Review: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Mellon Arena Pittsburgh, PA, 5/19

When Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band announced a reunion tour in 2000, I knew I had to go. My sister and I were treated to an amazing show with a solid setlist. I've seen Springsteen only once in the interim, on the Seeger Sessions tour, which was a totally different, yet equally amazing show. I stupidly passed on an opportunity to see the Devils and Dust tour with friends of mine in Minneapolis, and I could never make it to any of the Magic shows. So I was interested in seeing Bruce and the band again, but didn't view it as a necessity until 90 seconds or so into their halftime show at this year's Super Bowl (which as a Pittsburgher, it is my duty to remind you that the Steelers won).

I'll be honest, my interest in big arena/stadium shows has waned drastically over the last five years or so. But shit, it's Bruce Springsteen! And tickets were relatively affordable ($50!).

I know in my heart that rock and roll never starts on time, but I felt it necessary at 7:25 that my sister and I quickly drink our third and final round of Long Islands. And of course, the 7:30 set time meant 8:25. But type-A music fans like me can't take the risk of missing any stage time.

I've been glancing at the setlists on the always informative Backstreets and keeping up with "Outlaw" Pete Icke's Springsteen Tour Tracker to keep up with song debuts.

Leading up to the concert, my sister asked me to make her a Bruce mix (I don't know why, every time I've been in her car for the last 6 months she's listening to E Street Radio). I approached the mix as no hits, though fan favorites were fair game. Anyhow, in compiling it, I was struck that you'd be hard pressed to put together a "bad" Springsteen setlist. That was definitely borne out at tonight's show in Pittsburgh.

While Max Weinberg's son Jason has been playing portions of the set on most dates, such wasn't the case tonight, I'm happy to report. With no disrespect to the young Weinberg, the E Street Band is one of those groups where each member truly has their own unique personality that shines through onstage. Also, I'm a drummer at heart, and it's Mighty Max Weinberg. Patti Scialfa was absent, however.

"Badlands" was an unexpected opener for me, but what a way to kick it off. Pulling out the big guns straight out of the gate! We were then treated to "Candy's Room," which was even more leftfield, but a great old nugget from Darkness on the Edge of Town - the title track of which he also played. I expected "Johnny 99," but it's one of my favorites, and we got a rousing full band rendition. After a cover of The Young Rascals' "Good Lovin'" (which Little Steven would surely call "one of the coolest songs ever recorded" on his radio show ), Bruce collected signs from the audience. After proclaiming "WE'VE NEVER PLAYED THIS NEXT SONG BEFORE!" the band launched into Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." A very honest rendition, I might add. Other highlights included "The Promised Land," "I'm on Fire," and the always crowd-pleasing "Born to Run."

Kicking off with Pittsburgh native Stephen Foster's "Hard Times," the encore never let up, with "Thunder Road," "Land of Hopes and Dreams" and "American Land" rounding out the set before bringing Joe Grusheky (another Pittsburgh native) on stage for an energetic "Glory Days." After an extended run through of "Mony Mony," I held out hope for a second encore. Alas, the houselights went up quickly. Still, a great show and I'm certainly not disappointed.


Setlist:

1. Badlands
2. Candy's Room
3. Outlaw Pete
4. Jackson Cage
5. She's The One
6. Working On A Dream
7. Seeds
8. Johnny 99
9. Youngstown
10. Good Lovin'
11. Like A Rolling Stone (audience pick)
12. Darkness On The Edge Of Town (audience pick)
13. Waitin' On A Sunny Day
14. The Promised Land
15. I'm On Fire
16. Kingdom Of Days
17. Lonesome Day
18. The Rising
19. Born To Run

**Encore**
20. Hard Times
21. Thunder Road
22. Land Of Hope And Dreams
23. American Land
24. Glory Days (w/Grushecky)
25. Mony Mony

Next up on the concert calendar: Santigold!

A brief commentary on the Springsteen Halftime Show

Halftime shows are always a bit of a crapshoot. It seems to me that these productions have become higher calibre in recent years. I certainly don't claim to be a Super Bowl nut. For me, no Steelers = no sale. But in those off years, I often at least watch the halftime show, for good or ill.

I was pretty confident that the E Street Band would pull it off. They've long had a reputation as one of the best live shows out there, and Springsteen's catalog has a number of strong songs that would suit the occasion. In fact, I found this set a little more difficult to predict than the Stones' show a few years back (during ANOTHER Steelers win, I might add!). In the end, Bruce chose a set of three crowd pleasing anthems and the requisite "new song" - all executed bombastically well.

Last week, as Pete at IckMusic noted, Springsteen announced another slew of tour dates. DC and Pittsburgh were both on the list. I thought about it briefly. I saw the E Street reunion tour in 2000 and the Seeger Sessions tour a couple years ago. Both were excellent. Anyhow, within 5 minutes of the halftime set, my sister and I were exchanging text messages saying "we should totally get tickets" (which went on sale this morning). When a halftime show is good enough to convince you to buy (reasonably priced, I might add) tickets to a rock show, the band has done their job.

I had the pleasure of watching the game in a movie theater/bar in Pittsburgh. The vibe was already intense, with the liquor flowing and the Steelers taking a 10 point lead by the end of the first half. Throw Springsteen on the stage, and we partied as if we were on the field, singing, dancing, jumping around, and general camaraderie. It reminded me of when I saw Stop Making Sense in a theater a few years ago in the sense that as much as was possible, it felt like that theater captured the concert environment during Springsteen's performance.

All in all, I was pleased. More pleased about the Steelers' win, but that goes without saying. And we were able to score tickets this morning, so come May 19, we'll be rocking out once again.

Take home point: the best halftime show in recent memory, save for Prince two years ago.

Radio Nowhere

Normally I wouldn't overlap with posts over at Ick Music here, but I'm compelled to share this one for a couple of reasons. One, it's a great Springsteen song. Two, the video on amazon is pretty bad quality. Three, it's about radio consolidation! I'm curious to hear the rest of the album. Until then, here is "Radio Nowhere."