BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : SCOTTRADE CENTER, ST. LOUIS 8/23/08

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : SCOTTRADE CENTER, ST. LOUIS 8/23/08

Disc One (72:38)

Then She Kissed Me
Radio Nowhere
Out In The Street
Adam Raised A Cain
Spirit In The Night
Rendezvous
For You
Mountain Of Love
Backstreets
Gypsy Biker
Because The Night
She's The One

Disc Two (67:54)

Livin' In The Future
Cover Me
Mary's Place
Drive All Night
The Rising
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands
Girls In Their Summer Clothes

Disc Three (55:01)

Jungleland
Detroit Medley
Born To Run
Dancing In The Dark
American Land
Thunder Road
Little Queenie
Twist And Shout

Label : Nugs.net

Venue : Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Recording Date : August 23, 2008

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Review (Wikipedia) : Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO, 8/23/08 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, released on April 14, 2017. It is the twelfth official release through the Bruce Springsteen Archives. The show was originally recorded live at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MO on August 23, 2008, during the Magic Tour. On the 2007-08 Magic tour, fans began bringing song-request signs. Bruce seemed to revel in the challenge, while the suggestions also appeared to inspire him to resurrect songs he hadn’t played in decades. There’s no finer show to capture this fan-artist dynamic than this outstanding performance in St. Louis on 8/23/2008 including The Crystals’ "Then She Kissed Me" and Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie".

