BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN : SYDNEY 1997

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN : SYDNEY 1997

Disc One (59:30)

Tom Joad
Atlantic City
Straight Time
Highway 29
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Murder Incorporated
Highway Patrolman
Freehold
Red Headed Woman
Two Hearts
Brothers Under The Bridge

Disc Two (73:38)

Born In The U.S.A.
Dry Lightning
Long Time Comin'
Sinaloa Cowboys
The Line
The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Across The Border
Working On The Highway
No Surrender
There Will Never Be Any Other For Me But You
If I Should Fall Behind
The Promised Land

Label : Nugs.net

Venue : Capitol Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Recording Date : February 12, 1997

Quality : Soundboard recording (A+)

Review : Twelve years after the arena bombast of the Born In The U.S.A. tour, Springsteen returned to Australia a changed performer, alone on stage with only an acoustic guitar and a harmonica rack, for the closing night of a five-show run at Sydney's Capitol Theatre. Fittingly, the show opens with Woody Guthrie's Tom Joad rather than Springsteen's own Ghost Of Tom Joad, which doesn't arrive until deep into the second set, turning the evening into a dialogue between source and descendant. In between, the set leans heavily on the Joad album's cast of drifters and migrants, while older favourites are stripped down and recast, with Born In The U.S.A. losing its stadium roar entirely for a slide-guitar blues lament. Springsteen was famous on this tour for demanding silence from the crowd, and in exchange gave audiences long, candid between-song stories, and Sydney's first taste of him solo brings out some of the tour's loosest and most confessional talking. A quieter, more demanding listen than the E Street shows, but one of the most fully-realized nights of the Joad era.

