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| Springsteen and the super-sized E Street Band continue impressive tour in Toronto When I first saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in Toronto, nearly 37 years ago on a cold night in 1975, I assured the guy sitting to my right he would enjoy the show. He most certainly did. We were sitting (at least nominally) 4 rows from the front. It started with 'Thunder Road' and a massive standing-on-the-chairs ovation. The last time I saw Bruce and his band, Friday night in Toronto, was in the huge Rogers Centre stadium (originally known as SkyDome) that my friend from 1975 had built (actually he was in charge of the 2600-person workforce that built it). I hope he was there Friday. I know Brian would have enjoyed the show again. And heard some of the same songs, including: 'Thunder Road', 'Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out', 'Spirit in the Night', 'She's the One' (with the killer and rare 'Mona' intro last heard here in 1978), 'Born to Run' and the eye-rolling classic 'Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)' which made it clear why they had opened the roof (preservation). The superb sound was visually assisted by state-of-the-art video, especially the screen right behind the band (and just in front of the original Jumbotron, in 1990 the world's largest video screen). Every moment became personal from anywhere in the cavernous setting. But only a few artists can transcend such a space, and Springsteen made it as warm and inviting as back in 1975 in the borrowed gym then known as the Seneca College Fieldhouse for nearly 3,000 fans eager to see "the future of rock and roll". Well, the future is still now. Springsteen has always been a showman and he didn't disappoint. But neither did the fans. A highlight was the vocal work of a young lady from Michigan on 'Thundercrack' while a slightly older fan danced with Bruce after her husband held up a sign saying 'Dance with my wife on our anniversary'. He was given beer (which he chugged), signs full of symbolism (the killer version of 'Thundercrack'), requests for old and brand-new songs, and gave the band a rest with a solo piano version of 'Incident on 57th Street' that was to die for, as Spanish Johnny was willing to do. Imagine 60,000 or so people hanging on every acoustic piano strike and every breathless lyric, then singing along on cue. No loud drunken louts. A magic moment. Jake Clemons and Ed Manion on sax provided power on demand throughout the night, with the former never failing to live up to the legend and well-known notes his late uncle Clarence had made sacred. The rest of the horns also showed why their skills brought them here this night. Every musician in the world should some day be so fortunate to have horns like this. And the rest of the band and the mix of vocalists are note on every time. This tour is rumoured to run another 18 months. They would be welcomed back here with another sell-out. It certainly doesn't look anything like a farewell tour. This multi-continent run since March has taken on epic proportions and Toronto was no exception, offering a mix of old and new at the top of the scale and in a city-record show running 3:36 (yes, 3 hours and 36 minutes from a 62-year-old legend who can't even spell "resting on his laurels", but could probably write a killer song about it). | |
| ~ top photo by @JMewesBusDriver via twitter, rest by Bill Daverne |
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Sign the petition to have The Guess Who inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Nov. 16, 1978, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto
during triumphant 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' tour
photo (c) Bill Daverne, 1978, 2010
| Video Picks | |
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'I Shall Be Released' ~ Lost 'Last Waltz' performance by The Band, Bob, Dylan et al ~ 1976 | |
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'Merry Christmas Baby' ~ Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band ~ November 22, 2009 | |
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'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' ~ Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band ~ November 22, 2009 | |
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~ from 1956 to 2010, Elvis, Chuck, Jimmy, Jimi, Melanie, Neil, Joe, Scott, Bruce and many more...
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Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa arrive at red carpet for TIFF Gala presentation of 'The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town' at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, September 14, 2010 | |
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| Mini Music Reviews (excerpts) |
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The National Post/Dave Bidini ~ Record of the Month Club: With The Promise, Bruce Springsteen releases the best new old album youve heard Its probably foolish -- and a little cheeky -- to suggest that The Promise is better than Born to Run or Darkness on the Edge of Town, but its never overwrought or cooked-too-long, as are some of those records more bombastic moments. The songs boil large without ever spilling over the edges of the saucepan. One of Clearmountains achievements is in being able to push something very large into something small. If the E Street Bands great heaving colossus can sometimes prove exhausting, or, at worst, narcissistic, here its a more finely pointed and sleek arrow, and, in a way, less of a personality. Two things: there are fewer sax solos and hardly any strings. Because the sessions ended up being nothing more than an abandoned album exercise, the songs never reached the point when the producer and songwriter stopped to wonder how much more they could add before whatever it was they were recording burst apart at the seams. That is part of Born to Runs charm, of course, but trying to repeat its achievement would have been as foolish as trying to out-prosaic the tone and mood and sound of Nebraska. Because of these clear choices, The Promise stands ably on its own.
