Milwaukee 06 Novembre 1999
Springsteen
baptizes faithful in fiery show
High-energy concert proves The Boss, E Street Band still have
what it takes
By Dave Tianen
Journal Sentinel pop music critic
It may
have still looked like a basketball arena, but the Bradley Center
was really the Church of E Street on Tuesday night.
Bruce Springsteen's live shows are almost mythical rock 'n' roll
marathons of nearly superhuman effort. Now, they also are
spiritual revivals for those fatigued by the petty stresses and
attritions of middle age.
The design of an arena rock tent revival permeates Springsteen's
E Street reunion tour. The opening tune, "The Ties That Bind,"
opens with the exhortation, "Brothers and Sisters, All Rise!"
Again and again, Springsteen treated his audience as a
congregation.
One of the high points of a remarkably intense evening was
Springsteen's extended workout through "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,"
which echoed the Impressions' "It's Alright" (not to
mention Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye) and then wove
into a series of pleas to join the Rev. Boss at the River of Life,
the River of Faith, the River of Sanctification, the River of
Resurrection, the River of Sexual Healing.
That turned into a revivalist band introduction with each E
Street brother gaining a new and sanctified title. Not long after,
in a raucous "Light of Day," Springsteen enjoined his
followers to join him in the Ministry of Rock 'n' Roll.
The evangelical trappings were, in fact, the costuming for what
was essentially an oldies show. Nineties elements like "The
Ghost of Tom Joad" and "Youngstown" were
relatively infrequent. Instead, Springsteen took us back again
and again to the days of "Born to Run," "Darkness
on the Edge of Town" and "The River." But if it
was an oldies show, it was an oldies show that largely ignored
the glory days. No "Dancing in the Dark." No "Hungry
Heart." No "Streets of Philadelphia."
"Born in the U.S.A." was reborn in a drastically
different guise, played as an acoustic blues on a lone guitar,
finally as stark and bleak as the lyrics.
I never saw Springsteen in his '70s heyday, but I have to believe
that in some way he's as good or better than ever. He still has
the compact, powerful frame of an aging welterweight who's kept
in shape. Indeed, Springsteen's hairline has made a suspicious
comeback since the Tom Joad tour.
The rest of the E Street brothers vary wildly. Saxophonist
Clarence Clemons is now a bigger man, having taken on nose-tackle
dimensions. Steve Van Zandt on guitar still suggests the rock 'n'
roll buccaneer, with purple headband, flowing shirt. Drummer Max
Weinberg may be better than ever. He was absolutely huge on
"Murder Incorporated" and "Light of Day."
This is still a remarkably intense, high-energy show, nearly
three hours long and pulsating with runaway power. The singing
has taken on more nuance and is less the raspy shout. Moreover,
maturity gives the Rustbelt anthems of blue-collar entrapment
like "Youngstown" and "The River" a sense of
fatalism and despair the young Springsteen could only hint at.
Now it's like hearing "Independence Day" from the
father's perspective.
This is an unconventional show for such a high-profile tour.
Minimal staging. A set list that's happy to veer off familiar
paths. An emotional flow that turns from exhilaration to
poignancy and back again. It is that most unexpected of surprises:
a mega event worthy of the anticipation.
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Nov. 10, 1999.
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