Bruce One More Time
Posted: February 2nd, 2009 | Filed under: Bruce | 95 Comments »
So, first, let me tell you about my favorite ever concert: It happened on August 28, 1993 in Atlanta. I would not have known the date except someone put a photograph of the concert ticket on Flickr. Man, you can find just about anything these days on these here Internets.
I have only vague memories of how I even ended up going to the concert. I think I got the tickets from a woman disc jockey at the radio station, which sounds both more impressive and much lamer than I want it to all at the same time. The thing is, I was living in Augusta, Ga., at the time, and I was 26 and single and recently dumped, and there was this very small alternative scene going on then. I’ve never in my life been part of any “scene†— not in high school, not in college, not ever — but there was nothing else to do in Augusta, and so it seemed like several times ever week we would go out to catch live music. I remember that most of the time we ended up at this little hole in the wall called “Squeaky’s Tip Top†— which was like this pizza place that, as far as I knew, did not serve pizza.
At different times, we caught reasonably famous acts in Augusta — Sun-60, John Wesley Harding, the girl who played in Archie Bunker’s Place,* I recall that Tori Amos did a private piano concert — but mostly we caught earnest young musicians with big dreams, all of them going nowhere, which is exactly how we felt ourselves.**
*That would be Danielle Briseboise, and really what I remember about her is that she had this song that was getting radio play in Augusta called “What If God Fell From the Sky.†And this was at the same time that Joan Osborne had that “(What if God was) One of Us†song. The fickle hand of fate chose Joan Osborne’s song to be the smash hit, and I can remember thinking that two young and and pretty singer/songwriters wrote songs about God, but only one can win. And isn’t that life?
**There was an alternative band I heard there that was named after a date — it was like the Twelfth of May or the Fourteenth of June or something like that. I just recall they had a female singer, and they were really good, and I kept meaning to buy their album but I didn’t, and now I can’t even remember what they were called. Maybe someone out there knows. I see that there’s a band called ‘The Eighteenth Day of May,“ but that looks to be an Irish Folk thing. Maybe they had an alternative set in the early 1990s, I don’t know. Or maybe it’s another band.
Anyway, there was this alternative radio station called (as they all were) Channel Z, and it had something like 11 listeners, so we all pretty much knew each other. I remember I once “won†backstage passes to The Sundays show in Atlanta — probably because nobody else in Augusta was really willing to drive the two plus hours to Atlanta to see The Sundays. As it turned out, the show did not have a backstage and I did not even get to meet Harriet Wheeler, but that’s a whole other story. Anyway, I got to know one of the women disc jockeys at the station and I’m pretty sure she gave me tickets to the big show.
Then again, I could be remembering that all wrong.
The concert was an odd mix — this was back in the early 1990s when everyone was trying to get the festival thing going. I remember the band X was playing — X was a legendary punk band trying to reinvent itself as an alternative band then. An Emotional Fish, a band out of Dublin that was supposedly a huge favorite of Bono, played (and they tried to pull me up on stage — that’s how good my seats were). Hothouse Flowers, another band from Ireland, had dented the charts with a remake of “I Can See Clearly Now.†and they were there. Ziggy Marley was there too, and he had a semi-hit at the time with “Tomorrow People.â€
I was not a fan of any of these people. I’m still not. My current iPod configuration has 2,978 songs, many from acts I don’t even know or like (how did Terry Jacks’ “Season in the Sun†get on here anyway? I’ll blame Margo) and yet there is not a single song from X, Hothouse Flowers, Ziggy Marley or any of the other openers. But that day, they all sounded good, fun, the music was all so different and alive, it struck so many different moods, you had something like reggae, something like punk, something like alternative rock, something like hard rock, all of it mixing together, and I had second-row seats, and it was outside, and it was hot, and, I don’t know, it just worked for me you know?
Then, of course, was the big act, the act I had come to see. That was Midnight Oil And I have to say that I never FELT music like I felt it that night. Peter Garrett, the lead singer, was 6-foot-5 and bald and a lawyer and Australian and a protest singer and electrifying. I have written often here about what it is like to see Springsteen live, but in 1993 I had not yet seem him live. I had been to concerts, many concerts, some good, some lousy, most in the tepid water between, but I had never seen a musician who so thoroughly believed in the music and the moment as Peter Garrett. He sweated and danced and shook and spun and, well, I had never seen anything like Peter Garrett and Midnight Oil that night. I was a moderate Midnight Oil fan going in. I left the concert high. I did not know music could do that to you.
And when I think back to that night, I wonder why it all came together so brilliantly, I wonder why it was such a magical experience for me, I wonder if there would ever be a way to recapture the essence of that night. And I know the answer: Of course not. I’ll never be 26 again. I’ll never feel like I felt then — so full of hope and despair and ambition and loneliness. It will never be August of 1993 again, a hot summer evening in Atlanta, second-row seats, a great sound system and a young woman disc jockey rushing up every few songs to dance with me. Midnight Oil rocked that night — I mean Midnight Oil ROCKED that night — but I brought my own energy to that night, my own dreams and fears and uneasiness, and so did several thousand other people, and it just WORKED, you know? It all came together.
They say that what makes great sports — boxing, tennis, football, whatever — is a perfect clash of styles. Nadal and Federer, Ali and Frazier, the ‘75 Red Sox and Reds (09/09/09) bring out the best of each other. I think that’s what makes a great concert too. I’ll enjoy concerts again, I’m sure. I’ll even love some. But I’ll never feel quite the way I did after Midnight Oil in 1993.
* * *
What does this have to do with Bruce Springsteen and Super Bowl halftime? Not a lot. Except … I got something out of it that I halftime show that I did not expect.
Let’s be honest: The performance was wedding band cheesy. I know — what else can you expect from the Super Bowl? — but I have to admit being a bit surprised. I mean, Prince’s halftime show soared. U2’s halftime show rocked. Tom Petty stayed true to himself and his music in his halftime show.
And this was … well, I expected all sorts of goofy Super Bowl mayhem. But for whatever reason, I did not expect them to shoot off fireworks in rhythm with the guitar licks in “Born to Run,†while video screens behind Springsteen flashed “Born To Run!†on it. I knew he was going to edit the songs, but I did not expect him to cut the key verse out of Born to Run and two-thirds of “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.†I did not expect a full choir for “Working on a Dream†— which never seemed like a full choir song. I did not know he was going to play around with the lyrics of “Glory Days†to make it Super Bowl friendly.* I did not expect him to have that referee come out and throw that flag to penalize him on time. I did not expect him to shout, “I’m going to Disneyland†at the end.
