#bruceesb

There are many things wrong with social media. But there are a lot of good things about it too. One of the latter is allowing fans to share their Bruce moments. Whether that’s getting on stage for Dancing In The Dark, that brief handshake or just getting to hear their favourite song. And tonight I got one, even if it is by some degrees of separation. (Product Name Arena, Sydney Olympic Park, Thursday 9th February 2017)

Hungry Heart is one of Bruce’s crowd surfing songs. He leaves the main stage, makes his way along the side of the pit to an elevated walkway that separates the pit from the floor seats. Having some knowledge of this my friend Pete, who was taking his eldest son Finn to his 1st Bruce show, positioned himself at the back of the pit up against the walkway. In amongst all those clamoring for their moment or their photo, Bruce has picked Finn out, shaking his hand & singing the chorus along with him. Bruce then moved on to others. But if that wasn’t special enough, Bruce has then rummaged through his pocket for a guitar pick and stepped back to hand it to Finn. Moments later Bruce is being carried back to the stage by the pit crowd.

The night 2 crowd in Sydney didn’t quite live up to night 1 and were a far more reserved. Highlights were an explosive Adam Raised A Cain, and a double shot of rarities in Rendezvous & Be True. And getting to spend the show with my American friends Christine & Mike at their last show of the tour.

Setlist:

New York City Serenade (with strings - Australian Urban Orchestra) Lonesome Day The Ties That Bind No Surrender My Love Will Not Let You Down Spirit in the Night Out in the Street Hungry Heart Death to My Hometown Adam Raised a Cain The River Youngstown The Promised Land Rendezvous Be True Working on the Highway Because the Night The Rising Badlands Rosalita * * * Born to Run Detroit Medley Dancing in the Dark Tenth Avenue Freeze-out Shout Bobby Jean Thunder Road (acoustic)

*from Thunder Road

So there I was thinking this was just another Bruce show (Product Name Arena, Sydney Olympic Park, Tuesday 7th February 2017). Not that that’s a bad thing. It fact, the Sydney crowd made it a pretty good start. By far the loudest of the tour so far & they were ready from the start for whatever Bruce & the band had to deliver. It’s just the first 7 songs had been played at various times throughout the tour in similar setlist places.

But then song 8 ... boom! Out of nowhere we got Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally by sign request. A magic moment in a night that was already going extremely well.

After a lean & mean opening stanza, the middle third again provided some more reflective but no less intense moments. Darkness, American Skin, Youngstown & The Promised Land pre-empted a brief return to party mode with Mary’s Place. 

Bruce and the band certainly fed off the aforementioned crowd, providing one of the best shows of the tour. A breathtaking Jungleland filled the encore wildcard slot before we all raced down Highway 9 to night’s end.

Setlist

New York City Serenade (with Australian Urban Orchestra) American Land The Ties That Bind No Surrender Out in the Street My Love Will Not Let You Down Hungry Heart Long Tall Sally Wrecking Ball Darkness on the Edge of Town American Skin (41 Shots) Youngstown The Promised Land Mary's Place Candy's Room She's the One Downbound Train I'm on Fire Because the Night The Rising Badlands Thunder Road * * * Jungleland Born to Run Dancing in the Dark Tenth Avenue Freeze-out Shout Bobby Jean

Getting older sucks for any number of reasons. Not least of which, it appears, is people’s ability to listen to any song they haven’t heard before. I know that people of a certain age forgo their musical obsessions for raising families. That top 40 tunes are replaced by the likes of the Wiggles & Co. But I cannot then understand what also happens with those people’s desire to experience anything new. After all, even their favourite song was once a song they’d never heard before.

I know what you’re thinking, that I’m expecting too much. But just because I know practically every word to every Bruce song I’m not placing the same expectation on others. The problem is that the casual fans’ unwillingness to embrace the unknown seems to deflate the mood. And that’s not something I really see in audiences of younger demographics.

For mine, the E Street Band played the first 7 songs of the night (Product Name Stadium, Saturday 4th February 2017) with the same intensity, precision and passion. But it was only the last 2, Hungry Heart & Glory Days, where the crowd also reached that level. Bruce’s shirt too pointed to those days of past glories.

Having said that, eventually the crowd did wake up and become fever pitched by time the encores & fireworks rolled. Other highlights of the night were a sign request to dance with Max for Out In The Street. A request that was granted long before the obligatory Dancing In The Dark appeared. This Hard Land kept the purists happy too. And personally it was great to spend the show with my American Brucebuds Christine & Mike. Although we’ve been at the same shows before, this was the 1st that we got to sit together.

Setlist

American Land Lonesome Day My Love Will Not Let You Down Out in the Street Sherry Darling Hungry Heart Glory Days This Hard Land New York City Serenade (with strings – Koo Music Australia) Prove It All Night ('78 intro) Trapped Youngstown Cover Me Death to My Hometown My City of Ruins Cadillac Ranch I'm Goin' Down Waitin' on a Sunny Day Because the Night Badlands Thunder Road * * * Born to Run Seven Nights to Rock Dancing in the Dark Tenth Avenue Freeze-out Shout Twist and Shout

How does Ricky Nelson’s Garden Party? You can’t please everyone so you’ve got to please yourself? The 1st outdoor show of the tour (Product Name Stadium, Melbourne Thursday 2nd February 2017) saw Bruce as mainstream and populist as he gets. But still he wouldn’t have appeased everyone.

The setlist was 6 songs strong from his most pop album in Born In The USA. There were another 4 from his next closest pop presence, The River. But still there would have been those unhappy he didn’t play ALL the hits.

