phanan said:
Awesome! Thanks to Tim (Hewson) selling me his second ticket (tks so much Tim!), I got to go to when I'm sure I wouldn't have otherwise. Since I never saw Tom Joad, it was a new experience for me. It's one of those things when you wake up the next day you realize how amazing it was. John Kerry was there, in the same section (orchestra) we were only the opposite side. He got a standing ovation w/ a smattering of boos.
We waited before the show to try to see Bruce. We were too late, the security claimed he got there at 5. We did see Bruce's Mom and Jon Landau. We've both met him already but what the heck
He didn't say the chain saw cell phone thing, but he did say he tends to get homicidal over them. I heard one go off and I was thinking, uhoh
My prayers were answered and he did I'm On Fire w/ banjo
And ladies, he looked great- jeans and jacket at first, then when he got all sweaty just shirt w/ rolled up sleeves
Here's the setlist-
My Beautiful Reward
Reason to Believe (sort of odd, w/ him banging his foot on the floor for a beat the whole song, but how many 55 year olds could do that)
Devils & Dust (incredible live, so much emotion)
Lonesome Day
Long Time Coming
Black Cowboys
The River
Real World
Part Man Part Monkey (another Bush schpiel
)
All The Way Home
Cautious Man
Reno
Paradise
The Rising
Further On Up The Road
Jesus Was An Only Son (that one just gets to me, so beautiful)
Leah (w/ very funny Bush/Iraq windsurfing story-if you remember Kerry windsurfing during the election)
The Hitter
Matamoras Banks (absolutely spellbinding live)
Ramrod (very cool)
I'm On Fire
LOHAD
Promised Land
Dream Baby Dream
Springsteen unplugged, but not mellow
By Sarah Rodman
Saturday, May 21, 2005 - Updated: 12:15 AM EST
Bruce Springsteen wasn't the only person who earned an ovation last night at the Orpheum Theatre.
Shortly before the show began Sen. John Kerry [related, bio] took his seat to a big round of applause from the sold-out crowd. (If there were boos, they were hard to distinguish from the Bruuuuuces).
While this splendid evening of music was not about politics, the presence of the former presidential hopeful - for whom the rocker campaigned - lent a palpable heft to Springsteen's later editorializing on the policies of President George W. Bush.
Not that Springsteen needed help in the gravitas department.
For almost 2 hours, the bard of New Jersey fashioned a gripping and entertaining show, deftly balancing solemnity, humor and good old-fashioned rock 'n' roll with nothing more than his wits, a strong voice and a few instruments.
Emerging on his artfully draped stage Springsteen greeted the crowd and asked for cellphones to be turned off and ``as much quiet as I can get.''
The rapt crowd behaved unimpeachably, keeping the hoots and hollers to a minimum and only one ringtone was heard late into the set.
While this technically was Springsteen unplugged, it was not particularly funereal or mellow as he took great care to ensure a dynamic flow to the proceedings.
The stark organ and harmonica groan of ``My Beautiful Reward'' led to a Tom Waits-like distortion-drenched workout of ``Reason to Believe'' that found Springsteen accompanying himself with only his fuzzed-out blues harmonica and his own stomping foot.
That fed into the ambling acoustic grooves of the searching ``Devils and Dust,'' the title track of his new album and the wistful ``Lonesome Day.''
And so it went with the 55-year-old cherry picking and reworking hits and deep cuts from his extensive catalog and regaling the crowd with his customary storytelling.
Some of his more piquant comments included admonitions for the president regarding his immigration policies prior to ``Matamoros Banks,'' the aching tale of one who didn't make it across the border, and musings on the president's agnosticism on the matter of evolution.
``In New Jersey, we believe in evolution. It's our only hope,'' Springsteen quipped, before launching into the galloping ``Part Man, Part Monkey.''
Two crystalline video screens brought the softly lit singer's visage, tapping toes and playing hands into wider view.
Most of the imagistic tales from Devils and Dust including the weary pugilist tale ``The Hitter,'' the heartbreaking inner city expose ``Black Cowboys'' and the pulsating ``Long Time Coming.''
Among the older tunes, a furious acoustic take of ``Further on Up the Road'' with big, chunky chord strumming and a contemplative piano version of ``The River,'' closed with a ghostly falsetto, drew ovations and the crowd happily leapt to its feet for the boppy first encore of ``Ramrod.''
While the struggle between parents and children were a topic he returned to several times, last night Springsteen made everyone in the Orpheum a happy family.