*Though, as mentioned here, the original lyrics of the song — he can throw that speedball by ya — are not exactly Shakespeare.
I not saying these things troubled me (they did not, or at least did not trouble me much) I’m just saying that I expected cheese, and got cheesier, we expected Springsteen to play for laughs and we got Springsteen and the E-Street Band playing the Max Figgenbaum Bar Mitzvah. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised: Springsteen has never given less than his whole self, and I’m certain that once he agreed to play the Super Bowl, he figured that he might as well go all out and PLAY THE SUPER BOWL. You could imagine the conversation.
Producer: “Bruce, we’re going to shoot off these fireworks during Born to Run.â€
Bruce: “Sure, I mean, why not, I mean, it’s the Super Bowl, I guess. Let’s go for it.â€
Producer: “And we thought we’d have this referee come out …â€
Bruce: “Yeah, cool, do whatever. Can we get a big bowl of nacho cheese and I’ll jump into it?â€
Producer: “We can look into that.â€
One thing that struck me reflected back on something that my friend Liz Clarke said in disgust: “Bruce doesn’t even LIKE football.†I thought that was apparent in the performance. I don’t think he quite knew his audience. Sure the Super Bowl is schmaltz and over-the-top and goofy and and a party, but that’s not ALL it is. Pro football, more than any other sport, crosses racial lines. Pro football, more than any other sport, crosses gender lines. I think Bruce fell for the cliche of football fans, he played for the same audience that those Dodge Ram commercials try to reach. That Disneyland line was out of touch — that hasn’t been a part of the Super Bowl for years. Him singing “He could throw that Hail Mary†— while it’s always nice for Bruce to get a Catholic reference in — makes no sense from a football perspective. The back and forth bit with Little Steven is always good for those people who know that Springsteen has a fun side, but in that setting, for that audience, it kind of seemed self reverential.
So that would be my complaint: I didn’t think Springsteen connected. And his music is about connecting. All music is about connecting. I think the people who did not like or get Springsteen going in walked away thinking the halftime was pretty bad — it was all the stuff they didn’t get in the first place, the gravelly voice, the cheesy lyrics, the oversized sound, the whole “Boss†thing, this old man goofily sliding into cameras.
And for the hardcore Bruce fans, well, there were things to love — there are always things to love with Bruce — but he played a pretty uninspired choice of songs, he cut out half of Born to Run, he was so clearly playing a promotional set so he could sell a few more records. The whole thing was done with a wink, but I’m not sure everyone felt in on the joke.
And for all those in between, well, I don’t know. Some probably admired the energy. Some probably thought the sound quality was lousy (I’ve heard from numerous people who said that the sound was pretty bad on television; it was pretty good in the stadium I thought). Some probably figured it was just fine — here’s this guy Bruce Springsteen, and he’s a pretty big star, and he’s playing a set at halftime of a football game, and that’s kind of fun, and now let’s move on to the game. Some probably thought the whole thing felt off key.
I felt a little bit of all of that, the good and the bad. But, here’s thing final point for me: I loved it. I loved it more than I ever expected to love it. Why? Because … like the Midnight Oil concert of 1993, it came together for me.
That’s all. There was a chill in the Florida air. There were Steelers fans waving Terrible Towels. Just seconds before a trillion people ran on the field to set up the stage for Springsteen (which is always a fun thing to watch), Pittsburgh’s James Harrison made the most remarkable play I’d ever seen in a Super Bowl — more remarkable for me even than the Eli Manning to David Tyree pass. He intercepted a pass in the end zone, and he returned it 100 yards for a touchdown on the last play of the first half.
That’s special enough. But what made it remarkable was that it looked to be over a half dozen times. Harrison looked like he would run out of bounds. Harrison looked like he would be tackled. Harrison looked like he would collapse in exhaustion. And if you are a football fan, you will know what I mean, you have seen plays like this countless times, plays where you think, “If only he had beaten one more man, if only he had stayed on his feet, if only he had stayed in bounds, if only, he would have scored a touchdown, and that would have been incredible.†Once in a thousand times, the player beats if only. This was that time. Harrison scored the touchdown. It was stunning and inspiring and electrifying all at once.
So there was that football buzz in the air, and then they built the stage in just minutes and then Bruce Springsteen got introduced. And he yelled that whole goofy bit about how everyone should put down their nachos, and the horns tore into “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.†And I stood up in the stands, and I had this big goofy grin on my face, and I watched these old guys I have loved for half my life just put on a silly show, the kind of silly show you would put on for your friends after midnight, and it was over the top, and it was musically run-of-the-mill*, and if Bruce’s real goal was to try and make 12 minutes at the Super Bowl transcendent like his concerts, then I would say he failed pretty miserably.
*Though I admit liking the choir for Working on a Dream, only because it added a dimension to that song, which I don’t think is that great.
But in that moment, I didn’t think that was his goal. I thought his goal was to have a good time. I thought his goal was to reach for that notion deep inside, as the lyric goes, “that it ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive.†We all bring our own baggage with us. If I was a rock critic, I probably would have panned Springsteen’s halftime show. If I was a Springsteen hater, I probably would have used that show as Exhibit A. If I was a young person trying to figure out what was so special about this Springsteen guy, I’m not sure what I would have walked away thinking — but I doubt I would have come away with answers.
Thing is, I’m not any of those things. I’m 42 years old now, a husband, a father of two, a guy doing exactly what I had always hoped I would do. I was at the Super Bowl. I was watching some of my heroes — Bruce Springsteen, Nils Lofren, Little Stevie, all the rest — sweat and dance and have a great time. Of course I loved it. I was glad to be alive.
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There was a band called Eleventh Dream Day … not sure if that was who you were thinking of though.
Did they show Nils at all on TV? I watched it but it went by kinda fast.
“If I was a rock critic, I probably would have panned Springsteen’s halftime show.”
More than one already has.
They’re wrong.
As always, a fair and well constructed critique…
“Did they show Nils at all on TV? I watched it but it went by kinda fast.”
I just caught a few glimpses — the camera work was pretty Bruce-heavy.
No X on the iPod?!? Those first four albums (Los Angeles, Wild Gift, Under the Big Black Sun, and More Fun in the New World) are unstoppable.
