2000 U.S. TOUR REVIEWS
New
York 12 June
Atlanta
Las
Vegas
Toronto
Pittsburgh
Cincinatti
Memphis
Dallas
Denver
St.Louis/Kansas (en
español)
12 June 2000, NEW YORK CITY, NY
REVIEW BY Sue Cummings
Three buddies and I (average age - 47) drove 200 miles from
upstate N.Y.
to see Bruce and band at the Garden in NYC. Our seats were
about as
far away from the stage as one could be and still be in the
building.
the show was superb. Although being so far back and up prevented
us from
enjoying the intimacy of nearness, it did provide us with an
amazing
perspective of the power the rockers (Bruce in particular) have
with a
crowd. The audience moved unrelentlessly almost as if a single
organism
as they sang along nearly word for word. I've been a fan and have
been
to eight concerts starting with The Wild and Innocent tour ,then
Born to
Run, Darkness on the edge of town, Born in the USA., Lucky Town,
and
now this reunion. That night he and they were as good as I've
ever seen
him/them. I felt during and after the show that I was witness to
the
best music ever fuckin' made!
REVIEW BY Brian Conerty
American Skin debuts
Saw Bruce for 3rd time of this tour in atlanta june
4th. 1st orlando, then
tampa, then atlanta. The first 2 were so good, I took my 7 year
old twin
boys (Patrick and Josef) to the atlanta show.
They loved it. It was their first concert ever. They've been
listening to Bruce
scince they were born, and know the words to a lot of songs. They
were
clapping to the music, shouting, and singing. It was great. At
one point, I
put one of the boys on my shoulder, and Bruce pointed right at
him, and gave
him a thumbs up. He won't stop talking about it. The show was
awesome with
the debut of 2 new songs. It's great to know I was there the
first time they
were ever played. I saw Bruce at what used to be the Meadowlands
for the Born
in the USA tour, and he keeps getting better. Forget the king,
the boss rules.
REVIEW BY TED BISHOP
Viva Viva Viva Lassssss Vegas
What more can be said? The show was incredible. I was fortunate
to travel clear across the country to have
a mini vacation with my wife in the biggest party place in the
world and to top it off, with one of the greatest
performers of all time. Tickets were a bit difficult at first,
but after some quick talking to a casino host on the
telephone I was assured tickets would be waiting for me. We took
the red eye on Thursday night. The plane
was delayed 2 hours. I thought to myself, "This isn't a good
start." That's when I noticed a couple with Bruce
Springsteen shirts on which they purchased at the Tampa show. We
figured we were the only one's flying in
from Tampa. We had gone to the Tampa show so we talked a few
minutes and swapped Boss stories. They told
me how they were going to 2 of the Madison Square Garden shows
and how they had already been to a few
others besides the Florida ones. I told them maybe I would see
them at the show and they smiled and nodded.
We all waited together as the plane finally arrived. It was a
four hour flight and by the time I arrived at the MGM
in Las Vegas it was just before 3 am. Dead on our feet I escorted
my wife to our room. As she got ready for bed I
splashed water on my face. She looked at me confused and asked
"What are you doing?"
"I want to go get our tickets," I replied. "Can't
you wait until the morning, we haven't slept in almost 24
hours."
I didn't even comment. There was no way I was going to be left
out in the cold of this show. I gave her a kiss
on the cheek and walked out of the room straight to the VIP
services. I gave the man my name and he told me the
box office wouldn't be open until noon. He looked up my name on
his computer and told me my tickets would be
waiting. A bit more reassured I walked around the casino just to
check things out.
By the time I returned to my room I was able to crawl into bed
about an hour before the morning sunlight came
shinning into my eyes. I woke my wife and told her to get in the
shower. She never questioned me knowing
our time was short and we wanted to get in as much as possible.
We found ourselves up and ready for the
day in record time. We went to eat a good breakfast and waited
until noon to arrive. I made sure we stayed
close to the box office. I wanted to make sure I was the first
one there and I was. I picked up my tickets and did
what anyone would do, rushed to a seating chart to see how good
they would be. I looked to my wife and said,
"Boy I wish we had better seats."
