Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

New Orleans jazzfest gig Setlist:
Badlands
We Take Care of Our Own
Wrecking Ball
Out in the Street
Death to My Hometown
My City of Ruins
How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?
Jack of All Trades
Something You Got (with Dr. John)
O Mary Don't You Weep
Prove It All Night
Johnny 99
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
The Promised Land
The Rising
Lonesome Day
We Are Alive
Land of Hope and Dreams
Pay Me My Money Down
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
Rocky Ground/When the Saints Go Marching In (with Michelle Moore)
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out

Lots of Bruce talking early in the set--an "occupy" mention, references to New Orleans and ghosts before and during "My City in Ruins." I could have done without "We Are Alive," "Land of Hope and Dreams," and "Pay Me My Money Down," which all dragged (and sent some folks heading out to beat the traffic early) but I liked the set better than the last time I saw Springsteen (ironically enough, that 2006 Seeger sessions show in New Orleans that New orleans writer Keith Spera liked so much). If I nitpick further I'd say "Prove It All Night" and some of the others lacked the vocal passion and tempos I remember from 78 to early 80s, but it was still pretty great.

I didn't go to the show, but when he played here in Cleveland a couple of weeks ago, he included "Light of Day," which he hasn't done a lot in recent years IIRC. Kinda nice since that movie was based in and partially shot here.

He's never going to stop playing Waitin' On A Sunny Day :(

It's worse than that! He brings kids on stage to sing it with him!!!!

They were home in Jersey for the New Orleans show as was his wife Patty. Bruce joked, "Patty is home keeping the kids out of our drug stash."

we played 192 different songs on that tour alone.

god. damn. these guys work hard.

When he did his last solo tour, behind "Devils & Dust," Bruce did something like 168 different songs, or different iterations of songs (ie, I'm On Fire with banjo, or harmonium, or guitar, etc.). There was a great bootleg released that featured at least one version of each.

<3 <3 <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Isq3eS9uPc

Bruce hates that song. It's got to be one of his few hits and best songs, along with "Brilliant Disguise," that he rarely plays.

He hates it?! Man, I love it so.

Also, how cool is this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoH6NgwI7_Q

has he said he hates it?

these days it's my favorite BITUSA single.

Wonder if he's getting close to an age where he can pull a Johnny Cash 'American Music' thing, and do a 'Return to Nebraska' album. . .

he pulls one of those every few albums

Candy's Room is awesome: that guitar!!

Some nuggets from the Wiki:

During a concert in 2008, Springsteen commented on the song: "This is a song that almost didn't make the Born in the U.S.A. record; it was this or 'Pink Cadillac'... We've played this a few times, it's good for a laugh, and probably one of my most insightful songs about men and women".

One of the least-performed Springsteen songs, "I'm Goin' Down" was irregularly played in the 1984 first leg of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, then played not at all for a long stretch, then revived during the final summer 1985 leg, usually alternating with "Darlington County" in the set list.

After that tour, "I'm Goin' Down" disappeared from sight completely for almost two decades, until it made three appearances in 2003 during The Rising Tour. Indeed "I'm Goin' Down" was largely forgotten not only by the general rock and pop audience but by the Bruce faithful as well, who have seen in preference several non-single tracks from Born in the U.S.A., such as "Working on the Highway", "Bobby Jean", and "No Surrender", became standard parts of the Springsteen repertoire. The song has only been played 57 times live, as of the end of his Working on a Dream Tour, making it the least performed song of the whole Born in the U.S.A. album. It was performed only three times outside the United States, in a concert in Barcelona in 2008 during the Magic Tour and twice during the Working on a Dream Tour.

Least performed song, ever, from "Born in the USA" says it all, really, especially considering it was a single.

(Personally, I love the song, but Bruce usually introduces it with sheepish self-deprication)

oh yeah I've read that Wiki before but there's no statement about Bruce hating the song.

It is true that it's the only one of the seven singles I don't remember hearing at all on the radio. If you follow its chart trajectory it peaked rather quickly, on the heels of "Glory Days."

fabulous karaoke number btw

Does he prefer the B-side, "Janey, Don't You Lose Heart?" I think I do.

(question mark should be after close quote)

I think I've heard him play "Janey, Don't You Lose Heart" live before, but never "I'm Goin' Down."

I think Bruce is basically a little embarrassed by it. It's a fun song, but pretty generic and repetitive, musically. He often jokes about its oral sex implications. Like, this is a guy who, as per the above, plays dozens of different songs. Pretty much everything goes into rotation at one point or another, but this one, for whatever reason, he doesn't play. Like. the "Tunnel of Love" stuff is all about a marriage breaking apart, which explains why he rarely plays a lot of that material. But a single from a huge album?