“a silly show, the kind of silly show you would put on for your friends after midnight”
you nailed it. Bruce sliding into the camera was funnier than any of the commercials. He had a crazed look of a senile uncle let loose seconds before impact.
Yay Midnight Oil! That one album had several good songs.
Interesting take here — the “best and the worst” of Bruce:
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2009/02/best-and-worst-of-bruce-springsteen-in-super-bowl-halftime.html
X – Los Angeles is particularly awesome. I also like their song “New Life” from their alternative make-over.
You are miraculously spot-on as usual Mr. Posnanski. Judged from anything other than “I-don’t-care-anymore-WHAT-he-does-I’ll-love-it” fandom, it was less than successful. But I loved it.
Maybe the magic was that it was 1993. I was 23 that summer, in college, and that 93-94 school year was amazing and tumultuous and heart soaring and heart breaking. I tend to really cling to the highs of that year, but it doesn’t take much for me to remember how low the lows got.
Perfect way of saying it Joe …
I love Bruce and the band … and loved the show … even if Bruce’s voice sound a bit … off.
But, those that dislike him … or don’t “get” him … this was probably more fodder.
I couldn’t honestly stand here and say I could convince them it was MAGIC … but it was fun.
If Bruce is guilty of anything … it’s probably of trying to do too MUCH with the show.
I had that experience with Midnight Oil a couple of times. I think they were in Georgia when you saw them for the WOMAD tour in Atlanta. At least, I’m pretty sure I saw them in the summer of 1993 on WOMAD, Peter Gabriel’s brainchild, with Arrested Development, Gabriel, and some others. Midnight Oil and the Levellers (anarcho-hippie-folk-punk from the U.K.) blew them all away. Midnight Oil played as the sun was going down. Amazing.
Saw them in NYC a couple of times, too. Once, in maybe 1996 at Irving Plaza. We ended up talking to a couple of older Australians who were there and said the energy was was intense as at their early club shows in Australia.
Peter Garrett’s an M.P. now!
We’ve watched it three times now, and the thing that struck us was that EVERYONE got camera time – even La Bamba and Pender in the horn section, who are also old Jersey Shore friends. Soozie moved down to hang with Patti (and Soozie wasn’t even necessary). Garry got camera time. Not tons, but they worked hard to get them all on camera. (Hell, even Charlie Giordano did, to the point where I was thinking, “Please move so I can see Danny” – until I remembered.)
Greg Kot needs to lighten up.
I am astonished at how many people (not you, Joe) are so willing to completely dismiss 40 years of stellar artistry over one night of fun. Most of them I think are jealous and want to keep Bruce to themselves.
And the people that don’t get it, well, good. MORE ROOM FOR US. The ticket on-sale today was hard enough as it was.
I have seen Bruce do some stellar stuff. The Somerville benefit shows, that St. Louis show from last summer, the 2003 Christmas Shows with Sam Moore, in the audience for Unplugged – and still, I thought this was just AWESOME. it was just FUN. I got a text from a friend who has been cranky about the SB and about Wal-Mart and she said “That will teach me to doubt him.”
There are places for big statements that say things and then there are places for having parties.
The high cheese-factor was obvious, his voice sounded winded, the song list was questionable….the Disneyland reference and the Hail Mary line were ill-thought out…..but who cares? It was Springsteen at the Super Bowl. I’m not the fan of his that I used to be 15 years ago…but it was good for him to do this. There have been plenty of Super Bowl acts that were clunkers….Tanya Tucker anyone? (Pack/Pats SB-32)…I had fun watching him last night.
I’ve been to many-a-show. But there’s just something about the older fellas that are still rocking the right way.
July 4th, 2007 I saw Rush, is still the best show I’ve ever been to, even though they’re all pushing 60 years old.
#13 – Thanks for the mention of the Levellers. I never had a chance to catch them live, but started listening to them right about that same time after a college friend spent a year abroad and brought back a couple of their albums.
“If I was a Springsteen hater, I probably would have used that show as Exhibit A.”
Nah. I detest Springsteen, but that went off fine. I read it the same way you did… everybody knew it was Super Bowl halftime, and ludicrous, and stupid, and he indicated from the get-go that we shouldn’t care. Don’t take anything too seriously here. Just relax and enjoy.
I would add, as someone who doesn’t pay much attention to Bruce: damn, dude got old. You may be right, the creeping ravages of time may have finally got him to reverse his policy. If he had waited much longer, it could have been Rolling Stones-level bad.
Joe you make me love and worship the Boss more than I have any other musician.
And I’ve never even thought of seeing him live.
Thanks for all you do.
JMac
I watched a few episodes of a Sopranos marathon earlier in the afternoon and it was funny seeing SVZ up on stage with Bruce…
I’m a pretty big music nut, but have always been indifferent to Bruce. I went into the halftime show with an open mind because of this blog. I wasn’t very impressed by the performance for reasons that have already been discussed in the comments section.
Thing is, Bruce is almost 60. Although I’m sure he’s had many memorable performances in the past few decades, he’s got to be 20-30 years past his prime. And it’s not like they were playing ballads up there. They rely on their energy. They looked silly up there, but reasonable people (especially those in our 20s and 30s) who aren’t familiar with the band shouldn’t judge them on that. It be like judging Greg Maddux based on his performance with the Dodgers last year.
Yeah, Springsteen mostly bores me, but this could have been a lot worse. You couldn’t hear the choir, maybe that was a good thing. You couldn’t hear the lead guitar very well, again, maybe a good thing. He sang okay for an AARP member who really never actually sings that well. As much as he hammed it up, it was still less than what Paul McCartney or Ray Davies would subject you to lately in that age group. Mick has always been Mick, his flesh always looked much older.
The bass was up in the mix, which I almost always like. And 10th Ave. Freezeout is one I kind of even like. But as ever, I’m left thinking: if he’s the Boss, I quit.
Pat, that’s one of the reasons I’m ambivalent about last night’s performance. I’ve seen Bruce several times over the last ten years — most recently last March — and he doesn’t come across as “old” in his shows. In fact, it’s just the opposite — every time I’ve seen him I wonder where he summons the energy.
That said, I agree that for whatever reason — the cameras, the setting, the couple of missed notes — he did appear older last night. Even if that’s so, you can’t deny he was playing at 100%, which he always does. At the end of the day, that’s what I love most about him. The shlock tossed into last night’s show, which in my mind was excessive even for him, doesn’t make me like him less…it’s just that it wasn’t the best halftime show ever, the best E Street performance ever, etc.
