BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : TORONTO, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND : TORONTO, FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Disc One (58:38)

Meet Me in the City
The Ties That Bind
Sherry Darling
Jackson Cage
Two Hearts
Independence Day
Hungry Heart
Out in the Street
Crush on You
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
I Wanna Marry You

Disc Two (69:39)

The River
Point Blank
Cadillac Ranch
I'm a Rocker
Fade Away
Stolen Car
Ramrod
The Price You Pay
Drive All Night
Wreck on the Highway
The Promised Land

Disc Three (65:44)

She's the One
Candy's Room
Because the Night
Brilliant Disguise
The Rising
Thunder Road
Badlands
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Shout

Label : Live.BruceSpringsteen.net

Venue : Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Recording Date : February 2, 2016

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Review (Kieran's Thoughts) : We’re into February and Springsteen and the E Street Band are in the Great White North for their only Canadian stop on The River Tour 2016. The sixth night of the tour follows a triumphant homecoming to New Jersey after nearly four years away, and while Springsteen’s relationship with Canada isn’t massively notable, it’s clear throughout the show that this audience are also making the most of their first visit since 2012. What’s worth knowing going into this show is that, where Newark got three tour debuts for their efforts, this is the first night of the tour where every song had previously been played since January 16th. So, that means the ‘wow’ factor of this night relies solely on the quality of thirty-three songs we’ve heard already. We know setlist variation doesn’t always make for a great show, but will and can stellar performances make up for the lack of it? “Good Evening Toronto! We’re so glad to be here in your beautiful city tonight! Are you ready to be entertained?! Are you ready to be entertained?! Are you ready to be transformed!?! Let’s go!” If “Meet Me in the City” gives any indication as to the answer of those three questions pondered above, the next three hours might well be very exciting. Almost immediately, Bruce stuns us in the way he sings “blowing down the wire tonight” and “singing through these power lines” so fluidly, and while the rest of the performance sees him singing with a bit of a strain in his voice, this is more than enough for us to brace ourselves for potential magic in the Toronto night. And with Bruce supported strongly by Charlie (1:23), Max, Stevie (check out his rhythm guitar at 1:29 and his harmonies at 1:46) and Roy (make sure to stick around for his piano combining with guitar at 4:46), the instrumentation throughout the performance nicely confirms that vocals won’t be the only highlight on the night either – although the calls “Alright!” from Nils and Patti in particular (3:50 – 4:02) are also a highlight. Unfortunately, for as promisingly as this night begins, Side One of The River isn’t filled to the brim with nuances or other changes in comparison to what we’ve heard in the last five shows. Quite simply, it’s just twenty-two minutes of good music. That said, there are at least a couple of stand out aspects in these five songs, and standing out most in a version of “The Ties That Bind” that continues the solid harmonies (1:18) is the way Bruce omits “your” when singing, “pushing people out of the way“. I like this as it suggests much more of an urgency from his omniscient perspective, as well as implying he knows exactly what it’s like to live the tumultuous life our protagonist is currently facing. There are more notable aspects in “Sherry Darling”, and fortunately Jake playing strongly for the duration is one of them. Mind you, he might want to up his game in order to not be outshone by Stevie’s guitar solo (2:30) in future shows! Stevie also shines in his quips from 1:27, responding to Bruce’s strife with “I know you are!” before singing a delectably rough “walking that last block!” at 1:51. Admittedly, this isn’t all perfect as the intro lacks composure on Bruce’s part (at least he’s having fun with it), but with the positives from Jake and Stevie, as well as the ones from Patti (2:45) and Toronto in their loud participation, any flaws are outweighed tonight. Into “Jackson Cage”, Bruce’s weathered vocal nicely complements a rousing E Street Band effort, but even that wear doesn’t stop more fluidity when he sings “where the cool of the night!