She just sighed and said, "There is nothing wrong with these
seats. They're pretty good."
"I know, but I would have liked to have better." I said
in a sympathetic voice.
I soon realized she was right. I had tickets, and that was better
than a lot of others since the show was sold out.
We went about our business the next 2 days waiting for the show.
My eyes scanned every place we went in hopes
of maybe meeting someone from the band. People said it would be a
long shot, but there was always hope. We were
able to meet many others who had flown in for the show. We met
people from all parts of the country who like
myself can never get enough Bruce.
Saturday finally arrived and I made sure I had a tour shirt I had
gotten at a previous show on, along with my tour hat.
That was all it took for people to start approaching. As I sat
playing a slot machine this couple saw the shirt and
walked over. The guys name was Dave and his wife Lisa who were
from California and they were as estatic about
the show as I was. They had the pleasure of seeing the 2 shows
there a few days earlier. He shook my hand
and said, "I have to tell you my story."
"O.K." I replied
"Last night my wife and I were at the Bellagio and there in
the casino was the Big Man. I couldn't believe it.
I went over and whispered, "I know your Clarence Clemmens
and you know your Clarence Clemmens, but I won't
make a big deal out of it so others can find out."
The Big Man smiled and said, "Thank you." A few minutes
later he whispered at the guy he was with and they left.
I continued to listen to this man as he told the story with so
much enthusiasm I felt as if I was there seeing Clarence with
him.
We both exchanged a few Bruce stories and he high fived me and
said, " Maybe I'll see you at the show."
I nodded and he left with his wife. It wasn't long before that
slot machine I was playing took most of my money.
I told my wife we needed to go elsewhere. She agreed and we
headed to a few other casinos. Each place we went to
I was stopped by someone who was going to the show. We would
exchange a story or two and be on our way. I
played blackjack with a man who came from Denver to see the show.
I met a couple from Portland who also flew in
to see the show. I started to wonder if anyone from Vegas was
going to be there. My final meeting was with a pit
boss. She grew up 20 miles away from Bruce and was a real big
fan. However she was unable to attend the show
but wished for me to have a good time. I assured her I would as I
donated even more money to her casino.
It was only mid afternoon by now but the anxiousness was building
even more so I grabbed my wife and told
her it was time to get back to the MGM. She never argued. We
found ourselves eating dinner by 4 p.m. After that
we made a quick trip to our room to drop off the things my wife
bought while I lost money gambling. On the
elevator going back down stairs we ran into another guy wearing a
tour shirt. I smiled and said, "Should be
a great show."
"You know it," He answered. Then he told me how he was
going to all ten shows at MSG. I thought how lucky
he was to be in a position to do that. Next he showed me the
sticker he put on his shirt to get him backstage.
I can't even describe how excited he was. I was even excited for
him. He said he was good friends with Niels.
As the elevator doors opened he went his way and I went mine. We
headed toward the arena, when all of a
sudden there was Dave and his wife. He was still showing a great
deal of enthusiasm. He came right over to
my wife and I and started to tell us a story about security. We
looked at him confused and he said, "Wasn't I
talking to you guys earlier." I said, "Yeah about
seeing Clarence"
"Oh that's right. That's nothing, wait until you here this.
I came to see if there were any tickets left because our
seats were bad and they had a few cancellations so we grabbed a
couple of extra seats. Then I went up to a
security guard to ask where they were and he brought me into the
arena to see where the seats were. I was so
happy that I gave him my 2 bad seats. He thanked me and asked if
I wanted to come back later for the sound check. Can you believe
that?"
I listened as he went on.
"We went back and met him at 4 o'clock. He walked us in.
Bruce wasn't there but we got to see everyone
setting up for the show and it was awesome."
I agreed with him as I knew how he was feeling and it did sound
awesome. That was when he showed us
his tickets and as luck would have it he wasn't to far from us.
We continued to swap stories and before we
knew it they were letting us all in. As we got ourselves drinks
and headed toward our seats the security guard
Dave had given his extra tickets too came over and told us the
show would start late due to the long line of
people still picking up their tickets. I just shook my head. How
could anyone wait until the last minute to get
their tickets I wondered. We passed the time talking with Dave
and his wife then went to take our seats as the
crowd became thicker.