Review (Kieran's Thoughts) : Bruce Springsteen’s fight for justice is unrelenting. That has been made very clear recently with new protest song, “Streets of Minneapolis” and a special guest appearance during Tom Morello’s ‘Concert of Solidarity and Resistance to DEFEND MINNESOTA!’ that brought “Streets’” live debut in addition to a barraging “Ghost of Tom Joad” duet. In its return following a month-long break (or two months if you found the Upper Darby 1975 remix comparable socks and deodorant rather than the gift you had your mind set on) the Live Archive Series has complemented Bruce’s recent activity by spotlighting a tour centred around fighting for the oppressed. Transporting us back twenty-nine years ago – almost to the day – The Ghost of Tom Joad Tour’s eighth instalment in the Series places us in Sydney (a first instalment from the land of Oz) for Springsteen’s final night of five inside the Capitol Theatre on his first return since 1985. It had undoubtedly been a different experience for fans whose last taste of the man had been on the triumphant second year of Born in the U.S.A. – per Brucebase, the final Sydney show from March 1985 is regarded by several fans as one of the 1984-1985 World Tour’s best, making for an even greater contrast – but with this new recording we’re well assured of the familiarity and understanding Sydney have with the show and Bruce’s new performing protocol. He didn’t even give his “Shut the f*ck up!” PSA after the opener here! Rather, he told Sydney to have fun beforehand for an instant example of how he’d loosened up in the third year of touring. The night’s opener, Woody Guthrie’s “Tom Joad,” was one I am much more familiar with now than its previous (debut) appearance on a Joad Archive release, Akron 1996. I have replayed that September 25th performance a lot since early 2024 and was immediately thrilled to hear another take on it on viewing the show’s set. On listening, I was taken aback by how much this contrasted that reading from Akron, with Bruce taking the opposite route in his approach. There was a lack of vigour, and more gravity to his vocal with him trying his best to emphasise each word of the song. Maybe the tour hadn’t loosened up that much! The only moment here that didn’t strike soberingly was the finale, where Bruce hopefully sang “that’s where I’m gonna be” with a wild, ensuing cry for the exclamation mark. “Where there’s beauty, there’s hope,” to use an unspoken line from his “Across the Border” intro. “Atlantic City” followed as another story about men in crisis doing what they believe is best, and it’s Steinbeckian in its own right, as the story never leaves us satisfied. Despite its lack of promise the same can’t be said for the performance here, which spellbound en route another stand out finale; a hopeful “maybe everything that dies someday come back, put your make up on and fix your hair up pretty…!” leading into likewise harmonica. The sparse hope only led into more despair, though, with the show’s first selections from Joad. The chilling “Straight Time” and disturbing “Highway 29” hit typically – I always feel tranquil and crave more Joad shows when hearing these two – but what was most notable about them was their expanded introductions, especially “Straight Time,” which saw Bruce give more on the stories and themes. The three-year stretch of touring this music allowed Bruce not only the opportunity to experiment with his musical and vocal arrangements if he pleased, but it also allowed him to gain a greater understanding of the songs, more so than when he originally penned them. After the dreamy, dark tale of a shoe salesman, a jolting burst of lightning. Yet despite its rapid tempo shift and wild man cries of its own, “Darkness on the Edge of Town” prolonged the hopeless atmosphere with an undeterred protagonist. That bled into a resounding “Murder Incorporated” which also stood out for Bruce’s introductory remarks, a powerful statement; “In the States we got a part of our citizenry whose lives and dreams are considered expendable.” Of course, I’d expand on this in reference to its contextual significance in the year 2026, but I’ll refrain as I may risk repeating what I said in my review of Belfast 1996 in June 2020. Nearing the half hour mark, “Highway Patrolman” served as a first song of triumph, as bittersweet as it may be to Joe Roberts, and its tender approach was needed after a lot of bleakness in the songs prior. Its words can also be loosely seen as a follow up to “Murder Incorporated” and Bruce’s prayer for peace: “man turns his back on his family, he just ain’t no good.” Familial themes were then rife over the next several songs, with “Freehold” making for more triumph – it was unmistakable here as well. Bruce preceded it by recalling its origins, believing it necessary to understanding the song, and that led to a nice, funny anecdote about his November 1996 homecoming in his old St. Rose of Lima school – on a night of many mental name-drops, this included a nod to the Unabomber in reference to why he avoids using a diary – and the ensuing song performance, its third since he stated he would never play it again (it would be played in the final three Australian shows also) hit as lovely as that night in Freehold, even with him interrupting it again; on this occasion as quickly as the end of the first verse, highlighted by the emotional tribute to his sister and the euphoric ‘reveal’ of his private tribute to his hometown. And how fitting that latter line was when it came to the next song, “Red Headed Woman.” Riding the ‘private acts in the bedroom’ wave, he was very open about the new ‘unofficial role’ he’d taken on as an ambassador for cunnilingus and in very high spirits – this was well and truly loose. As for the performance, that was very spirited with most thundering vocal deliveries and harmonies bordering on ridiculous. Funny though, that’s what matters. Rounding out the first half of the set was one more for his red headed woman, a delightful, homely “Two Hearts” sung with more gravitas while not entirely shifting the atmosphere back to despairing. The pairing of “Brothers Under The Bridge” and “Born in the U.S.A.” afterward was of a similar mould, and the latter certainly saw Bruce do his best to restore