“, which sounds class. Also worthy of that description are Stevie’s harmonies, the brooding playing from Max, Garry, Charlie and Roy, and particularly the way Jake’s harmonica combines with guitar from 2:02. It mightn’t be entirely different to what we’ve heard so far, but this honestly doesn’t need to. “Jackson Cage” is followed by another rousing E Street Band performance, “Two Hearts”, where a passionate Bruce and additionally fiery Little Stevie give it everything they’ve got in order to make Toronto fully aware of their brotherhood, before Bruce concludes this opening side with an ode to his father. Before Bruce recites his monologue for “Independence Day”, we can hear Charlie’s organ being much more powerful than last time out in Newark, and on a similar note, as Bruce both speaks and sings, at no point do his words feel massively overwhelming – perhaps adding credence to the New Jersey theory pondered last time. Still, he manages to stress the emotional weight of the song in his delivery of “that you could not say” very well at 5:13. He’s also helped in that regards by Nils, whose acoustic guitar playing at 2:01 has to be described as cutting, and a sombre bridge (3:09) spurred on by Soozie’s sorrowful violin. As mentioned earlier on, this isn’t an opening you can look to for vocal and instrumental nuances galore, but it is evidently one we can count on for an enjoyable listening experience. We go from one leaving home song to another with Charlie and Roy thrilling us from the get-go in “Hungry Heart”, and Bruce’s voice breaking instantly when shouting “c’mon!” suggests a high energy performance is on the cards. And that’s certainly the case on Toronto’s part, with this audience giving an “A+!” effort singing the opening verse, before Bruce takes over with a strong vocal, backed nicely by stirring rhythm guitar (1:19), Garry’s riveting riffs and likewise harmonies from Stevie, Patti, Nils and Soozie. And, of course, it all leads to Bruce making sure to take flight in the Air Canada Center with the sixth crowd surf of the tour. Can he be stopped on this tour? There’s a touch of fragility in Bruce’s vocal during ‘Out in the Street”, but it holds up well enough, highlighted best by a mighty declaration of “when I’m out in the street!” at 1:27. A typically rousing rendition, the Band harmonies are back to normal tonight, and while Stevie’s call of “meet me out in the street baby” isn’t perfect, his and Patti’s are certainly fine. Honestly, the best aspect of this sequence (and song in general) is Bruce’s “c’mon!” to signal Nils and Soozie from 4:29. Upon the song’s conclusion, he calls to Toronto with a thunderous shout, and with the knowledge they’re fully immersed in the music, it’s into “Crush on You”, which is searing in every sense of the word. I’m still not sure what I love more about this version, the guitar playing or the excellent way Bruce sings “when a Hong Kong special pulled up at the light“, as the latter is delivered in such a cathartic way. As it goes this is a rendition filled with moments of release, from Stevie’s wails of pain, to the communal singing of everyone inside the building at 1:33, culminating in the high octane guitar playing to segue us out and take us into “You Can Look”. More stirring than it is searing, this one is enthralling courtesy of the guitar playing from both Nils and Stevie (0:47; 1:27) with the latter adding more wailing harmonies and contrasting them with his cool spoken interactions such as “get out the car!” at 1:45. There are fewer ‘new’ quips added to his and Bruce’s back and forth tonight, continuing to let us know what “Mama says!” instead, however I do love Bruce stuttering at 2:37 and that tease of build, with the inevitable release following their repetition “I said ‘Yeah'” – “No!“. Awesome. “Well I wrote this song as a daydream. Y’know you’re just standing, standing on the corner watching someone, you’ll never meet walk on by, and, you imagine an entire life with this person! What your house would be like, and what your kids would be like. You get a whole life going on in your head, and it’s all just bliss bliss, bliss bliss, kiss after kiss. That’s the life without the consequences, that’s the one that doesn’t exist. You young folks can turn and ask some of the older folks about that. But hey! Better times and better things are coming! And this is a song of youth! Of imagining love, in all of its glory, and all of its tentativeness. It’s not the real thing! But you’ve got to start someplace.