It was after 8 by now and some of the people were wondering why
the show hadn't started yet. I shared the
information I received with the people in my area. That's how I
met Brian and his wife. They flew in from
Arizona. He was originally from New Jersey and a huge fan. Again
I had someone to talk about the Boss with.
We compared stories like I had with all the others and before we
knew it the lights went out and the crowd came to their feet.
A spotlight shined down onto the stage and there with his back to
us wearing a Viva Las Vegas cape stood the
Boss. The crowd started to cheer as he started off the show with
everyone's prediction Viva Las Vegas. From
that moment on the most of the crowd never sat. They sang,
screamed, and applauded as Bruce did one of his
greatest shows. He had us laughing, singing, and cheering the
whole time. He played every song he had in any
way related to Vegas or gambling including Atlantic City. He told
us all about being scrutinized and demoralized
and "Wayne Newtonized." He did his Elvis impersonation
with a little bit of Can't help falling in love. Then came
the end. Bruce put his Vegas/Elvis cape back on and said a few
words into the microphone then stormed out the back.
Patty made her way to the microphone and proudly said, "The
boss has left the building."
As I started to laugh at the humor they showed Bruce came running
back on stage to play even more. Brian and
I were losing our minds at the performance we were witnessing. If
I didn't turn to tell him something he was tapping
me on my shoulder to tell me something. As Bruce continued to
talk and Ramrod was already playing I looked to
Brian and said, "I don't think he's finished yet."
"I think your right?" he said
No sooner did I get those words out and Bruce screamed for his
guitar and closed the show again with Viva Las Vegas.
As the lights came on and the crowd headed toward the exit my
wife and I decided to sit down for a few minutes
until things cleared out a little. We said goodbye to Brian and
his wife and waved followed with a thumbs up to
Dave a his wife. As my wife and I sat there talking about the
show we met another couple. They were the first
couple we met from the Vegas area. I never did get their names
but we had a lengthy conversation anyways. This
was their first Bruce show. They had never had the privledge of
seeing him before. That was when she told me how
the radio station had people call in and request Bruce add Vegas
to his tour t-shirts as he added it to his tour
last minute. I myself was unaware he had never played Vegas
before. I asked her what she thought of the show.
I wasn't surprised by her response. She said, "The guy is
great. He never took a break and he played and sang
the whole time. I couldn't believe it. All my years here I never
saw a show that good, and the tickets were so cheep."
That's when I told her how Bruce wouldn't let them raise the
price of tickets and how he reserved the best seats for
fans and the VIPs sat elsewhere. She just nodded in amazement
when I told her those things and her husband was
still humming some of the songs he just heard. The last thing she
said to me was, " I hope he comes and plays
again because I would love to see him again." I smiled and
whispered to my wife as we walked away " Before long
she'll be traveling across the country for the shows also."
My wife smiled and said, "Your probably right. With the
casino overcrowded and still suffering from jet lag we hung out
for a short time and headed toward our room.
With the show still fresh on my mind I went to sleep with a large
smile on my face. It was the first decent nights
sleep I had gotten since we left. The next day refreshed and
still charged from the concert we checked out of our
room. With our plane not leaving for 12 hours we hit the casinos
still hoping to maybe see some of the band
members. That never happened but I did manage to hit a jackpot on
a slot machine that covered the expense
of the whole trip plus a little extra for me. Ironically it was
on the Elvis slot machine! All in all I managed to
see the best show ever and have a short vacation with just the
wife and no kids and it was all free. I'm sure
I'll never be that lucky again, but it all makes a pretty good
story don't you think?
3 & 4 May 2000, TORONTO, CANADA
REVIEW BY MILLSKUBE, CANADA
Wow! Bosserific! The first show was a high energy mix of
classic tunes very
similar to a show I saw on 11/19/99 in Buffalo. There was a
fabulous and
rare "Darlington County" and an outstanding
"Working on the Highway" with
Bruce playing acoustic guitar. "Mansion on the
Hill" was nice, except for
Patti's weak vocals. Clarence was in top form on "The
River" and the three
hour show ended with Bruce doing a sommersault across the
stage. To quote a
local paper, "50 going on 17."