Blogness on the Edge of Town/Pete Chianca ~ Springsteen, the novel: Sara Goodmans Beyond the Palace Ive mentioned Bruce-inspired fiction before, like Michael J. Sullivans 'Necessary Heartbreak', but 'Beyond the Palace' is a little different in that Springsteen is practically a character -- its a love story among Bruce Tramps set against the backdrop of a Springsteen tour.
The Quietus/Rich Hughes ~ The Promise Well, the first disc is where all the goodies are. There are songs here that could (and would) be massive hits. The dark, brooding version of 'Because the Night', later to become a hit when Patti Smith recorded it, is impressive. It oozes a menacing aspect that's sometimes lost in translation. 'Gotta Get That Feeling' is the come down from 'Born To Run', a piano-led ballad that comes complete with a rousing saxophone solo. The Roy Orbison twang of 'Someday (We'll Be Together)' is a classic 50's pop song which, in another age, would soundtrack school proms the world over - pulling heart strings with its wondrous vocal harmonies. 'Wrong Side of the Street' is the The Boss and the E Street Band hitting full, epic, stride with charged guitar riffs and an emotive piano refrain.
Aquarium Drunkard/Patterson Hood ~ Darkness On The Edge of Town I was fourteen, had just moved, was about to enter high school, puberty and all that shit. I was hanging out at the record store (as I did every Saturday) and my friend Jay, behind the counter, told me to buy this record. He probably didnt tell me it would save my life, but he might has well have. I think it got me at track 3 ('Something in the Night', still gives me chills). Somewhere around the time that everything dropped out, leaving only the voice and the kick drum, playing the most simple of things as he crooned about being caught at the state line and having their car burned that I knew this was some special kind of Rock and Roll Record.
 Winnipeg Free Press/Rob Williams ~ Bruce Springsteen: The Promise ~ Consider it a promise fulfilled The Promise collects 22 songs that didn't fit his vision for that album, and serves as a must-have for fans who will marvel at how these tracks remained hidden for so long. The double disc set (also available as a box set with extra goodies, live footage and documentaries) showcases everything that made Springsteen what he is, both tough and tender, with characters who live life on the edge, are dragged down by despair, love each other too much or are still looking for love. And no matter what, everything's better when you can just get out on the road and drive.
Toledo Blade/Rod Lockwood ~ 'Darkness' set a must-have for Springsteen diehards If there is a Bruce Springsteen fan in your life you probably haven't seen him or her the past few days. And if you are a Springsteen devotee, thanks for peeling yourself away from the massive three-CD/three-DVD "Darkness On the Edge of Town" box set released Tuesday to check in. This should only take a few minutes and you can get back to poring over the mother lode of all Boss material.
Daily Express/Simon Gage ~ Bruce Springsteen: The Promise Can there be anything more exciting to your average rock fan than a new double album of never-before-heard material from Bruce Springsteens glory days? Probably not. With 70 songs to choose from and nothing wrong with any of them this is a collection of material that was whittled down to maybe his finest album 1978s Darkness On The Edge Of Town. And what a treasure chest. From Phil Spector-flavoured rock to songs he gave away -- Because The Night to Patti Smith, Fire to The Pointer Sisters -- every ones an absolute winner. Essential listening.