“ Shifting the tempo inside the Air Canada, we go from the vibrancy of “You Can Look” to the soulful combination of “Here She Comes Walkin'” into “I Wanna Marry You”. Beginning with robustly sang ‘high’ notes from Bruce, I really like the initial contrast between his and Stevie’s subdued harmonies (3:12), but we can hear how Stevie gets louder as these daydreams become all the more vivid (4:00). His “oh I know” at 4:14 is perfect, only bettered by the “Ahhh, let’s see if we can catch up to her” from Bruce (5:02), which brings in Charlie and Roy for a masterful intro for the song-proper. We get a tender, albeit healthy, vocal from Bruce for “Marry You”, and it’s complemented by his maracas shaking, as well as in the tempo directed by Max and Garry and the lovely subtle guitar from Nils at 6:58. Bruce also contrasts his tenderness with some grit in the voice, as the “my daddy said right before he died” line is almost tragic in its delivery (7:41), before this one ends with him pleading to not leave this world a broken-heart. That’s right, his calls of “oh my girl!” perfectly blend with Jake’s sax playing (8:36) to ensure that this finale is a highlight tonight, just as it has been the previous five. Long may it continue! There’s no dedication to, or comment about, Bruce’s sister and brother-in-law tonight, so “The River” simply has to speak for itself, and oh my does it do that. Beginning with Stevie’s very brooding acoustic guitar playing, we soon hear Bruce emphasise “we’d go down to the river” (0:56) and “into the river we’d dive” (1:53), almost as if he’s drawing out these ‘happy’ memories, and it’s a similar story for the bad ones with his voice breaking at 1:44 when singing “no flowers, no wedding dress“. There’s one aspect of this rendition, though, that not only stands out more than any other, but actually makes this an arguable tour best up to now. It comes at 3:42, and for the first time on this tour Bruce sings “tell me is a dream a lie if it don’t come to true, or is it something worse?“, with the bolded imperative stressing how desperation is seeping in for him as our protagonist. The notable aspects beforehand, and Patti’s hauntingly beautiful “down to the river” (4:18) are fantastic, but none perfectly summarise the song as well as this new additive. Side Two certainly makes up for Side One’s lack of surprises tonight. Side Three begins, of course, with Roy’s magnificent, damning introduction for “Point Blank”, and while there are no guitar wails accompanying it, that definitely doesn’t impact the quality of this opening. And when that guitar finally comes, we can appreciate the wait for it in all of its darkened glory (1:49; 3:23). Bruce doesn’t sing this one in a particularly powerful manner (2:50 excluded) and he keeps the mood solemn with a calm despondency, emphasising that with a hushed, strain-free reading of the lyrics at 5:14, talking us through the story as Garry’s bass thuds. As has been the case in recent performances, I love how this one feels erratic at certain points, whether it’s in Bruce’s repetition of “you fell you fell!” (6:46) and “in their sights!” (7:11), or the stand out moment for me, the way he states, “did you forget how to love, did you forget how to fight? Oh darling point blank… they shot you in the head” at 7:32. We’re left wondering whether he’s being sympathetic or sarcastic, only for the “bang bang, bang bang baby you’re dead” following it to ultimately give us our answer. Mint. Bruce wants Toronto screaming afterwards, and if they weren’t prior to “Cadillac Ranch”, they certainly are during it. A ferocious rendition, there’s loads of fire in Bruce’s voice – “Cadillac ranch!” (0:51), “buddy when I die, throw my body in the back!“, “Oh shiny and black!” (5:01) – and his efforts are matched greatly by the E Street Band and the audience. Listen to how taken aback Bruce is by the latter response to “riding through the Canadian night“! Fuelled by class guitar, piano and organ playing, the Stevie, Nils and Soozie solos from 2:22 are naturally sublime, and if that call of “Everybody!” at 3:07 doesn’t have you saying “damn!“, check your pulse! The same applies to the guitar licks at 4:10 too, which are akin to a revving engine about to start, and you better believe when it does, it hits the highway like a thunderbolt (4:55). “Little louder! Little closer! Bring me the love!“. It takes a lot for “I’m a Rocker” next to sound less boisterous, but “Caddy” manages it. That said, “Rocker” is a fine rendition, and an enjoyable listen courtesy of the rhythm guitar (0:29), striking riffs (2:01) and consistently good piano playing alone. It leads into the ever-consistent “Fade Away”, and this time around Charlie takes a sentimental approach to his organ riffs, as do Stevie with his guitar licks (1:28) and Bruce with his vocals. This song highlights the consequences of real life relationships Bruce mentions in his monologue for “Here She Comes Walkin'”, and his rueful vocals convey that very well. I particularly like his “oh-oh darli-in’!” blending with Charlie’s organ riffs at 2:47. The consequences continue