The second night was outstanding and far surpassed the first
show. It
opened with "Don't Look Back" and Bruce and the band
didn't for three hours.
"Factory" and "Point Blank" were nice
changes to the set and were
beautifully done. While introducing Patti Bruce broke out
into "Red Headed
Woman" and "My Girl" which was unreal.
"Incident on 57th Street" was an
amazing suprise and "No Surrender" was the highlight of
the night. Then
Clarence stole the show on "Jungleland" which brought
the crowd to its feet
even though most were already standing. The encore opened
with a "Hungry
Heart" straight off the live box set. This show ended
with Bruce sliding
across the stage under Clarence's legs. Bosserific.
During "10th Avenue" a bra is thrown
on the stage, lands on Bruce's head; Patti comes over pelvic
thrust and a guy throws his shirt at her. The longest show of the
tour so far and one of the best, with the debut of
"Dancing in the Dark", in a countrified version with
Nils on pedal steel and Garry on stand up bass. "Born in the
USA"
features more lyrics ("10 years burnin' down the road... 15
years burnin' down the road... 25 years burnin' down the
road") and a different way of singing the song.
REVIEW BY LISA POLISKI,
PITTSBURGH
We saw Bruce at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, April
26. He was spectacular. The whole band
was. My husband and I had seen him in Philadelphia in
September and while that show was super, I thought the Pittsburgh
show was better. Better acoustics, better songs (more rocking
songs) to start with. In Pittsburgh we sat behind
the stage and I was really worried that the seats would be
terrible. However, it was pretty cool to be able to see the
interaction of the band members from that vantage point. I
especially enjoyed watching Max play the drums, something you
rarely can see from the front. At one point Patti and Steve
messed up the words to a chorus and they, along with Bruce, just
started busting up with laughter. My husband enjoyed being
able to see the teleprompter with the binoculars and tell me what
was coming next. That is especially ironic in light of
the lyric mess up. In reviewing the
play list, it's really hard to say what I wish he hadn't
played. I do wish he had played The River. I've never
heard that in concert and it's one of my favorites. Also,
he didn't play Darkness on the Edge of Town which is probably my
favorite. He had played both the night before so I was kind
of expectantly hoping for them. I think the arrangement for
If I Should Fall Behind was incredibly moving. I loved The
Ties That Bind to open and Out in the Street got everyone up and
moving (except in my lame section where I was the only one
up except for the man right in front of me!!) Spirit in the
Night was a great and unexpected addition. Darlington
County was super!!! I could just go on and on and I could have
continued to listen to him for days!!! I really enjoyed watching the camaraderie of the
band. They all look like they're having so much fun!
How do they manage it night after night, city after city?
You can tell that they all really enjoy one another and love what
they are doing. Bruce and Steve riff off one another so
well it's like they are the only ones in the room. Bruce
and Patti are great together as well. When they sang a
duet, you could feel the sexual chemistry between them. At
the same time, I think it's wonderful that he doesn't seem
to give her any preferential treatment in terms of mike
time. Finally, Clarence Clemmons. Without him, the E
Street Band would not be the same. His sax provides the
haunting melodies that make Bruce's songs so memorable.
My friends all commented that Bruce looked
old. Heck, I should look so good and have his energy and
I'm 15 years younger than he is. I listen to his songs and
I'm a high school sophomore listening to The River in my bedroom
in New Jersey. It's incredible..his messages are timeless
and while his themes may have matured as he has from the need
to run away on his early albums to resignation that this is
the way things are on some of his later ones, he maintains a
sense of optimism. Although my
husband said this is the last Springsteen show, I'm working on
him for Madison Square Garden in July.
9 Abril 2000, KANSAS CITY,MO / 8 Abril 2000, ST.LOUIS,MO
CRÓNICA DE ALEX CLIMENT desde
Missouri
Soy Alex Climent, subscriptor de Piont Blank desde aquel ya
mitico "For You". Me encuentro actualmente en USA y he
aprovechado
para ir a dos conciertos de Bruce, el de St. Louis y el de Kansas
City. Despues de haber vistio el inicio de gira con lo dos
conciertos
en Barcelona y despues en Zaragoza, no podia dejar escapar
la oportunidad.
