John Ford posted on May 21, 2008 18:28
Bruce Springsteen (live in Los Angeles)
Review Snapshot: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street are on a roll and have gotten more intense and passionate as their tour has progressed. They continue to examine our bleak recent past, but are heralding some light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel hope for the future. Dublin is in for a rock and roll revival beyond compare.
The Cluas Verdict? 9.5 out of 10
Full Review:
This is a follow up to a review of Springsteen’s show in October 2007. I was lucky enough to see the E Street band again, on their second go-round through the LA area. The show has changed a bit and is worthy of an update, as it is headed your way.
Springsteen has (mostly) kept the key sequences in the show, i.e. the "5 pack" that ends the main set (Devil's Arcade/The Rising/Last To Die/Long Walk Home/Badlands), but has hugely mixed up the rest of the set, adding songs of joy and songs of anger with a renewed vigor. It has been suggested that he is "on fire" these days because Ms. Scialfa is at home keeping their teenagers from burning down the house.
Springsteen is definitely more loose and provocative on this leg of the tour, but also even more passionate (if that’s possible). At my show, after a scathing performance of Murder Incorporated he screamed into the mic, "We’re out for blood!" He is adding "tour premier" songs just about every night.
Part of the change is that we in the U.S. are closer to the November election, and our long national nightmare will be ending soon (though with much devastation to repair). Springsteen speaks of the trauma of the last seven years but also talks more now about hope for the future. He has thrown in his lot with Senator Obama. "He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit."
Springsteen and the E Street Band are on fire, out for blood, and are inspired by the "Great American reclamation project" ahead that will heal wounds at home and abroad. Bruce is our truest ambassador.
John Ford
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