Giants Stadium night one: the huge, overarching story was Garry Tallent shifting from stage left to stage right, after he spent the last few hundred E Street Band shows in the previous position. Heck to Betsy, I don’t go to Bruce shows expecting cognitive dissonance of this sort. I go for three rare sarcasm-free hours, to wallow in the sentiment I’ve attached to his music, to proclaim, loudly and with spittle flying in every direction, that I believe in the promised land (and I do).
Notes on the show itself: Being up close is always kinda neat, but the best thing about the GA pit is the pristine sound. It’s gonna be a bummer to go back to echoes and hollow snare drums tonight… The set list felt like the ‘99 tour redux at times (Youngstown, Murder Inc., Bobby Jean, Atlantic City, Working on the Highway)… During Tunnel of Love, Patti sounded like she was caught in a bear trap… The early-show stretch of Janey Don’t You Lose Heart/I’ll Work For Your Love/Youngstown killed the crowd; The Promised Land pulled ‘em back a few songs later… The short, set-opener version of Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out kicks ass; the drawn-out, 32-minute, middle-of-the-set version with THE RIVER OF SALVATION! does not… Mary’s Place is once again long enough to cover a bathroom break, beer refill and quick check of the box scores… After his monster outros for TOL and Youngstown, I’m willing to concede that Nils Lofgren might be a better guitar player than I am… Lonesome Day needs a rest… All these Bruce-dork quibbles notwithstanding, this was quite the excellent outing.
UPDATE: The good folks at the Elias Sports Bureau note that last night marked the third time Uncle Larry has seen Bruce Springsteen play on July 27. So there you go.