Bruce y la banda estan en su mejor momento. Los
shows son muy intenesos y Bruce esta mucho mas "suelto"
que al inicio de la gira.
Yo destacaria por encima de todos a Max. Esta tocando la bateria
como nunca. En St Louis estuve detras del escenario, justo detras
de el y es veraderamente increible como toca y como vive los
conciertos. Bruce lo mira constantemente a los ojos, dándole las
instrucciones necesarias, y los dos se estan entendiendo a la
perfeccion.
En el soundcheck de St Louis, entre otras probaron No Surrender
con toda la banda y The Ghost of T.J. La novedad es que Bruce
ensayo una canción nueva, deconocida hasta el momento. Yo no la
pude oir pero hablando con algunos fans comentaron que era una
cancion entre Thunder Road y Land of Hope and Dreams. Uno de
ellos tomo nota de la letra, y es posible que se
pueda conseguir proximamente a traves de alguna web (creo que
escribe en Luckytown).
Durante el concierto tocaron Atlantic City, que creo que no
estaba en el set list. Una anecdota curiosa es que cuendo toda la
banda
estaba ya preparada con los instrumentos acusticos para empezar
The Ghost of T.J., Bruce se fue a hablar con Max, y despues pidio
otra vez la Telecaster. Todo el mundo tuvo que cambiar sus
instrumentos de nuevo y tocaron Brilliant Disguise. Al final el
concierto
tuvo 26 canciones. No esta nada mal!!!
En Kansas habia una puerta del Kemper Arena que estaba abierta de
par en par y por alli pudimos seguir perfectamente el soundcheck
unos 20 fans. Tocaron durante unos 50 min aprox. My Love Will Not
Let You Down (que no toco en el concierto), Take Theme as
They Come (con la que abrio), Lion's Den (tampoco la toco
despues), Promised Land, Ghost of T.J., y estuvo practicando con
la
acustica de 12 cuerdas y el slide la entrada del Born in the
USA.
El concierto fue mas corto que el de St Louis. Bruce dedico The
River a una asociacion de trabajadores de Kansas despedidos
por unas grandes superficies, que estaban repartiendo panfletos
de protesta en el parking.
Mas tarde, tocaron Downbound Train a peticion de un sector del
publico que tenia dos grandes pancartas pidiendole la cancion.
Ahora la incognita esta en saber que sucedera despues de los
conciertos de NY. Lo volveremos a ver por Barcelona????
Saludos,
Alex.
31 March 2000, Pepsi Arena, DENVER, CO
REVIEW BY BRUCE HEBERT,
COLORADO SPRINGS
After thinking I had missed the chance to see my 6th Springsteen
show since 1978, I was lucky enough to find tickets for my wife
and I on the day of the show. Both Denver shows were sellouts,
but a snowstorm moved through the Denver area the night of the
first show, creating some bad luck for ticket scalpers. That was
the opening I needed, and we headed to Denver and scored our
tickets within 20 minutes of our arrival.
We killed the ensuing 3 hours sipping Coronas
at a club across from the Pepsi Center waiting for show time. The
first thing I noticed was the crowd had aged considerably since
the "Tunnel of Love" tour, the last time I'd seen the
Boss. There's never been so many bald heads at a rock and roll
concert!
The show was scheduled to start at 7:30, and by
8:00 the crowd was worked up to a frenzy. Even the guy who made
the announcement for everyone to turn off their cell phones ad
pagers got a loud ovation. The house lights went down at about
8:10, and one by one the band came on stage. The arena was
absolutely electric!
The E Street band has always been known for
their tightness as a band, but I don't think I've ever seen the
band play better. There just isn't a weak link anywhere in that
band! The first song was "The Ties that Bind", and he
ripped through "Promised Land", "Two Hearts"
and "Rendezvous" before stopping to take a breath.
I'd been following the set lists from previous
shows, and two of my brothers had been to the New Orleans show 2
weeks before, so I had a good idea of the songs we'd likely hear.
