Bruce and the ESB in Hartford, 4/24/09: The difference between the rehearsal show of a few weeks back and the Hartford one was like the difference between a vegan meatloaf and a cheeseburger dripping with lard and ketchup runoff. It was that much better.
Of course, the show almost didn’t happen for me. Thanks to a predictable car fire on I-95, the two-hour trip took more than four hours (comment from my traveling partner: “Somebody better be dead up there”). As a result, we missed the opener (Badlands) and half of song two (Outlaw Pete). It didn’t matter. Jackson Cage came next and there wasn’t any letdown until the final chimes of Rosalita two-and-a-half hours later.
The good: Jackson Cage, which gets crossed off my list of personal favorites I haven’t heard live. It raged. The new top five? I’m Goin’ Down (possible), Fire (possible), The Price You Pay (it’s been a perfect thematic fit for the last three tours, but he hasn’t pulled it out of storage), Valentine’s Day (maybe if he tours by himself again) and Restless Nights (not unless, like, kidnappers force Bruce to play it in order to secure the safe return of his mom)… The staging and song selection are considerably better than they were a month ago. They ditched the back-of-stage screens and the pointless animation that came with them, which helped with the energy from the behind-the-stage fans… No Out in the Street… She’s the One early in the set got the crowd up… Speaking of which, you can add “Springsteen shows in Connecticut” to the inevitable next edition of “Stuff White People Like”… Great call bookending the recession suite (Seeds/Johnny 99/Joad) with songs casual fans dig (Radio Nowhere and Raise Your Hand)… The folks in the general-admission pit receive high marks for their requests. We got Wild Thing as the test-the-band cover and Rockin’ All Over the World, though he took a Loose Ends sign and didn’t play it… And then there’s Bruce himself, who worked his ass off. Maybe he realizes that he personally has to make up for the fact that the band is on its downslope as performers. Whatever the case, it’s pretty ridiculous that a 59-year-old can put out the sustained effort over three hours that he did on Friday.
The bad: Arena audiences don’t like Lonesome Day as much as Bruce thinks they do… The synths drowned out everything but Bruce’s voice during The Wrestler… Clarence still isn’t moving or playing especially well. Nils is the band MVP nowadays, especially with Max handing over a chunk of the show to his kid (who’s got a bit of Keith Moon in him)… I loathe Sunny Day, but the crowd’s off-the-wall reaction to it explains why he keeps trotting it out… No BIUSA songs, which is both good and bad: good in that he didn’t flog any of the overplayed ones (No Surrender, Dancing, Bobby Jean, Darlington), bad in that he continues to ignore the two (Cover Me and Downbound Train) that are a perfect fit this time around. Cover Me should be opening this set.
Great fun. I gotta talk somebody into hitting the Long Island show next Monday with me.
