To paraphrase
Jon Landau's famous quote, I have seen the enduring power of rock n' roll, and it's Bruce Springsteen. I celebrated my birthday in October in Philadelphia seeing Bruce Springsteen and "The "Legendary" E-Street Band" for their last show ever at the Spectrum.
It was a trip to a Rock n' Roll tabernacle, with the Boss as the Prophet of Rock n' Roll. Having turned sixty in September, having been on the road from much of the last two years, including rave reviews all summer in Europe, Bruce was in the home stretch in this final, fall run in the U.S. Bruce played a number of "the last great rock and roll arenas". As he has done on prior tours, he did his "gospel preacher" spiel, but this time he seemed to be on a mission, a mission to prove the power and glory of his music in particular and rock n' roll in general. And, this was a tour with a big question hanging over it: would this be the last time?
On this final leg, Springsteen played places that he has played many times before. In Philly, they hung a huge jersey from the ceiling of the Spectrum that read:
Springsteen
51
Consecutive Sellouts
Philly loves Bruce going way back to his early days, and you could tell that Bruce wanted to return some of the that affection on his last appearance ever at the Spectrum. Early on, he played his new song, "Wrecking Ball", which he debuted at Giants Stadium, and which, like the Spectrum, is going under the wrecking ball soon. Of course, this song is not just about old buildings coming down, it is a look at old age, at weathering the inevitable march of time, and ultimately, in a familiar theme for Bruce, standing up to the forces that want to tear you down. The words to the song got some new Philly references for that last night at the Spectrum. Bruce could have played the newer Wachovia Center, which sits right next door to the Spectrum, but Bruce chose to keep faith with, and pay his respects to, the Spectrum, as he has done on this tour with other places that have been very, very good to him.
I was not a hardcore Bruce fan before this show. I have loved his music over the years. I have loved the way he is never satisfied. His music with E-Street Band is legendary, but his music is so much more:
Nebraska, solo albums with other musicians over the years, "The Streets of Philadephia", the Seeger Sessions album, tour and live album,
Devils & Dust. And throughout there is his ability through his music put a voice to so many things that make up America.
I have never been to a lot of Bruce's concerts. I vaguely remember seeing him at show in Giants Stadium in the mid 1980s, during the "Born in the U.S.A." tour. I sat way up in the bleachers. Bruce and the band played far down below. Of course, from the beginning, his concerts have been legendary in their own right. So much so, the story goes, that when his first two albums failed to sell enough copies, the record company wanted his third release to be a live album. Bruce had something else in mind. He went down to the Jersey shore, wrote a bunch of new songs, went into the studio with the E-Street configuration that has more or less endured to this day, and came out with "Born to Run." As they say, the rest is history.
The show at the Spectrum was awesome, as most of his shows on this tour have been. Nearly 3 1/2 hours non-stop: Bruce crowd surfing through "Hungry Heart" and dancing with his mother during "Dancing in the Dark", and playing songs that he has not played in years. He did all of
Born in the U.S.A., complete with a curtain call for the original band members who made that album and a mention of the departed Danny Federici. His original drummer, "Mad Dog" Vinnie Lopez, came up on stage to play on "Spirit in the Night". As a crowd request, Bruce sang the old Jackie Wilson song, "Higher & Higher", which a week or so later he did at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert with Sam Moore and the turned into a closer during the rest of the tour. He did an extended version of "Kitty's Back". At his last night at Giants Stadium, he did the Rolling Stones' "Last Time" as a request. Here, he sang "Save the Last Dance for Me" for the Spectrum and his fans in Philly. And, when his long encore set it seemed to have concluded with a powerful "Thunder Road", he played one last song, "Rosalita", to the delight of everyone. Check out the report in the
Leigh Valley Music.
But, then, the amazing seems to be what is expected of Bruce. His continual ability to do what he does is is what is truly amazing. Most artists of his stature (and age) get by with doing ninety minutes and a couple of encore songs. Bruce does not comprehend just "getting by." From the beginning, music has been a life force for him. It comes out all over the place in his lyrics: "I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk", "we learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school" "Roy Orbison sing for the lonely, that's me ...." and so on.
So he spreads his true religion, the religion of rock n' roll as a life force, something from which redemption comes, as it has in his life. Look through the lyrics of his songs, and they are filled with biblical elements. The price you pay. Belief. The promised land.
Bruce loves the music that he plays, and the much larger body of songs that influenced him, songs like "Higher & Higher". He understands what these songs mean to his audience (and to himself) and he is not going to let that meaning die if he has breath left in him. As serious as the themes in Bruce's music are (struggle, isolation, life, death, love, hate, poverty, family troubles, war, sacrifice, and so on), Bruce understands how to get people on their feet and give them a good time. He is, and always has been, a consummate showman.
For those interested in the critique of the final night at the Spectrum by a passionate Springsteen fan, try Caryn Rose's
piece on Night 4 in Philly at
jukeboxgraduate.com.
Also, Ward Sutton recently did an interesting
cartoon history of Born in the U.S.A, one of Bruce's most famous and, perhaps, misunderstood songs. Sutton traces the song back to its origins as stark solo effort when Springsteen was writing songs for the album that became
Nebraska. Bruce decided not to put the song on
Nebraska, re-arranging it as the E-Street stadium rocker that we know from the album of the same name. That anthem-like arrangement has often been misconstrued as a patriotic send up, when the lyrics portrait the anger and isolation of a Vietnam vet. For a look at what Born in the U.S.A originally may have sounded like, listen to the version on
Tracks or live version on
Live in New York City, which has a slower, darker arrangement and a powerfully emotional vocal from Bruce.
For more worldly thoughts about Springsteen and his impact on one particular life, read conservative columnist David Brooks' "
The Other Education" at The New York Times website. Brooks talks about his "second education," the one in which Professor Springsteen played a prominent role. He concludes with these observations:
I’m not claiming my second education has been exemplary or advanced. I’m describing it because I have only become aware of it retrospectively, and society pays too much attention to the first education and not enough to the second.
In fact, we all gather our own emotional faculty — artists, friends, family and teams. Each refines and develops the inner instrument with a million strings.
Last week, my kids attended their first Springsteen concert in Baltimore. At one point, I looked over at my 15-year-old daughter. She had her hands clapped to her cheeks and a look of slack-jawed, joyous astonishment on her face. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing — 10,000 people in a state of utter abandon, with Springsteen surrendering himself to them in the center of the arena.
It begins again.
So, this tour is over. Bruce has propped up the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame shows. He has collected his Kennedy Center Honor. (Garrison Keillor
finds the last development distressing.) The E Street Band probably ended in a way with Danny Federici's death. Clarence Clemons may retire, although he denied that after the tour ended. Life is change, but let's hope that this was not the last time. If not forever, let's hope that Bruce goes on for a long, long time to come.