Anyway, here's a rare, still funny but more revealing contextualization of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoQe9NoDlVk&feature=player_embedded

Also, how cool is this clip:

There is no performance of "Candy's Room" that isn't jaw-dropping. Probably my all-time favorite Bruce song.

My favorite is still Something In the Night, but Candy comes pretty close.

I have to separate the moody pieces from the rockers. When you're listening to them, there's nothing better than "Atlantic City," or "Racing in the Street," or "Brilliant Disguise." But it'd unfair to compare them to "Born to Run," or "The Promised Land" or "Candy's Room."

Incidentally, I was just perusing the "Songs" coffee table book, and every song on "Born in the USA" gets its own little origin tale ... except "I'm Goin' Down," which isn't even mentioned.

TTEG - very true.

this is Springsteen's weakness imo -- he can't detach himself from what we writes about.

like, it's beneath him to admit "I'm a writer and this isn't autobiograpical"

ehhhhhh for every song about him or (vaguely) sketched after people he's known or 'the type of people he grew up around' etc. there seems to be a song or two that's fully imagined or based on a movie he saw or another song he loved. and he's never seemed to me to be in denial of that.

Sure -- but he can't resist sharing these details with fans live

I think it's interesting that Suicide inspired his album Nebraska. Apparently 'Dream Baby Dream' has been part of Springsteen's live act since the 80s. At first I thought Bruce Springsteen and Alan Vega couldn't be more different, but someone above described Born to Run as 'po-mo, cut and paste kitch-pop' so maybe I missed some deeper significance there. Maybe Springsteen and Vega were both re-appropriating rock 'n' roll Americana in similar ways... I'm not much of a Springsteen fan, though, so I leave that to the fans to decide.

I love 'State Trooper' though.

Springsteen is damaged by fans (I'm one) fetishizing his songwriting and thinking.

like, New Criticism exists for guys like him to put his ecstatic fans in place.

I don't think Dream, Baby, Dream had been played by Springsteen at all until his most recent solo tour, but he did talk about Suicide in interviews at the time. Springsteen was very much amidst that NYC milieu, working with Lou Reed, Patti Smith, et al. He was definitely very aware of all that stuff, and later viewed acts like the Clash as much as peers as competition. Springsteen also remains one of the few megastars who makes a point of following contemporary and critically acclaimed music, or at least hiring someone to help (Robert Plant and Elton John are reportedly two other musically curious guys). It's to Springsteen's credit, I think, that he rarely aped the acts he was reportedly listening to. He had and has a very firmly established notion of identity.

I think Springsteen's relationship with his fans, especially lately, has been very ... conciliatory? He's more aim-to-please as ever, as if he recognizes the weird balance he teeters on between nostalgia and relevance.

I remember springsteen giving props to a Matmos record in a rolling stone interview a few years ago

alan vega is probably 10 yrs older than springsteen, so maybe they bonded over 50 rock n roll

Springsteen played Madrid last night, and performed apparently the longest set in his career: three hours and 48 minutes.

Even so, when he finished, most of Madrid still hadn't eaten dinner.

dang yeah vega is 73 according to wiki!

After he survived that cave-in at the Mercer Arts Center described in Love Goes To Buildings on Fire he could survive anything.

I think Bruce is basically a little embarrassed by it. It's a fun song, but pretty generic and repetitive, musically. He often jokes about its oral sex implications.

I'd rather hear bruce fooling around w/oral-sex double entendres than intoning righteous platitudes but that's probably why I'm not that into him

"we take care of our own" is nearly unlistenable, sounds like a wheezing self parody to my admittedly jaded ears

I'd rather hear him singing entendres than the overt "Reno"

he should do an album of his between-song patter narratives

Having Fun With Bruce On Stage

1) he should have left "downbound train" off of born in the u.s.a. and stuck "pink cadillac" on there

2) like a lot things the boss says, this is faintly embarrassing: "it's good for a laugh, and probably one of my most insightful songs about men and women." bruce has basically cut out the middle man these days: he'll make music, and he'll provide the exegesis too.

ha -- just last week a friend and I wondered why "Pink Cadillac" is so beloved by Bossheads.

Nebraska tape demo of "Downbound Train" is great, it's a Roy Orbison song there. On BITUSA it's a lesser number for sure.

seeing this guy at Wrigley in September, not sure how excited I should be

Sounds pretty damn exciting to me.

yeah I think I am! saw him in shite seats in 2000 at a big basketball arena in Indy & it wasn't that great, except for "Youngstown" which rocked righteously.