I would have preferred a few substitutions, like
"Rosalita" in place of "Murder Incorporated",
and "Growing Up" instead of "Land of Hopes and
Dreams", but on balance, this was a show for career
Springsteen fans, and I was just happy to be there. Not a single
cut from "Tunnel of Love", "Greetings from Asbury
Park" nor "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street
Shuffle" made the set list but the show was heavy on tunes
from "Born to Run", "Darkness on the Edge of
Town" and "Born in the USA".
The biggest surprise of the night was
"Youngstown". The studio version of this song was
decent, but was an absolute barn-burner played with the full
band. It was incredibly powerful and haunting, and Nils Lofgren
finished it with a scorching guitar solo.
The camaraderie between the band members was
fun to watch. Seeing Bruce and Miami Steve Van Zandt reunited was
worth the price of admission. Patti is a great vocalist but
there's something about Bruce and Miami Steve sharing a
microphone, harmonizing in a way only the two of them can. The
crowd was especially responsive to anything Steve did, and of
course his role on "The Sopranos" may have had
something to do with that, but for the purists in the crowd, just
having him back on stage was enough. Max Weinberg was better than
I've ever heard him, and Roy Bittan is surely the finest piano
player in the business.
I hadn't seen him perform "Meeting Across
the River" live, so this was a treat for some of the older
fans, with just Bruce and the Professor on stage. This was
followed by Jungleland, and was another of the true highlights of
the show. Clarence's sax solo was brilliant!
On two different occasions, Bruce went into his
"televangelist" mode. On both "Tenth Avenue Freeze
Out" and "Light of Day", he proved that no one
else can deliver the message of the "Ministry of Rock and
Roll" quite like him. I've seen him hold a crowd of 80,000
in the palm of his hand during the "Born in the USA"
tour, so it was no surprise to see the effect he has on a smaller
room. In their finest hour, Jim and Tammy Faye Baker never worked
a room the way Bruce does.
Any veteran of a Bruce Springsteen show has
come to expect several encores after the main body of the show is
over. In this case, he played six songs after leaving the stage
for the first time. "Born to Run", the unchallenged
Springsteen anthem, seems to get better every time I hear it
played live. It seemed as though 18,000 people knew the words to
this and most of the other songs played this night. The crowd
definitely expected he would come back for more, but how much is
enough? This guy continues to give and give, and the crowd would
have stayed all night! He went through three shirts, and soaked
them all to the skin. He needed the rest, so did the crowd. I had
to remind myself that he's 50 years old now. I remember thinking
that if "Ramrod" was the last live Bruce Springsteen
song I ever heard, it was only fitting that it should be a
kick-ass rocker.
Reviewers tend to put a grading system on the
subject of their review. This would only degrade what he's been
doing for 30 years. Of course it was an A+, thumbs-up,
"best-ever" performance, but this isn't news to a
Springsteen fan. It's what he does. He doesn't deliver less. His
fans know that, and that's why they keep coming back. It may
sound too cliché to say that Bruce transcends music, but in my
case that's true. His music has been the theme music for my life,
and many, many more of his fans feel that way. He has been my
Beatles and Elvis, and trying to explain this to someone who
hasn't seen him live is an impossible task. His body of work lies
not only in the songs he's recorded, but in the way he delivers
the music, and the effect is has on people. Those of us at the
Denver shows know we saw something special, but it's happening in
every other town he's playing.
18 March 2000, Pyramid, MEMPHIS, TN
REVIEW BY TOM NOLAN (Bayside
NY)
I was fortunate enough to have seen the Boss last weekend at the
Pyramid Arena in Memphis and wanted to post my review...
I live in New York, but unfortunately was unable to score tickets
for any of the Madison Square Garden shows – however, that
did not deter my efforts to
catch at least one of the Y2K shows. I called up Ticketmaster to
find (to my surprise) that there were tickets still available for
the Memphis show, even with only a
week to go before the show date. I bought two and my wife and I
flew down to Memphis for the day...