As an admitted non-fan of Springsteen’s (not that I don’t like him, just that I’m not INTO him, if you get me), his half-time performance was pretty disappointing. Mainly because I had built up in my head what a great live show he puts on, or so I’d heard countless times, and the energy he brings, etc., only to have it devolve into this whole circus of pyrotechnics and props (the ref thing was horrible). Kind of turned me off of “The Boss”. The may be sacrilege on this blog, but I’m being honest here.
As a lukewarm Bruce follower (I’m not even sure I’d say fan), I’ve seen him live only once, when Joe and I caught him in Cleveland on The Rising tour. For decades I had heard of his legendary live performances, and I can honestly say I just don’t see it. Now, yes, our seats sucked that night. And yes, The Rising wasn’t an uplifting album or uplifting time in our nation’s history. But that experience, combined with the cheeseball Super Bowl performance in which he could barely sing because he was so winded, leads me to believe that if those legendary times ever did exist (and I’m not saying they didn’t, I’ve had too many people tell me they did), they’re gone now. And those of you still seeing them are just remembering the best of a man who no longer delivers. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but we ought to call it what it is.
Michael in NYC
Garrett is more than an MP. Since Labor won the general election last year and now forms the government in Australia, Garrett has joined the Cabinet, as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts.
As can be expected with an ex-rock star, he’s made more gaffes than brilliant decisions and pretty much has a full-time minder watching his back and filtering his utterances. He’s kept on to show Labor’s commitment to the “youth vote” and green policies but his role is very much more PR than administrative.
My guess is that at some stage he’ll come out with a completely loony proposal, be dropped from Cabinet and quietly fade away.
And I forgot to add that my best concert experience ever also was Midnight Oil, who absolutely rock live. I wasn’t with Joe at that concert in Georgia that night, but I saw them in Cincinnati that summer and they were unbelievable.
The Oils!
Before I graduated from KU, I studied abroad at the University of Newcastle, Australia for two reasons- (1) to play on the university baseball club (Go the Camels!), and (2) to see the Oils live (I think I was 12 when they came to KC). I finally managed to make a show in Newcastle in November 2002. It was awesome. A 4-star show (or maybe +1 using Joe’s movie system). Everything I was hoping for and more. And two weeks later, a few days before I flew home, they called it quits so Garrett could run for Parliament. Best. Timing. Ever.
Joe, you should check out the Ghostwriters, side/sometimes-project of amazing Oils drummer Rob Hirst.
Growing up, my dad had only two albums for the tape deck in his Buick:
Electric Light Orchestra’s Greatest Hits
and
Midnight Oil
It’s a miracle I ever made it out alive. I don’t know. I could never make it past how funny Garrett’s voice sounded to me as a young kid. Plus, you know what kids love? Songs about the plight of the aboriginal man in Western Australia. That, except the exact opposite.
PS — Who plays next year?? I’d put Bon Jovi as the odds-on favorite…or The Bret Michael’s Skank Bus Posse.
The Bruce legend owes a lot to his reputed reglar’ guyness and shows lasting deep into the night until those bastid club owners turned off the damned power during the 70s. The idea of Bruce became larger than the man, of course, with shaggy dog stories of how if you hung around after the show he’d drive you home, call your teacher or boss with an excuse for the next day, cosign a loan for you, eat the rest of the spinach on your dinner plate, etc. It became similar to a pub rock version of deadhead speak if you hung around those types too much.
No mention of Donkey?
I saw Midnight Oil during this tour and they were dynamic. Kind of like early U-2 if they were fronted by a guy from a Mad Max movie. The best radio songs ever about the aborigines.
I saw Springsteen as recently as during the Rising tour and I thought it was one of the 5 best live shows I’ve ever seen. I had high hopes when he kicked off the halftime with 10th Avenue Freeze-out, but it all seemed to go wrong after that. He sounded like he had no pipes, despite the smart black outfits, the E Street Band looked like a before picture for Nutrasystem. The moves they did were so corny, you would have thought they were Bon Jovi. I mean, after the whole ref move, I expected Bruce to be picked up by a wires and lifted out to the 50 yard line like Peter Pan. It’s bad enough that Magic was such a disappointment and his newest is not a lot better, but now this. I’ve touted you for so long to others who hadn’t seen you live. This halftime show made me look like a bit of an imbecile. I can do this on my own, I didn’t need Bruce’s help.
Next year it’s got to be Dylan.
I really wanted to feel the wink…really…but I couldn’t. He seemed like a self-important, disdainful man rolling his eyes like Mick Jagger on Ed Sullivan while feeling proud of his ignorance of the venue. And maybe that just is what it is. Perhaps finding an artist who is sold out for the show instead of selling out to do the show would yield a better result. I’ll never forget how much I admired Bruce’s acceptance speech when he won the Academy Award for “Streets of Philadelphia.” He ended it by saying something like “Thank y’all for invitin’ me to your party.” It was genuine, a little self-depricating, appreciative of the chance to expose his music to a different group of folks. He could have used a healthy dose of that attitude last night.
I saw Midnight Oil in 1990 or 1991 when I was in high school at some dumpy outdoor arena. They were beyond awesome. I went out and bought a lot of their obscure albums afterwards. The albums didn’t quite live up to the live show, but I’m glad I still have them in the old iPod now. If there’s a band that could make you fall for live music, Midnight Oil is high on that list.
Joe gives a fair review of the show. I’m sort of agnostic on Bruce. I’ve seen him live and while i think he’s good, he struck me as no better and no more energetic than a lot of other mid-level bands. Maybe that’s the appeal. He’s a big star who still works like he’s trying to “make it”. Anyway, I thought the Super Bowl set was kind of cheezy but serviceable. My girlfriend, someone with little exposure to springsteen other than the big hits, actually laughed out loud at the set. And not in a good way.
That’s not a good sign. And it didn’t win him new fans. At least, not at our house.
Bellylard – Dylan sucks live (at least now he does).
Personally, I thought the halftime show was just about perfect. It reminded me of everything I love about seeing Bruce live. His energy, his unpredictability, his humor . . .
If you really miss that verse of Born to Run, listen to it on CD. Having seen the show, I’m glad he played four abbreviated songs rather than one, albeit transcendent, version of, for example, Rosalita. This wasn’t anything new or different in a Springsteen show (other than the choir, which only shows up at Asbury Park Christmas shows). It was just a 12-minute highlight reel.
