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michaelmystic2003 Inner circle 3062 Posts |
Today, I'm hoarse. Today, I'm dead-tired. Last night, I experienced, for the first time, one of the best concert acts in the world at the Air Canada Center in Toronto: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND!
The Boss and company are on their Working On a Dream Tour, and most members are well into their 50s and 60s. The Boss himself is pushing 60, but he played, NON STOP, for a full 3 hours. 30 songs, and more energy than you could fit into a Red Bull warehouse... and all without drugs or alcohol. Now THAT'S masterful. My dad and I arrived in Toronto plenty early, and were amazed by how Boss-ified the city of Toronto had become! EVERYWHERE you went, Springsteen music was playing... on the streets, in restaurants, book stores, everywhere. Needless to say, I was PUMPED. The concert started at 8:00. The lights completely turned out in the ACC, and Bruce himself started screaming into his microphone. The lights came on, and the highly anticipated opening song began. Let me say, the E-Street Band is one of the most connected, solid, skilled, and overall incredible bands in the world. It was an honour to be able to hear them play live and experience their mastery of music in person. Badlands: The earth-shattering opener... pumped the crowd up immensely, everyone screaming the lyrics in unison and doing the "Ohhh OOOOHHH ohh ohhh ohhhs" at all the right placed. It was a room of true fans, we all felt unified and Bruce immediately comes off as a likeable friend, humble yet almighty. I will now be reviewing some highlights of the songs from the concert... there were almost 30 in total, and surprisingly I remember every single one (except the songs I'd never heard before). Here we go, in no particular order at all. Waiting On a Sunny Day: A peppy, happy song off the amazing album The Rising, this was a surprisingly HUGE crowd pleaser. Everyone was on their feet, clapping, dancing, and singing along. It was incredible, a fantastic live rendition of a fantastic song. 8/10. Tenth Avenue Freezeout: This was, fittingly, one of the closing songs (Bruce did about 6 encores)... off the CLASSIC album Born To Run, this song is so singable, danceable, and just plain incredible. This is one song that never fails to disappoint live in concert. 9/10 Lonesome Day: A surprise to me, and it is also one of my all-time favourite songs Period. This is the opening song on The Rising, full of life, deep, and very catchy. 10/10, an amazing, amazing live performance. The Ghost of Tom Joad: Off the album of the same name, this live rendition turned out to be a deep rocker, as opposed to the soft acoustic original. Nils Lofgren, one of the world's best guitarists, performed one of the best solos I've ever heard. Just magical, I was in awe. 10/10 She's The One: A rockin' song to be sure, this had everyone screaming "WHOOOOOOOOOOOAAA, SHE'S THE ONE!" in unision. Beautiful. 8/10 Land of Hope and Dreams: It's impossible not to like this song. Plus, it's got a fantastic guitar riff and a strong message. One of my favourite songs to hear live. 9/10 Outlaw Pete: Now THIS was awesome. Springsteen at his best. Performing "Outlaw Pete" from his latest album with extended instrumental sequences, a treat for the ears. Plus, Springsteen sported an awesome Ten-Gallon hat throughout. Brilliant! 9/10 Born To Run: This is pretty much an unconditional hit, and one of Springsteen's most popular songs. I don't think he ever does a concert without performing this timeless classic from the album of the same name (which is one of the best rock albums ever released). 8/10 Radio Nowhere: What a pleasant surprise. This song has been called "one of the most significant contributions to rock music in the past decade" and it's clear why. A heavy rocker, an undoubted hit, and yet another song that had everyone screaming lyrics at the top of their lungs (though that happened for almost every song of the evening... hell, every song the man produces is a hit!). 