The show was not even sold out, with roughly 13,000 in attendance
- but Bruce delivered an inspired performance. After the Big Man
kicked off the
festivities with "Brothers and Sisters, All Rise!", the
band launched into "My Love Will Not Let You Down"
–and truer words were never spoken. He
didn't let down for three non-stop hours!
The beginning of the set was exhilarating with "Prove It All
Night" "Two Hearts" and an awesome
"Trapped" getting the Memphis crowd moving. The crowd
was surprisingly lively (obviously I missed that NY/NJ vibe you
would get at the Garden, but the Memphis crowd was still into the
music.)
The man must have eaten his wheaties that night, because his
energy level was sky-high. He was running up an down the stage
like a high school track
star, high-fiving the audience (and the behind the stage audience
as well!)and even giving his guitar to a shocked guy in the first
row. I've
seen every tour since "Born In The USA" and I can
honestly say that at 50 years old, he’s more energetic than
ever before (if that’s actually
possible.) It was as if he’s been reborn. In fact, the
"Reverend Bruce" theme was carried out the whole night
as he continued to sound like a TV
evangelist selling his flock salvation through rock-and roll.
Bruce delivered the usual bevy of faves he's been playing on the
tour, including "Badlands", "The Promised
Land" and "The River." The E-Streeters
were all introduced during "Tenth-Avenue Freeze Out." I
was especially happy to hear "Meeting Across The River"
which segued into
a thunderous "Jungleland."
He also did an unrehearsed pretty Elvis tune called "Follow
That Dream", which featured Gary Tallent on stand-up bass.
The set closed with "Light of
Day" with two full encores - when he finally did "Land
of Hope and Dreams", we all thought that was it. The band
all got together to bow, but as he
looked at the cheering audience, he shrugged as if to say
"Ah, what the hell" and turned around and picked up his
guitar. The weary band went back
to finish the show with a raucous "Ramrod."
Whew - what a night. However, the night was not through,
evidently. Earlier in the evening, my wife and I had dinner at BB
King's Blues Club on Beale
Street and I thought that this is the perfect kind of place for
the Boss to make a guest appearance after the show. Regretfully
we had to take an early
flight the next day so we didn't venture down to the club in the
wee hours of the morning. Early the next morning we recognized
some people from the
concert the night before strolling in to the hotel at 6:00 AM as
we were getting ready to leave. And you guessed it, these guys
told me Bruce and a
few E-Streeters showed up at BB King's at around 3:00 AM and
jammed with BB himself. Needless to say, I wanted to kill the
travel agent who booked me on
a 7:00 AM flight essentially ruining my one chance of seeing
Springsteen in a small club. But, hey you can't win 'em all.
Anyway, it was a tremendous show! Talk to you soon..
13 March 2000, Reunion Arena, DALLAS, TX
REVIEW BY TOM
FRIEDRICH (Austin, TX)
Hello,
Just wanted to write and pass along my thoughts on the Dallas
show from March 13. It was the first show in Texas on this
tour and surprisingly
wasn't sold out. Several thousand seats remained available,
however those were behind the stage and mostly up high.
The show started at 8:15pm with the "All Rise" intro by
Clarence followed by some "Are you ready for me
people?" questions from Bruce.
Needless to say this got the crowd excited and everyone roared
back affirmative answers. My guess of opening song came
true as "The Ties that
Bind" started things off proper. It was a solid
version but its pacing seemed a little bit slow, at least
compared to versions from the River tour.
Still I consider it a wise choice for a concert opener as
musically and thematically it sets the tone for the
evening. While I would enjoy hearing
a song from "Tracks" open the show it would have
probably left a lot of people scratching their heads.
I made a mental note to listen intently to the actual sound
quality of the show as I have read numerous complaints about the
mix coming over the
PA. For the most part it sounded fine for Reunion arena:
loud and clear. It wasn't perfect however most rock concerts
aren't these days anyway. It
did seem to improve as the show progressed, which also holds true
to other reports from this tour.