the primary tempo. “Atlantic City” was a striking contrast to the performance these fans had witnessed in 1985, but there’d be no song as unrecognisable to them as this one. Gone was the pageantry and feeling of elation that this anthem once conveyed in abundance, and as Bruce struck his guitar at the finish, seeing the song out with pulsating, heavy breaths, you’d do well to feel anything but haunted. As was custom, Bruce stocked the second half with tracks from the touring LP, opening it in self-deprecating fashion after introducing “Dry Lightning” as a “song about men and women.” “I didn’t know what the f*ck I was talking about!” followed that, and that led to a quick run-through of career choices in reference to “the guy and the girl” and where they were situated in his songs. This one, he told Sydney, is about a “relationship that almost makes it…,” his bread and butter. Nice falsetto set the scene, and he didn’t lose this audience thanks to a transfixing vocal. Moments later, after a nod to Kevin Buell, peaceful, but profound “Sinaloa Cowboy” and “The Line” readings put focus on brotherhood and loss, but the early stand out of this sequence was a song unreleased at the time (and would remain so until 2005’s Devils & Dust), “Long Time Comin.’” Happy songs were a sore subject for Bruce at this time, likely why this remained in the vault, but with a few laughs and a declaration of “dare to be happy,” he gave the characters of “Dry Lightning” hope through a delectable reading that, dare I say, made for as optimistic a song as any on February 12th, 1997. More songs of optimism and encouragement helped shape the second half, and most encouraging was Springsteen’s own interpretation of Tom Joad’s story, the tour’s title track. Notable as it was absent on the previous tour release from Akron, and momentous in making this the only tour show to feature both Bruce’s song and his Guthrie cover, Sydney’s great ovation to his mournful harmonica intro was extremely deserved. He didn’t let them down either. The placement of “Joad” here augmented the set closing “Across the Border” very nicely, and although as inferred earlier Bruce refrained from speaking in detail about John Ford’s techniques in his 1940 adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath, his usual intro on ‘culture’ hit powerfully nonetheless. Painting us a beautiful picture of his relationship with his mother, Adele, he noted the power of music to a young boy growing up in a home lacking a sense of culture, and how those records gave him “strength to pursue his culture.” Ford’s film was important, too, “providing me with the other piece to the puzzle,” and with his activity twenty-nine years later in mind, it can’t be said that he isn’t continuing to act in the spirit of Steinbeck and Ford: “If there’s this world out there that’s worth having, what are you gonna make of it when you get out there? How are you gonna direct your energies? And the book had an old fashioned sense of heroism in it… the character risked what he had for an idea that was bigger than he was.” After a gorgeous, set ending performance “of a song about the way people continue on and carry the hope inside them even when the world deals its harshest blows and shows itself – about how people fall back on faith and love and ultimately on one another, because that’s all that there is,” he treated Sydney to an encore of fun, but one that wasn’t without the heart essential to the shape of this show. Born in the U.S.A’s “Working on the Highway” was relished by nobody more than the man singing it it appeared, and this one really underscored the freedom he had on this stage. It was his punctuated vocals from “I went to see her daddy” onwards in particular that stood out as the most riveting. A shout out to the Sydney City Mission for their work against poverty, injustice and for hope heightened the sentiments of a “No Surrender” that, like “Tom Joad” was also firmer than the Akron reading, but no less stunning when it came to the “li li li” harmonies, and its communal finale that also hit sweetly, Bruce using his guitar as a percussion tool, met by the encouraging applause of an audience enjoying it like it was 1985! Then, in response to audience calls for warhorses… Bruce did as usual on this tour and rebuked them, opting instead for a song he believed would sum up the whole evening: a song of love from a man trying to take Barry White’s title of “love ambassador” (he added a Barry White anecdote, just because “I can’t get enough of your love, baby!”) an Archive Series debuting “There Will Never Be Another For Me But You.” This was the first time I’ve ever actually heard it, and you best believe I was staggered by that opening line! More noteworthy names followed – not in the same jaw dropping manner mind you – in this delightful little song with a tint of “All I’m Thinkin’ About” to it, but I was very surprised to hear the name of a certain then-businessman who was working out the ‘art of the comeback’ around this time… More of that connective tissue on a Live Springsteen release. The show’s penultimate selection serves as a nice complement to what we can hear on other Archive Series releases, too, as “If I Should Fall Behind” – another debuting arrangement in the Series – saw Bruce offer Sydney one man’s pledge a little over two years before he’d embark on singing it nightly with a revitalised E Street Band. Enhancing its intimacy as a partly a capella reading complete with impressive whistling, along with custom closer, “The Promised Land,” there was plenty in themes of faith and friendship here to suffice in the absence of “This Hard Land” (it’s only one all tour), and assure this Sydney audience of a bond he wouldn’t forget. Over these last twenty-nine years, Springsteen hasn’t visited Australia as often as I believe he or this audience would have liked, and Sydney has remained on the itinerary for those visits – receiving several more memorable shows with them – but the five shows in 1997 remain unique for this long-starved cluster of fans. Now, through February 12th’s addition to the Archive Series, we can revel in their enjoyment after twelve long years of waiting for the man’s return, and in the connection they’d re-established throughout the week.