Blender/Robert Christgau ~ Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run (30th Anniversary Edition) The biggest problem with Bruce Springsteen's 1975 breakthrough album was always how unabashedly it proclaimed its own greatness. The wall-of-sound, white-soul-at-the-opera-house Born to Run is definitely full of itself--its lead track emoted over five minutes of portentous piano, its title track laden with glockenspiel and guitar guitar guitar, its thematic burden an unresolved quest narrative, its groove as grand as a V-8 hearse. Newcomers may not get why its class-conscious songcraft provided a relief from the emptier pretensions of late-hippie arena-rock. Yet it sounds greater today than it ever did. By definition, the remastered thirtieth-anniversary edition of the album that put a cult artist from South Jersey on the cover of Time and Newsweek isn't shy about its greatness either. Greatness is what such packages hawk, so be grateful that this one has a right. The remastering adds only presence, warmth and texture to the digitalization, which by lax early-Columbia standards wasn't bad to begin with. Three decades later, Springsteen still takes pride in his workmanship and his art, and that's strong of him.
Providence Journal/Rick Massimo ~ Bruce Springsteen: The Promise An alternative history of late-70s Springsteen 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' heralded Springsteens arrival as A Serious Artist, and shows him deciding to grip the title of Rock Messiah. I suppose thats all well and good. But lyrical ambitions aside, in the grooves it always sounded to me like a record made by someone coming off a huge success and unsure how much or how little to repeat himself. 'The Promise' goes on a little long, but its the work of a singer and songwriter confident of who he is, and confident that thats important all by itself.
Joe Blogs/Joe Posnanski ~ Springsteen: The Promise And, as you know, as you can see, the song "The Promise" is not on Darkness. The band played it, and they knew it was great, knew that it might be the best song that Bruce Springsteen ever wrote. And it fit on the album, it was in many ways everything that Springsteen was trying to say. Only Springsteen could not let go of it. The song was too close to him. He has never been able to explain it any better than that. Some think The Promise is really about his fight with Appel for control of his own music. Some think it is about his fear of losing himself in success, his fear of losing what he thought was the best part of himself. Some think it is about his friends who got left behind. In the end, of course, it doesn't matter what The Promise means to Bruce Springsteen -- doesn't matter beyond trivia. Like all great songs, all great art, it only matters what it means to the person who accepts it.
BBC/Alex Denney ~ Springsteen: The Promise -- An indispensible portrait of an artist at the top of his game Darkness... may also just be his finest record, and weve got maths to back us up here. During the acrimonious period that followed his money-spinning third album, Springsteen had amassed a formidable repertoire of some 70-plus songs, whittled down in accordance with his wishes to make a record reflecting downbeat social realities. That means The Promise -- an album collecting some of the songs never to make the cut -- has an embarrassment of riches to draw from, since many of the tracks here were left off the album not for quality-control purposes but simply because they didnt fit in with the programme.
Flavorwire/Doug Levy ~ Springsteen: The Promise The Promise includes tracks that Springsteen originally gave to other artists ('Because the Night', 'Fire'), alternate versions of songs from Darkness ('Racing in the Street', 'Candys Room'), and lost epics, such as the title track. Where necessary, he added new elements to the recordings to complete what was left unfinished, ranging from slight flourishes to the creation of an entirely new studio version of 'Save My Love'. The result is an offering that goes far beyond any semblance of castoffs or B-sides, comprising an immersive, masterful, painstakingly crafted classic album of its own.
Lincoln Journal Star/L. Kent Wolgamott ~ Springsteen's 'Promise' is welcome blast of the past I haven't seen the DVDs or listened to the remastered album. I'm not sure I need or even want to. It might be interesting to get a glimpse into Springsteen's creative process more than two decades ago and see a show that will flash me back to the shows I saw in the mid-to-late '70s. But that's history and nostalgia, and 'The Promise' is neither. It is a fresh, new-old record that stands on its own. It's great no matter when, how or why it was made.
Paste/Beca Grimm ~ Bruce Springsteen: The Promise The titular song, 'The Promise', arrives near the end. Its Springsteens never-ending project which hes countlessly chopped, rearranged and resurrected live. In its studio form, it plays like a trickle but explains everything. From the three years he spent in the studio determining the precise ingredients and execution, The Boss wanted his message to be clear: He wasnt in it for the hits and he wasnt going anywhere. And lucky for us, he hasnt.
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NOW magazine/Joanne Huffa ~ Springsteen: The Promise
Guardian/Richard Williams ~ The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story
Chicago Tribune/Greg Kot ~ Springsteen: In 'Darkness' reissue, the CD that might have been
Rolling Stone/Jon Dolan ~ Bryan Ferry: Olympia