The opening of the show alternated with songs from
"Darkness" and "The River" and gave one a
feeling of seeing him back in 1980. The band was
hitting on all cylinders and everything flowed and gelled
seamlessly, proof of a band that's been on the road for nearly a
year. Even songs that get
played on a near-nightly basis, such as "Prove it all
night", "Darkness on the Edge of Town", and
"The Promised Land" are performed with such
incredible energy and passion. I was surprised that most of the
crowd in the 'jailbait' floor seats continued to sit down during
"Youngstown." That song continued to build and
build in concert and was proof positive what an amazing player
Nils Lofgren is. During his wailing solo he was making
giant strides from the front to
the back of where he was standing. The whole place went
nuts and it got most everyone on their feet eventually.
During "Badlands" the house lights only came on during
the intro and the choruses so it didn't move me as much as it did
during the Milwaukee
show I saw last year. It was still great however not quite
as intense an experience. Bruce's sweat factor was once
again very high as he was
absolutely drenched come "Tenth Avenue
Freeze-Out." He did the routine on top of Roy's piano
and took his vest off but stopped as he didn't have on
the usual charcoal t-shirt underneath. For the remainder of
the show he looked like he had just jumped out of a swimming pool
with all of his
clothes on.
For me, the highlight of the show was "Meeting Across the
River" and "Jungleland." I had never heard
"Meeting" live before and it was lovely.
We were seating at a back angle to the stage, looking over Roy's
shoulder. It made for perfect piano watching during the show and
he continued to amaze
me with his elegant techniques, especially during those
songs. "Jungleland" is my favorite Bruce song and
it was performed perfectly. The video screens
came in handy at the end as I could see his face strain as he hit
those wailing notes at the end. Simply amazing.
Most shows from this tour have had 6 songs in the encore and they
always seem to end the show too soon. For the Dallas show
we got 8 songs in
the encore, including both "Ramrod" and "Cadillac
Ranch", which he said he couldn't leave Texas without
performing. He even changed the line to "even
Troy Aikman in the black Trans-Am" as he was in
attendance. Those two songs absolutely rocked the place and
once again had everyone singing and dancing
along.
Two odd moments did occur during the encores however.
During "Hungry Heart" a girl front row center jumped on
stage and tried to dance with Bruce. He
didn't take her intrusion too kindly and she was immediately
returned to her place. What was really strange happened
during the first verse of "Land of
Hope and Dreams." Two people came up from the pit
area, the very same place that the band enters and exits
from. One of them stopped but the other
person, a female in her 30s, danced right up the stage and
touched Bruce on his shoulder. Security seemed caught off
guard and it took a while to get
them removed. After that happened, Little Steven turned his
back to the crowd and glared and the security people and yelled
something akin to what
his character on "The Sopranos" might say if he had
just been mugged. He immediately turned back around and put
on his stage face and seemed to laugh
and smile about it as did Bruce. My mind started to worry
that something bad could have happened to Bruce had this woman
been a crazed fan. It's one
thing to jump up where he can see you, but when someone sneaks up
from behind you never know.
Anyhow, off my soapbox. Overall it was a great show that my
friend, my brother and I really enjoyed. Monday's aren't
the best night of the week
for concerts but Bruce made it feel like a Saturday night.
The band put in a solid performance and turned a typical set-list
into a very fun show. The
crowd was into the show for the most part but wasn't as energetic
as they were in Milwaukee. Those two shows are the only
ones I've seen on this tour
so far, and while the set-list in Dallas only had 3 songs not
played in Milwaukee, it was still very enjoyable. Comparing
those two shows to the
many boots I've heard from this tour, I'd give Dallas a solid 8,
Milwaukee a 9, and the last two Philadelphia concerts a 10.
I'm looking forward to the
Austin and Houston shows next month and am keeping my finger
crossed for "The Fever", which was a big hit down here
when it was played off
reel-to-reel tape in 1974. "If dreams came true,
wouldn't that be nice..."
Go to 1999 US Tour to see past set lists.
Ves a la página de la Gira USA 1999
Go to Meadowlands for set lists of the July, August and September
shows (New Jersey to Chicago)
Ves a la página Meadowlands para ver las canciones de los conciertos de
Julio, Agosto y Septiembre (de New Jersey a Chicago)
Go to 1999 European Tour to see past set lists.
Ves a la página de la Gira Europea 1999