with “Stolen Car”, and even though the opening comments are the same as usual, there’s clear emotion in Bruce’s voice, and this carries over into his singing, which is truly broken with the sadness being overwhelming at times. For as powerful as Bruce’s efforts are, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Patti’s harmonies at 2:11. Similarly to her contributions in “The River”, the story told here gains so much with her ghostly harmonies, driving it home that you can’t escape these spirits, no matter how far you drive to in the hopes of doing so. Stepping away from the theme of doomed love, “Ramrod” takes us back to the thrilling daydreams that arise when it’s all going well. It’s a performance spurred on by Jake, Roy and Garry, and the chemistry between Bruce and Stevie is palpable – they go wild at 3:32. The only downside to this is that after the joyous “What time is it?” – “It’s-a Boss Time!” (4:01), the guitar playing to close us out isn’t as rapturous as it has been over the last few shows, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less enthralling here tonight. Also enthralling is “The Price You Pay”, and whether it’s the laughing in the count-in coming off of “Ramrod” or not, we can immediately sense a breezy tone in Bruce’s voice as he sings. It’s a strong vocal too, alongside Stevie’s brilliant backing vocals, and while it doesn’t hold up for that final “throw it awaaaaaaay!” (4:51), with that voice break we can appreciate a man giving the song, and this audience, his all. That mentality flows into “Drive All Night”, for which his vocal approach is a blend of tenderness and vigour. Equal parts soulful in the way he draws out “let them go do their dances of the dead” (2:47) and interpolates “dream baby dream baby dream, I just want to see you smile, see you smile” (7:05), this isn’t without passion from Bruce, and it isn’t without passion from the audience either, as they take heed of Newark singing “baby baby baby!” at 1:27! I really hope this is a recurring feature as the tour goes on. Elsewhere onstage, Jake is outstanding in his sax solos (3:45), which are so strongly played with more gorgeous nuances to highlight his constant development as a musician (4:28) and Charlie is also phenomenal, staggering us in his riffs for the duration – the way he segues back into the song following Jake’s solo at 4:44 is special. Special can also be used to describe his playing in “Wreck on the Highway”, which is a typically beautiful, albeit sobering, end to this two hour sequence. He’s helped out by Roy, Max and Garry, and they combine to support Bruce excellently. Bruce’s strong vocal persists, and once again it feels like he’s shouting the words at us at certain points here, stressing the urgency and shock of the situation as if he was living in it at this exact moment. In a way, this just emphasises his closing words about time, and how it creeps up on us and moves so, so quickly. “Well the subtext of The River, was time. Time entering your life, and then slipping away. And how once you enter the adult life, the clock starts ticking, and you realise you have a limited amount of time, to do your work, to raise your family, to try, and do something good.“ “That’s The River!“ “Let’s take a ride.” As noted, tonight’s post-album House Party sequence doesn’t feature any tour debuts. However, the four songs featured before we get to our main-set ending regulars nicely follow suit from The River with likewise themes. “The Promised Land” reaffirms the notions about entering the adult life and not wasting time once you’re in it, with Bruce’s declarations of “I ain’t a boy, I’m a man and I believe in the promised land” highlighting the desire to do something; while the four-pack of “She’s the One”, “Candy’s Room”, “Because the Night” and “Brilliant Disguise” spotlight the other romantic daydreams Bruce has written over the years, and more of the consequences that arise when love is gained, and ultimately lost once those masks slip off. “The Promised Land” sets the tone for the next several minutes with nice guitar playing, and Bruce’s “c’mon!” at 2:24 also highlights the passion that’s bound to flow throughout them. The Darkness track transitions into “She’s the One” courtesy of class organ, and there certainly is a lot of passion for these five minutes. Driven by powerful drums and riveting guitar, Bruce’s heated vocal solidly evokes his lust and longing, before this track follows suit again from the one prior with an immensely communal finale. Max then powers us into “Candy’s Room” with his enthralling, crashing cymbals, and this time Bruce both speaks and sings in a hushed tone, walking us through the story before everything