OK, so you didn’t like the referee sight gag. Humor can be subjective. But it’s not really any evidence that Bruce has sold out or changed his act to fit a cheesy arena. He’s been doing similar things for over 30 years. He used to have someone come out in a bear costume or a Santa suit when he told stories.
I’ll admit that the fireworks were unlike anything I’d seen at a show, but is it really that different than having the stage and audience lighting coordinated with the songs, like in Backstreets or Born to Run? It seems to be a difference in degree, at most.
Music is subjective and emotional. Bruce himself is said that his goal is to get you to feel a certain way. It sounds like he succeeded but you feel guilty because some jerk rock critic is likely to pan the performance. Forget it. Go with how you feel.
An interesting phenomenon is at work here. The uber-fan (Joe) is reviewing a concert he didn’t particularly want to see, and he comes to the only obvious conclusion: That the concert fell short of his hopes (the perfection of his hero), but was still a can’t-miss event (it’s Springsteen at the Super Bowl, after all).
How many times have I seen my musical idols perform under questionable circumstances, only to disappoint my unrealistic ideals? They (and Bruce) are only human.
I’m a modest Bruce fan, and I thought the show was an absolute kick.
I honestly thought they might have Courtney Cox come out of the stands and dance at some point!
At the end of the day, the Super Bowl is just not the best place to showcase the Boss. That kind of performance is right in Prince’s wheelhouse, who is more than just a rocker, but an entertainer as well (the fact of the matter is that Prince bleeds all sorts of talent — musical, songwriting, dancing, personality — doesn’t make him better or more important than Bruce, just different).
Bruce is best seen in a more intimate environment kicking it out for three hours. I love him for all the things he isn’t: he doesn’t have the best voice in the world, he doesn’t have the best licks, his dancing is laughable: but he works hard, talks about emotions (worry, fear, happiness, love) anyone can relate to, and his band kicks ass. It’s hard to convey all that in a 12 minute set.
I don’t recall anyone justifying a less than great performance by The Purple One a couple of years ago by saying, “Hey, it’s Prince at the Super Bowl!” That’s because he was absolutely spectacular by any measure. And Bruce wasn’t. He was only okay. That’s it. So, yep, it was Bruce at the Super Bowl. But, if you want the gold standard of Super Bowl shows, that was turned in by one Prince Rogers Nelson, singing Purple Rain in the rain.
James Harrison should have been SB MVP, not Holmes. Best defensive play in the 43 year history of the event, and either a 10 or 14 point swing in the game? Throw in the THREE holding penalties drawn by the guy blocking him, and…
For chrissakes, what does a defensive player have to do to get proper recognition?
As a non-Springsteen fan, I guess I was hoping to see something like the stupendous live shows he is famous for. I’m the exact opposite of Marc R (#36 above); I would have LOVED it if he’d played one extended 12-minute opus that was more representative of his usual live performances. Getting bits and pieces of four songs in a cheesy setting didn’t do a thing to convey to me that mythical “what Bruce is all about” vibe that I keep hearing the fanatics talk about. If he wanted to do something schmaltzy because his longtime fans wanted to see him play the Super Bowl, well I guess he accomplished that mission. But if his goal was to convert some people and sell a few more records to people like me who otherwise wouldn’t be buying, then he missed the mark.
For chrissakes, what does a defensive player have to do to get proper recognition?
Have Jim McMahon as his QB walking around before the game in a “Rozelle Sucks” headband.
I’m holding out hope for TMBG next year…wishful thinking?
Or have Neil O’Donnell play catch with you.
Harrison also managed to not be thrown out of the game in the fourth quarter. That would have been an interesting award ceremony, first MVP for an ejected player. But it would be hard to recognize the defense with all the yards they gave up in the fourth quarter.
I enjoyed Bruce. Dylan … I can’t even imagine him doing it. Not because he’s Bob Dylan but because I don’t think it would work. Do you think he’d go cheesy? Tailoring the lyrics of “Hurricane” for the Miami audience?
I’m not really a Springsteen fan. I can’t name anyone in his band. I know 5 of his song, tops. But after last night’s show I thought “I should really see this guy if he’s ever in KC again”. It was cheesy, sure, but he really looked like he was having fun – so much fun that now everyone is complaining that he was winded (that’s a bad thing?). Everyone seems to agree that he was giving it 100% out there, so I ask: what more do you people want? (Have you been to a show where the band doesn’t seem to care? There should be automatic refunds for that.) What on earth can you quibble about if you go to a show and the singer is clearly knocking himself out? Nothing. But judging from the reaction of his longtime fans, plenty: “He looked old. He hammed it up. He didn’t play the 5th song on the the second side of his fourth album. He wasn’t as good as when I saw him in 1981. His feet were touching the stage – usually he just comes out and levitates while signing acapella and healing the crippled.”
Seriously, take a deep breath. The only people who may have liked his SB show are non-Bruce fans, because the whole “seen Bruce 20 times” crowd is behaving like the folkies when Dylan went electric. It’s all that’s kind of sad, because he was promoting a new album, and probably picked up a few fans based on his energy level alone, people who don’t care that he’s old (he is!) or that he was a little corny, or that the sound wasn’t perfect. Last night I saw a guy having fun, playing songs I liked. End of story.
Joe,
I hope this is the last I have to write about this guy, because I do have a life to live. For the last week, I have been Bruce intensive from the mistaken idea that “Outlaw Pete” was a KISS rip off to total immersion into WOAD, which I have decided is some of his best work. There aren’t many songs in his catalog you can hum along to, but this album is full of them.
I come from the Jersey Shore, and I have watched these guys for ALL of my adult life. For the longest time, at least through “Tunnel of Love”, I thought each album was a mile marker where we both were in our lives. Then a couple of skillion difference in the bank account separated us.
You are right in what you say that when he decided to do the Super Bowl, he decided to DO the Super Bowl. He never half steps, and that over the top performance last night is proof. Those of you who wanted to see the show because you never have seen the guy, you still haven’t. The thing that was missing last night, the one thing that he does in a concert, no matter the size, is he connects with you, not the crowd, but with you. He didn’t do that last night. Still, it was, as he promised at the presser, a party.