The purists and diehards, of course, want the deep cuts, rarities & variation. And despite solo acoustic performances of The Orlons 1962 tune Don’t Hang Up and Long Walk Home, that contingent may well have been disappointed too. The former was a “letter to home” from “embarrassed Americans” with reference to the alleged hanging up between Trump & Turnbull.

To his credit, Bruce does his best to provide a little something for everyone even if it’s not enough for all. However, by the end of the show, there’s no doubting the sheer power of his performance is enough to eventually satisfy most people, in some fashion.

Koo Music Australia backed up from Adelaide to provide the strings to New York Serenade. The change was it siding down the setlist from the opening slot. Fireworks after the tour debut of Twist & Shout brought the night to and end.

Special mention to my companion for the show, Lisa, who claims to be the best gig company I’ve had all tour despite her not being a fan. The next outdoor spectacular is on Saturday.

📷 Lisa North-Coombes

Setlist Don't Hang Up (Solo acoustic) (The Orlons cover) American Land The Ties That Bind No Surrender Two Hearts The Promised Land Glory Days Hungry Heart Wrecking Ball New York City Serenade (with Koo Music Australia)

Atlantic City Johnny 99 Murder Inc. Death to My Hometown The River Mary's Place Darlington County Working on the Highway I'm on Fire Because the Night The Rising Badlands Land of Hope and Dreams *** Long Walk Home (Solo acoustic) Born to Run Dancing in the Dark Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out Shout Twist And Shout

Monday night in Adelaide and being the start of the working week Bruce seemed like he had business to complete (Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Monday 30th January 2017). Again the night started with New York Serenade, reuniting him with Koo Music Australia who provided strings in Brisbane on the last tour. The noticeable difference was the absence of Garry Talent’s beard, possible a victim of the Aussie heat.

Bruce then delivered his brief “state of the nation” speech, lending support to those protesting back home, ending with “this is an immigrant song”. Then it was Max Weinberg providing the backbeat to Soozie Tyrell’s fiddle and the duel accordions of Charlie Giordano & Roy Bittan launching the band in to opening strains of American Land.

The rest of the opening stanza continued that narrative culminating with the tour debut of Trapped. However, from there the mood definitely lightened. So much so that Bruce missed his cue to a couple of verses through the night.  The middle third of the main set concluded in somewhat bizarre circumstances. Four punters, dressed as the characters from The Honeymooners (1950s US sitcom) requested to perform Brown Eyed Girl with Bruce. And he obliged, even to the point of having Roy sit on the interchange bench for the tune. As I said to a friend experiencing her 1st Bruce/ESB show, this is why we go to so many shows. In my now 40+ shows, I’ve never seen anything like that before.

Roy made up for sitting out Brown Eyed Girl by provided an absolutely superb outro to Racing In The Street. The closing of the main set followed a familiar path but was no less enjoyable.

The encores were highlighted by a solo acoustic rendition of If I Should Fall Behind by request + Richie Sambora (presumably in town visiting the in laws) guesting on Tenth Avenue & Shout. Props to the Adelaide crowd who were probably the best so far. Next stop, Melbourne & the 1st outdoor show of the tour.

Setlist: New York City Serenade (with strings) American Land The Ties That Bind No Surrender Land of Hope and Dreams Trapped Spirit in the Night Glory Days Hungry Heart Wrecking Ball Youngstown Something in the Night Darlington County Brown Eyed Girl (with “The Honeymooners”) Murder Incorporated Death to My Hometown Racing in the Street Because the Night She's the One The Rising Badlands Thunder Road * * * If I Should Fall Behind (acoustic) Born to Run Dancing in the Dark Tenth Avenue Freeze-out (with Richie Sambora) Shout (with Richie Sambora) Rosalita

*from American Land

Friday night and it seemed like a party night for Bruce & the band for my 1st pit show of the tour (27th January, Perth Arena). After another string serenade to start, Bruce came out of the blocks hard & fast. Night made it’s first appearance of the tour followed by another 4 tour debuts. And out of those 5, 2 were legitimate hits in Cover Me & Glory Days. The former along with It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City featured dueling guitar solos from Bruce & Little Steven. Sandwiched in between the BITUSA tracks was Radio Nowhere, with Max Weinberg bring the “pounding drums” to the fore and more dueling guitars.

Another hit soon followed with Hungry Heart pairing with the title track to it’s parent album, The River. From there the tone turned serious with the hard times triple play of Youngstown, Murder Inc & Johnny 99. But then it was back to party mode with another 2 from The River.

Following Death To My Hometown, yet another River tune & another tour debut. Drive All Night was so exquisite that it eventually silenced the most talkative of the casual fans, albeit briefly.

From there it was somewhat familiar territory, but no less powerful. Backstreets & Seven Nights To Rock were the encore wildcards. The night ended with Bobby Jean making it 5 BITUSA tunes for the night.

Next stop, Adelaide. Koo Music have posted online they’ll be reuniting their strings for the show.

Setlist 1. New York City Serenade (with string section) 2. Night 3. It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City 4. Cover Me 5. Radio Nowhere 6. Glory Days 7. Hungry Heart 8. The River 9. Youngstown 10. Murder Incorporated 11. Johnny 99 12. Ramrod 13. You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) 14. Death to My Hometown 15. Drive All Night 16. I'm Goin' Down 17. Because the Night 18. The Rising 19. Badlands 20. Land of Hope and Dreams *** 21. Backstreets 22. Born to Run 23. Seven Nights to Rock (Moon Mullican cover) 24. Dancing in the Dark 25. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out 26. Shout (The Isley Brothers cover) 27. Bobby Jean