explodes at 1:11 – “If you wanna be wild!” indeed! Equally searing and magical thanks to the awesome, subsequent guitar solo and Roy’s fills (2:28), “Candy” hits the spot, as per usual. In “Because the Night”, Bruce’s tender opening vocal is very quickly replaced by a determined, fervent one, and that adds much more to his singing with Patti from 2:18, and of course creates a greater contrast when they sing “Brilliant Disguise” next. Both of these songs are also highlighted by the guitar playing within them, as Stevie (1:08) shines prior to Nils (3:02) in the former, before the guitar riffs at 1:09 in the Tunnel track really steal the show. I can’t recall the last time, if ever, that they’re as in our face as they are here. Perfectly relentless alongside the lyrics. Surprisingly, there’s no “Wrecking Ball” tonight (I spoke too soon in the Newark review!) so it’s just “The Rising” and “Thunder Road” closing out the main set. The former is as consistent as ever, and the “sky of…” verse (3:00) is mesmerising in its spirited, dreamlike recitation, and the latter is met with adoration from Toronto, adoration that isn’t let to go to waste as Bruce and the Band give a vibrant effort to close out the set in style. Particularity notable in a version featuring solid vocals from Bruce and stellar guitar and sax from Stevie and Jake is Max’s intensity from 5:21. He really doesn’t have to give it this much, but it’s simply a testament to his and the E Street Band’s motivation. It’s motivation that flows into the encore too, as following a shout out to FoodShare and the good work that they do, they get stuck into “Badlands”, which remains in its unique spot to begin these final thirty-five minutes. It’s a really enjoyable version too, perhaps best summarised by Stevie’s “ohhh yeah!” (1:54). And if that doesn’t say everything perhaps the scorching guitar (2:29), finale spotlighted by the fantastic Toronto audience (4:45) and that build into “Born to Run” (5:31) should do the trick, and more. “Born to Run”, while always spot on, is really elevated by that build tonight, and it’s a reminder – if we still needed one this deep into the show – that a repetitive setlist doesn’t mean repetitive songs. “Dancing in the Dark” adds to this, because along with being nicely sang, the guitar playing at 2:26 superbly complements the rest of the instrumentation, and even though this song is an ever-present on these Live Downloads recordings since 2014, the ever-improving audio quality is allowing us to hear things that go completely unnoticeable in those 2014 shows. Just listen to that rhythm guitar from 2:55 up to 6:25 besides Jake’s solo. Now, with that said, it is disappointing that the audio for “Rosie” isn’t that loud for Bruce, and he does get overshadowed in the mix by everything else going on. A shame, but that doesn’t detract massively from his nice vocal – “waiting for the bus“, 1:30 – Charlie’s riffs, Stevie’s “uh-oh!” at 5:29 and Jake’s stirring sax amongst everything else happening onstage here. Not perfect, far from awful, and we’ll look to Boston to see if the audio quality improves even more. We end the night, of course, with “Shout” and after three hours it’s great to hear a performance as equally invigorated as “Meet Me in the City”. The quality of guitar and piano playing is outstanding, and Bruce matches his Band’s efforts with a thrilling “Say that… yoooooouuuuu!” so early on at 0:35, and the song soars from here. With more than one thrillingly vehement “I want you to KNOW!” (1:15; 1:41), a tremendous instruction to go home and wake up the neighbours “in their pyjammies!“, and Roy conveying the insanity of the song with his playing from 5:45, February 2nd 2016 isn’t a show of spontaneity, and it evidently didn’t need to be. The biggest test for Springsteen and the E Street Band on this tour was always going to be if they’d manage playing a show without any surprises, especially considering the straightforward first two hours. Answering that question early on into the tour, they unsurprisingly calm all fears with a more than solid three hour show that reminds us a setlist is never the same, even if the songs are retained. Yes, The River isn’t a complete marvel where it concerns vocal and instrumental nuances, but it certainly features a few of them and even the songs without any remain enjoyable to listen to. As for the post album sequence, that nicely follows up on several of the themes pondered within the album with rousing renditions of five back catalogue favourites, before the current setlist staples close us out in strong fashion. Next up on The River Tour 2016, Springsteen and the E Street Band head back to the United States for a trip to Boston.