I said to the Viking Princess the other day, the thing I like most about the guy, is with all his fame and money and Obama on the speed dial-he always seems to be having a good time when he plays. In front of Lincoln or playing Mustang Sally with some local bar band, it’s all about the Ministry of Rock and Roll.
Prince, who I am a longtime fan of, was held to a lower standard when he played the Super Bowl. Expectations were not as high (which at the time had me expecting people to be floored by how great he is live) and nobody ripped Prince for playing a medley and editing his iconic songs to fit the format.
Now “The Boss” is apologizing to everyone about the deal he/his agent/label made with Wal-Mart. I don’t get it anymore. He sings about blue collar guys and gals like heros and then he is apologizing for making a deal w/Wal-Mart.(?) Isn’t that where 90% of blue-collar folks scraping by and most of America shops?
Let’s get over this finger-pointing at Wal-Mart. Their business model works and people are trying to save a few bucks any way possible. I kind of expected better of Bruce….He should have said, “Yeh, I’ve got a deal at Wal-Mart. That’s where many of my fans shop.” Rather he knuckled under. He’s too Hollywood to upset his lib friends, I guess. Too bad.
I can think of only two reasons not to have Dylan play the Super Bowl.
1. He sucks in concert
2. He’s not popular
Otherwise it’s a great idea!
Love every Dylan record up to and including Blood On The Tracks, but booking Bob Dylan for the SB would be tantamount to just handing in your resignation.
Interesting discussion. I’m not a Springsteen fan (I like him, but prefer John Mellencamp – I’m pretty sure a true Bruce fan would string me up for saying that). The cheese factor was off the charts, and it just seemed like he was trying too hard. He didn’t look old so much as a guy unrealistically trying to cram choirs, referees, pyrotechnics, lyric changes, Disneyland jokes, and whatever other gimmicks he could find into 12 short minutes. In the immortal words of Mike Singletary: “Can’t do it!”
I don’t like Bruce, but despite the cheesiness of it all, I liked the show and would say he was better than The Stones and Tom Petty. Though Prince and U2 are still far beyond what The Boss did, it could have been worse.
The fact that Springsteen fans would think this is a bad performance or too cheesy, I think shows that they take him a little too seriously, and if he really thought of himself the way these people do, then he would not have played that set that way.
I still find the music Bruce plays very dated and boring. However, Bruce’s energy more than makes up for it with the live show.
Last one from me. Where does the SB halftime go from here?
Every year the NFL gets knocked booking an act that appeals to middle aged white men (which only happens to be the bulk of the Super Bowl audience), but the music business isn’t minting mega stars fast enough to book a new generation of talent.
Take a look at sales of the Taylor Swift record compared to number one records of just ten years ago. They suck. The biggest tours of every summer are always bands that have been around at least 15 years if not 30.
What are they supposed to do? I don’t have the answer. Pearl Jam would be kinda interesting but even they might be too narrow when you’re talking about an audience of almost 100 million.
Not surprised that X comprised the best show you’ve ever seen. The best show I ever saw was X, Social Distortion, and the new kid in town at the time Jane’s Addiction.
Mikey:
Hey, Bruce suggested Coldplay when he talked to Costas.
I wasn’t impressed, but then I’ve always been lukewarm to Bruce. I made a comment the other day about the three Springsteen songs Manfred Mann covered for hits, and I was only half-joking; I vastly prefer their versions. Bruce is a great songwriter, but I’ve just never been able to get into his performances. (That said, I have always had a deep respect for his dedication to putting on a show. I wish acts I actually LIKE would play for 4 hours.)
As for Midnight Oil… man, I swear, in the ’80s I had some weird inadvertent Australian alternative fetish. Oil, the Church, INXS, Icehouse… and (with the exception of INXS, who actually did hit it big here with their very first single), I somehow managed to get into all of them before anyone else had ever heard of ‘em. Good times.
All right, if you loved the Oils in 1993 and thought they stopped making music shortly thereafter, you need to check out “Capricornia”, their last studio album. Man, I love the Oils.
And X: I love them as much as any 40-something, aging punk wannabe (if I could’ve been a rock star I’d choose to be John Doe…does anyone else think Exene’s sexy in her own way?), but my favorite album by them is “See How We Are”, their nod to Americana. Critics, you can suck it. That’s a great album.
I just saw a Disneyland (well, Disney World) advertisement with Big Ben & Santonio shouting the famous line, so, while admittedly goofy, it wasn’t totally out of touch for Bruce to use the line.
Whether you “get” him or not . . . lyrically, musically, performance-wise, longevity-wise . . . Bruce and his bandmates are the best rock and roll act we’ve ever had. And thank God, we get to keep having him.
This Bruce´s show in the Superbowl was as reading a comprising ten pages version in comics of your favorite book, but probably that is the best you can ask for that show.
I’m one of those young people that didn’t get it. I’ve also tried E Street Radio a few times on XM, and that hasn’t gone so well. Maybe I’ll just leave it on there for a while on my next drive.
But the one thing I had to comment on, Seasons in the Sun, what an awful song. I’d be making more space on my player over that one. I always hated when that came on in the rotation at the station I worked at.
Huge Springsteen fan here and I absolutely loved the halftime show! Bruce and the band looked like they were having a blast!
Joe –
Was the band you can’t remember June of ‘44? The were around during the mid-90s.
I have no feelings about Bruce, so I forgot about the half time show about 30 seconds after it was over.
I liked it better from your perspective.
X does a version of “Fourth of July” that is worth including in you iPod.
In a funny way, Springsteen and football have always been linked for me. In 1978 I drove from Oklahoma up to South Bend to see Missouri open its season against Notre Dame, the defending national champion with a quarterback named Joe Montana. Mizzou won, 3-0 — and that night Bruce played on campus. Amazing show. I’d never seen anybody quite like him, and at that time I had already seen Hendrix, early Led Zeppelin, the Stones. No opening band. He just played for hours. All of you who have seen him know what I mean. One of the things I remember in particular was the band playing a SECOND encore, which concluded with an exuberant “Twist and Shout.”
For great days, that ranks in my top 100.
(Quick aside. The next week, Mizzou returned to Columbia to play . . . Alabama. Another good game, although Bama won that one. Can you imagine teams playing schedules like that these days? Especially Mizzou. Their nonconference schedule these days is laughable. Two years earlier, Mizzou had opened at Southern Cal, played Illinois at home, then went to Ohio State. USC and Ohio State went on to win the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl, respectively. Mizzou beat them both. Sigh. Different times.)
