closed out the show. The last several years of touring has seen variations of rockers: “Shout,” “American Land,” “Twist and Shout”; and acoustic readings: “Thunder Road,” “This Hard Land” and most recently “I’ll See You in My Dreams” bring E Street shows to an end, and if you’ve grown accustomed to that then this “Tenth” may feel like Bruce and the Band left something on the table on this night in Omaha. Rather, the traditional closer of the Wrecking Ball World Tour allows all fans in the year 2025 to appreciate what and who these men and women onstage were touring for. Bruce had already mournfully recited “the change was made uptown…” during “My City of Ruins,” and with it bringing the music to a halt here as the video tribute for Clarence played onscreen, November 15th, 2012 in Omaha concluded with the important part on everybody’s mind. Just the way Bruce intended.