Review (Kieran's Thoughs) : While I’ve briefly talked about the positives and negatives of this show and others released in my guide to Springsteen’s Archive Series, there’s still much to this night in St Louis that’s gone unsaid and is worth talking about. Frequently stated to be one of the best shows of Springsteen and The E Street Band’s post-Reunion period, for me there seems to be a real sense of “you had to be there” about this one when listening to the Archive release. The story of this show sees Springsteen and The E Street Band being challenged by the audience as, alongside a variety of classic hits and tracks from the Magic album, they’re challenged by a series of sign requests that include rarities and covers of songs last performed in the seventies. With the passing of Danny Federici still being felt by everyone on stage, it’s no surprise that there’s something of a return to the early days of E Street, and the bittersweet nostalgia is immediately brought to the forefront with the opening song being a cover of The Crystals’ “Then She Kissed Me”, which hadn’t been outed since August 1975. This is an enjoyable listen despite the exception of Bruce’s vocals being more so overshadowed by The E Street Band’s playing, which is also an issue during an “Out in the Street” that is otherwise a good performance, thanks to the harmonies of Little Steven and Clarence Clemons. In regards to Bruce’s vocals being overshadowed, this isn’t the case during “Radio Nowhere”, as there’s a perfect balance between the singing and fantastic playing, with the guitar playing of Nils Lofgren in particular being a standout. It’s more of the same in “Adam Raised a Cain”, which is kickstarted by an immense riff from Springsteen, who also excels in an amazing ‘solo’ alongside Lofgren and Van Zandt. It’s an opening that definitely immerses the listener into the show, however the audio issues that come with it do hinder it slightly. “Spirit in the Night” is played with its usual “can you feel the spirit?” preaching from Bruce at the start and is a fine, albeit unspectacular, version of the song. It’s helped by the simple organ intro and Bruce’s scream during the opening, which gives this song about sheer insanity an extra tint of madness. “Spirit’s” then followed by my least favourite part of the show, the two-minute drumbeat from Max with Bruce shouting “YEAH!” multiple times as he collects signs from the crowd. I’m fully aware that Bruce collecting signs is be a significant part of any show – in particular this one – and I don’t have an issue with that. However, this is unnecessary and while I don’t advocate these shows being edited, there could’ve been a change made here. This takes up the first couple of minutes of “Rendezvous” and the problem is that it’s a good performance ruined by the two-minute intro. It’s a case of either fast-forwarding or completely skipping this one. “We’re going to play this one, then we’re gonna challenge the band!” The retrospective E Street theme continues with a damn good full band version of “For You” following that above statement from Bruce. Everything sounds excellent in this, including Bruce’s vocals when he sings the “when it was my turn to be the God” line, which is the make or break part of the song for me. Additionally, this version has a lot of nice little instrumentals from Charlie, Clarence and Max in the background that contribute towards this being one of the show’s best performances. The same can be said about “Mountain of Love”, though I prefer Bruce’s vocals in the 70s versions of this song a lot more. I like his pre-song comments about fans “getting sassy” since they started taking sign requests and how “the elephant never forgets”, and ultimately they prove the latter to be true in the first outing of this cover since New Year’s Eve 1975 (unless you want to count Clarence Clemons’ 37th birthday party in 1979) as it’s a flawless band performance with The Professor’s piano playing and Little Steven’s harmonies being remarkable. An immense, Danny Federici inspired, “Backstreets” brings this 70s six-pack to an end in a fitting manner, and it’s apt that Charlie Giordano’s organ playing is prominent above all else sounding truly great. Of course, Roy’s keys, Steve’s guitar riffs and Max’s drumming add a lot, but Charlie’s efforts are the most impressive here. “Gypsy Biker” brings us back to Magic, and unfortunately this one is unbalanced with ups and downs, with the positives being that it’s one hell of a motivated, guitar driven performance, however the few moments where the sound is distorted when Bruce is singing and playing harmonica are a shame. There’s also always been a consensus regarding “Because the Night” that Nils’ guitar solo isn’t the primary focus, and while I’ve long agreed it would be nice to hear a version where we don’t have to listen out in order to hear Nils’ playing, I love how these shows and this version is mixed to where we can hear all members of The E Street Band contributing something. As a result both Max and Garry can be given praise for their part in this particular performance of the song. “She’s the One” has a nice interpolation of “Not Fade Away” in the opening minute, but is otherwise your regular solid rendition of the song, though there is some lovely slide guitar towards the end from Bruce before he starts the harmonica outro. “Livin’ in the Future” gives Bruce a chance to talk to the audience and mention the political context of the song, but that doesn’t stop this from falling flat. I like the studio version and it was nice to hear this live version of the song when this show was released in April 2017, but now I can’t help but feel this song doesn’t translate well to a concert setting. Similarly to “She’s the One”, this show’s “Cover Me” is your run of the mill performance with stellar guitar playing being the only thing of note about it. A fifteen “Mary’s Place” follows and this one starts amazingly with sublime singing from Bruce with his “Are you ready?” cries, but unfortunately he wears himself out around four minutes in and he’s exhausted for the remaining eleven. He’s still worn out during “Drive All Night”, but in a way this seems to benefit the song in how it adds to the lyrics. Bruce is exhausted, but he’ll still do what he’s saying for the love of the women he’s singing about. I also love the way he changes the way he sings, “I swear, I’ll drive all night” (it’s a minor Archive Series special moment) and this one has excellent work from the rest of The E Street Band, as Nils, Little Steven, Charlie, Roy, Garry and Clarence excel in their respective roles. This version of “The Rising” is without the urgency of the one from Boston just under a year prior and is, much like “She’s the One” and “Cover Me”, nothing otherworldly. Regardless, if you want good drumming and guitar playing, this is what you’re looking for. I mentioned urgency there, and if that’s what you’re wanting, “Last to Die” has that and more. This and “Long Walk Home” are fantastic examples of The E Street Band playing live courtesy of the vocals of Bruce and Little Steven, guitar of Nils, drumming, sax and the crowd participation. These two songs and “Radio Nowhere” are the strongest of the Magic content on the night. At seven minutes long, “Badlands” is one of those that falls victim to that “you had to be there” feeling. It’s most certainly a rousing version (there aren’t too man that aren’t) but the false finish and extended outro isn’t the easy listen that the ’99 and ’00 versions are. I’ve always thought with this one that if we could see what’s happening onstage this – and the show more so – would be that extra touch more enjoyable. The same can’t be said for the “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” that starts the encore, but this one also has a few issues. A good singing performance from Bruce and nice violin work from Soozie are overshadowed by the mixing being poor for the audience’s participation and Clarence’s solo being subpar to where Bruce has to “sha la la” over the top of it. This is definitely listenable and enjoyable, but it could be better. Thankfully, the “Jungleland” that comes after it doesn’t breed those same criticisms, as Clarence’s solo is far from subpar and is the icing on top of a splendid band performance that includes an awesome gritty vocal from Bruce when he sings the “between what’s flesh and what’s fantasy” line. This is a very good version. The encore continues with a five minute version of “Detroit Medley”. I’ve grown really fond of “The Medley” over the last year or so and consider it Bruce’s defining cover, however my problem with this performance – for all of it’s enthusiasm – is that if the song isn’t going nine minutes+, is it really worth it? I’m certain this being played was a big factor towards building this show’s reverence over the last decade, but when you compare it against the versions from Passaic ’78, No Nukes ’79 and Tempe ’80 that have been released, it feels like a song being played quickly on name value alone that would be much more enjoyable to relive if you were in attendance on the night. A great performance of “Born to Run” is followed by an organ driven “Dancing in the Dark” that’s perfect, before it’s made almost unlistenable by Clarence’s little additions to his solo that he simply didn’t need to attempt during his declining years. His solo’s even going well until he starts trying to do that little bit more and the song suffers for it. “American Land” ends the encore to send the audience home on a lively note, but then Bruce sees the audience want more and dedicates “Thunder Road” to Michael Phelps for his incredible achievements in that year’s Olympics and it’s an easygoing performance with nothing spectacular to it, though it does feature that stunning little guitar riff before and after, “so Mary climb in“, which I’ll always give credit to Little Steven for. Bruce sings well, Clarence’s outro solo is fine and the backing harmonies and instrumentals are spot on. The second encore ends with a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Little Queenie”, which Bruce and The Band ace with exceptional guitar playing. It’s rare in the modern era that E Street shows get two encores, let alone a third which is what St Louis get treated to in the form of “Twist and Shout”, dedicated to Miss Sophie – who he references a couple of times throughout the show – a woman who cooked Bruce dinner during the 80s after her children met him in a cinema and brought him back to their house to meet their mother. It’s a joyful end to a long show for the Magic Tour. So, highly acclaimed as one of the greatest shows of the Reunion era, St Louis 2008 is definitely notable and a worthy Archive Series release. It may have its flaws such as the “Rendezvous” problem and it’s not a perfect E Street Band performance due to Clarence’s decline on the sax. However, Clarence’s excellent solo during “Jungleland” and the quality of performances such as “Long Walk Home”, “For You” and “Adam Raised a Cain”, as well as the depth of covers from “Then She Kissed Me” to “Mountain of Love” to “Little Queenie” make this an enjoyable and unique listen. Mind, I still feel that the audio fails to live up to that acclaim from fans who were in attendance on the night or those who were in awe while the tour was going on. Ultimately I think it’s a case of them seeing what was happening onstage whereas us audio listeners can’t, and – with the exception of a few – the amount of live releases we have today featuring these rarities negates just how special they were on the night. It’s a good show and I’m very happy to have heard it, but it wasn’t the one that convinced me just how good the Magic Tour was.