Look, I love Bruce. I saw him last year for the first time, and it exceeded expectations in every way but length (less than three hours). I was watching the show with a room in which I was the second oldest at 29 years old, and we all loved it. Sure, the ref thing and the Steve/Bruce scripted stuff was a little lame, but the songs still fucking rocked regardless. It made the people in the room who had not seen him want to, and that should say something.
As far as the new album is concerned, I’ve been meaning to write up a review, but my feelings are somewhat mixed. I like most of it, but there are two songs I especially take issue with.
I’m ready for less talk about the Almighty Springsteen and Snuggies and more about what made me enjoy this blog in the first place – baseball.
I’m not a “Boss” fan and didn’t care much for the halftime show. That said I have apperciated some of the shows in the past ( Prince, Tom Petty ), but since the infamous “Nipplegate” incident the NFL has choosen to go the safe route and go with “older” bands. This is a fine and SAFE idea but what’s going to happen when everybody in the Eagles die, or Styx retire or something of the like. Eventually they will have to do something with a “Gen X” band, and then what. Nothing happens and they realize that they could reach out to a broader audience. Like I said nothing against all the safe performers out there but one day they are going to have to come to the realization that may seem like a bad choice at the time but will pay off in the end. I’m not sure but I can say with 99.9% certainty that if given the chance The White Stripes, or Gnarls Barkley, hell even Pearl Jam would gladly play a incident free Super Bowl. I think it’s about time to be a little more forward thinking in the NFL if they are going to continue the musical performance during halftime thing or else I’ll check into Puppy Bowl again next year even though I have no dogs.
@ Graphite (25):
Thanks for the info! Maybe someone down there will even listen to one of Garrett’s wacky proposals one day . . .
@ Jeff (17) The first three Levellers albums are great. After that they got less rocking, less Pogues-y, less Wonderstuff-y, less New Model Army-y, and more folky and I found myself cooling to them.
Hey, a lot of people couldn’t imagine Springsteen doing it, nevermind Dylan and the retinue of followers he could bring on stage with him to “sing” the songs in proper ironic fashion…
I suppose my refusal to put those smiley faces denoting a form of saracasm on my online posts is confusing.
How many acts/singers over 30 years old are left intact enough to perform? Does Elton John like football? He could certainly change the lyics to Candle In The Wind yet again. “It seems to me like you’ve lived your life like Scott Norwood in the wind”
Really, they should get the Hives to do it next year. Best show I’ve seen since the 80s.
Maybe next year, The Hold Steady can play a set of Springsteen covers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYoBYmV3gC0&eurl=http://stereogum.com/archives/new-hold-steady-atlantic-city-springsteen-cover_049671.html
Tough to do anything right in todays world. His latest album is OK~some of it I really like (and i am a big BS fan) a lot of people “rip” the new album….Can anyone tell me the last album , of any artist or band, that from beginning to end is an absolute masterpiece without any weak tracks on it? Seems like all of BS’ work since Born in the USA, has me really liking about half the album and kinda like most of the rest.
I mostly like his latest work, but understand some of it is not up to the high standards we all expect of the man.
But back to the point i am trying to make….can anyone name an album out there that doesn’t have a track or two that is less than stellar compared what an artist has put out in his/her past best stuff.
All athletes/artists fail at times and are not perfect 100% of the time…failure and rising back to produce after failure make them great…
I’m 46. I love Bob Seger & U2. I absolutely do not get that appeal of Springsteen.
Just wanted to throw Kings of Leon out there as an amazing concert experience, not necessarily a Superbowl performer nomination. Saw them play MSG last week and they blew me away, especially considering the last time I saw them three years ago they were playing a small club in DC…they’re all growns up.
Terrific piece as usual, but I have one small nit to pick. Unless you mean black vs. white, the line that pro football crosses racial lines more than any other sport is off the mark.
MLB, the NBA and the NHL all have more nationalities and “colors” represented than the NFL does.
Editor’s note: Good point. I was referring to the fans, not the players. There are countless surveys that show this. The NFL is always happy to send those along.
as someone who respects springsteen quite a bit but is not a fan of the music as much, i thought it was kind of a drag.
too cheesy for me.
i like the all black that everyone wore, a “let the music do the talking” feel to it, but all in all, too much whiz for me.
so far nobody has ever come close to Prince.
Mikey got this moving where I thought it might…who SHOULD play the Super Bowl? We always “get” musicians too late, I think. It would have been cooler to see U2 play the SB in 1985, cooler to see Springsteen play the SB in 1978, cooler to see McCartney play the SB with Wings in 1973, etc. Even suggestions like Coldplay, Gnarls Barkley, etc. are a little “done” by now. We get sucked into the sports lingo and refer to athletes as ascending or descending players…who is a recognizeable but still ascending band? Who plays a great live show? In stadiums? Who won’t cross the network TV line? Who understands the venue and wants to be there? (See why this is so hard?) I’m tellin’ ya…the only acceptable answer for next year is The Jonas Brothers. (There…I’ve said it.)
Chardon Jimmy, I can’t believe nobody has taken issue with “the Rising wasn’t an uplifting album”. Good Lord, that is the whole message of “The Rising”. My best friend growing up and a good friend from HS were both killed in the WTC. On 9/11 I make sure to crank up “The Rising” a few times to help me cope with the horror of that day. I saw a show from “The Rising” tour at the Forum and it was like going to a church revival. I was literally moved to tears. Tears of JOY. Uplifting? Hell yes.
You really ought to check out X, Joe. From what you’ve written about music, it seems like the kind of band you’d like.
I suspect next year they’ll go with a halftime artist with a younger, and blacker, demographic. Us boomers have to yield the stage at some point, and most of the players are black.
Springsteen fans have wholly unrealistic expectations for this guy.
I thought the halftime show was great, and I am not a fan. My kids thought it was great, and they’ve never heard of the guy.
There’s the image of Bruce that the “hardcore” fans have of him and then there is the image he is actually putting out there. Look at the Glory Days video. Look at the Born in the USA video. Look at the stuff from Tunnel of Love. Look at how he embraced 9/11 with The Rising.
The guy is corny, no doubt about it. I thought the whole thing, the horns, the fireworks, the ref, it all fit in.
Pittsburgh clearly had one of their linemen jump into the neutral zone right before the Harrison INT. I kept waiting for the encroachment call and it never came. I’m guessing none of the refs wanted to overturn that play.