10/10 Working On a Dream: The song off the new album, a soft, light, and meaningful piece. Bruce has a tradition of throwing in an Evangelistical preaching into many of his concerts to pump up the crowd. This time, it was in Working On a Dream. "TONIGHT, ON THIS STAGE, I'M GOING TO BUILD A HOUSE OF FREEDOM!!!!! I'M GOING TO BUILD A HOUSE OF FAITH!!!!!!!! I'M GOING TO BUILD A HOUSE OF HOPE!!!!!!!!! I'M GOING TO BUILD A HOUSE OF LOVE!!!!!" Bruce screamed as the audience went WILD. Bruce is truly a master of the stage. Now, about halfway through the performance, Bruce walked to the edge of the stage and... started collecting people's signs??? These werent' just any signs... they were song requests! Huge bristol board signs with song titles boldly printed across. Bruce rarely takes song requests, but the crowd that night was incredible, and he was obviously feeling very daring. He walked around, E Street Band playing in the background, and collected a whole slew of these signs. Then he chose one, propping it up against his microphone stand. The screen gave us a close up and... YES, E-STREET SHUFFLE!!! The opening riff began, the excitement built, and everyone was going wild! The E-Street Shuffle is one of Bruce's best, and an immensely good concert piece. The next request Bruce chose had us all confused. "Louie Louie" is not a Boss song! Here's the incredible thing. The band has never played this song before, but in literally 10 seconds they played the song, in its entirety, like they've been playing it for years. Simply incredible, and true proof of how connected the band is. It sounded flawless. The concert was over 3 hours, non-stop with no breaks.. and Bruce, almost 60, was moving the ENTIRE TIME. Truly unbelievable, I don't know how he does it. He did everything from jumping on the piano, to his Evangelistical monologue, to leaning backwards on his knees while gripping his microphone stand, to spinning his guitar around his body 10 times on its strap, and even CROWD SURFING. Yes, that's right, the Boss himself did a tiny bit of crowd surfing. And, he even smashed a guitar! (Well, sort of... he tossed an acoustic guitar high into the air and it crashed to the ground, thus smashing it). Bruce is hilarious, energetic, powerful, commanding, and extremely talented. No wonder he's one of the top acts in the entire world. Overall, this is one of the defining experiences of my life that I will never forget. I was screaming, dancing, clapping, and throwing my arms in the air for the entirety of the concert. It was deeply impactful, and the biggest house party in the world. Unforgettable, incredible, amazing, involving, uniting, hilarious, and completely rockin'. 9/10 for the entire evening, one I wouldn't have traded for anything.
Learn more about my upcoming book of close up magic and theory SYNTHESIS & SECRETS: A Magic Book in Four Acts: https://www.michaelkrasworks.com/synthesis-secrets
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Justin Style Inner circle 2010 Posts |
The boss is over and done. And this is coming from someone who has seen him from the very begining. Stone Pony and the Bottom Line gigs.
The guy doesn't even sound like him anymore and they way he moves around is too uncomfortable to watch. I didn't read your "review" because who cares, you're just a kid and wouldn't know good music if it hit you on the head. As a matter of fact just the thought of you even having the nerve to "review" Bruce is insulting. Music...WTF would you know about music?! I'm glad you had a good time though. |
michaelmystic2003 Inner circle 3062 Posts |
You're saying The Boss isn't good music? I reviewed it because I enjoyed it, and just gave my opinion of it all. It was more detailing my fantastic experience anyways.
Learn more about my upcoming book of close up magic and theory SYNTHESIS & SECRETS: A Magic Book in Four Acts: https://www.michaelkrasworks.com/synthesis-secrets
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts |
Justin is a brilliant man.
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Josh Chaikin Inner circle Kansas City 1430 Posts |
Quote:
On 2009-05-08 14:35, Michaelmystic2003 wrote: The Boss is great music. But watching any of these older guys perform now is painful to watch. Look up live footage of Eddie Money on YouTube, you'll see what I mean. The Boss is great, no mistake, but I want to remember him and the rest of the band like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rGFfO5fUvE |
MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts |
Eddie Money put on a great show! I saw him in the early 80s at the fair.
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Josh Chaikin Inner circle Kansas City 1430 Posts |
I saw Eddie two years ago and he was drunk off his ass. Sort of like what Justin said. Except Bruce seems more put together these days than Eddie. I still like them both, but I'll stick with their old stuff.
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts |
Did Eddie have his back up guy singers? I always thought that was funny. He was always playing at the country fair in Santa Clara before the real estate people started their program to kill the fairgrounds for development, which hasn't succeeded yet.
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