Next time the Superbowl is on Fox, it’ll defintely be some American Idol tie-in. I see the poll has the reunion thingie as a choice.
To be honest, I have never been a huge Springsteen fan, but Sunday night, for me, he turned into Neil Diamond.
I’ve never had much use for Springsteen musically. “Tunnel of Love” had some good stuff, and that’s the only Springsteen album I ever bought.
I have less use for him politically. His teary “My Hometown” sounds utterly phony, since he already told us in “Thunder Road” what he REALLY thought of the place (“this is a town full of losers”).
So, obviously I expected very little from his set at the Super Bowl, and that’s exactly what I got. He seemed more like a drunk uncle singing a Springsteen medley at a karaoke bar than like a genuinely cool rock star.
But it was okay. I didn’t mind a bit.
Because I’m old enough to remember Super Bowl 5, when the ENTIRE halftime show was Anita Bryant singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” You may not know this, but that song has a LOT of verses that nobody ever sings. And Anita sang them all.
So, even though Springsteen was awful (he sounded like Joe Cocker, for crying out loud… though his band sounded great), I took it in stride, knowing fromn sad experience just how much worse things COULD have been (and used to be).
Briggs – well-put. (And ironically, Neil may have been a better show than Bruce, just because he is a pop artist and Bruce, for all his talent, is not.) I remember the whole huge deal when U2 was booked for the halftime show… it was definitely a WHOA moment. They were U2 and had a hit album out at the time, and since when did the NFL do anything like that?
Truthfully, they tried with Timberlake and Jackson, but of course it backfired spectacularly, which makes it all the more amazing that they managed to book U2 for this thing. The halftime show is poison, really. The odds against a group making it a good show are ridiculous because there’s that taint – “If you play a halftime show you are lame” – it takes a major-established group like U2 to get people thinking that it may just be worth it to tune in.
If not for U2, then other “name” acts wouldn’t have been able to play the halftime show. Unfortunately not all off them are suited for that venue. I’d argue that Springsteen and the E-Street Band really aren’t suited. They’re not a pop band, 3:30 and get to the next song, Bruce’s songs tend to chart almost by accident, such as people taking Born in the USA as this patriotic anthem. When he writes a pop song like Cover Me or Hungry Heart, it’s not bad but it usually doesn’t turn out the same way.
He should have just d’d the torpedoes and done Rosalita to close. Instead, because he cut verses and had that cheesy element to things, it wasn’t a true demonstration of why he’s The Boss.
(PS – I’ve long been a fan of a local Jersey band called The Anderson Council. It’s a shame they can’t get airplay. They’re a good live band and the albums are great.)
Great stuff as always.
Very surreal for me reading this post. I saw Midnight Oil play at the Ohio State Fair in 1993 (which always makes me chuckle to think about) and I always tell people it’s the best concert I’ve ever been to.
So I read the post with something akin to deja vu, thinking ‘Hey, I saw the Hothouse Flowers’ and ‘Yeah, I saw Ziggy Marley” and when you got to the Oils, I about fell out of my chair.
Sad to say I missed Bruce & co. on Sunday. I’m curious to see who they get next.
I think the first concert I ever went to was Midnight Oil in 1988 at the Orpheum in Boston. 3rd row in a very intimate setting. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some damn good shows. Saw them in 2006 (I think) at Summerfest in Milwaukee and they still rocked pretty good.
Another commenter mentioned Jane’s Addiction. I’m with them, best live performance I’ve ever seen…
So Bellylard does all that Bruce bashing and then suggests The Hives play halftime? That’s preposterous. Your opinion was just nullified in my book, and my tastes covers a very broad sprectrum of music. Maybe The Vines and The Cato Salsa Experience could sing “America, The Beautiful” and the national anthem…
Is the poll about next year’s Super Bowl about who will play at halftime or who should play at halftime? I’m not sure who should, but I would bet that John Mellencamp will play next year, and he’s not even listed.
I’m one of six who voted for American Idol, even though I’ve never seen the show and could care less about any of their singers. I just think a lot of people would enjoy it, and maybe we need a break from the “legends.” Mellencamp could probably do a great job, but having him after Petty and Bruce makes it seem like they’re doing a Heartland Rock Fantasy Draft, with Tom as Tomlinson, Bruce as Peterson, and Mellencamp as Addai. And I’m not sure if there are too many younger acts who’d really get people excited without risking wardrobe malfunctions (sorry Britney). So I say let’s punt 2010, go with the popular American Idol folks. Then in 2011 someone like Mellencamp might seem fresher, or maybe a young star will emerge, or else they can do an Up With People reunion extravaganza.
I wanted to vote for Wilco because I think they’re the best touring rock band out there, but their show would not translate in an abbreviated format, so I went with R.E.M. because some of their singles would work and “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” would rule.
Quite honestly, the Boss crotch-slam cam alone was worth the show.
And Jon Stewart’s commentary on The Daily Show later that evening was golden:
The crotch-slam is Jersey’s version of the chest-butt.
As a native Jersey girl, this makes me smile. As did your final paragraph.
Write on, Joe.
Love the best concert discussion, and Joe’s description about tying the quality of the show to your own personal context is spot-on. I saw Lauryn Hill with Outkast opening for her maybe a week before she swept the Grammy’s. The show was in a tiny theatre and was like going to church. I knew Outkast’s music before but they weren’t superstars yet either. That was a great show. I, like many others, saw Prince before he got deep into religion and refused to play his more risque stuff. He was a rock God that night and played forever. But my favorite show was seeing Stevie Wonder at a tiny House of Blues location. My girlfriend (now wife) surprised me with birthday tickets. We stood right next to the stage for the entire show, and the man was transcendent. We’d actually seen the Strokes in the same location the night before, so these tickets came as a complete surprise. There are lots of great arguments to be made for “greatest voice” of all time, and I’d say Ray Charles, Aretha, Otis Redding, Marvin, and even unique voices like Janis, Marley, Lennon, Bono, all are exceptional. But that night, I’d never heard a voice so full and resonant as what I heard in that little hall. The guy hadn’t dropped a hit record for a couple of decades, but that voice…for me, the sound of pure joy was encapsuled in that evening.
I’ve seen lots of other great shows (White Stripes, TV on the Radio, U2, Pearl Jam, Nas, etc.) but that night will be next to impossible to beat.
I believe there was a band called February that had a female singer around that time.