If “The Eras Tour” wasn’t taken by a certain other artist, the name could well apply.īruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Launch World Tour With Ecstatic, Emotional Tampa Show There’s a clear narrative to most, though definitely not all, of the song choices, as well as an obvious intent to show off almost every side of the band and each epoch of his career, from the Van Morrison-derived jazz-rock of 1973’s “Kitty’s Back” and junkyard R&B of the same year’s “The E Street Shuffle” forward. It’s that aspect he’s emphasizing this time around, with a nearly static setlist, perhaps in part to allow the band to focus their finite energy on the details of some of his best-known songs in lieu of staying ready to play one of a hundred obscurities on a millisecond’s notice. Springsteen has called the E Street Band “the world’s greatest bar band,” but that’s not what they are on this tour.įor all the looseness and spontaneity Springsteen has cultivated onstage over the years, from constant last-minute song switches to taking sign requests at stadium shows for songs unplayed since the Ford Administration, the other side of the band has always been a mercilessly rehearsed tautness. That paradox, that dance between age and agelessness, is at the heart of Springsteen and the E Street Band’s current tour, which is dedicated to both prove-it-all-night power drives and relentless reminders of a coming day “when all our summers have come to an end,” as he puts it in the wrenching, solo-acoustic show-closer, “I’ll See You in My Dreams.” In the wake of Springsteen and the band’s first hometown-ish show in seven years, here’s what the show taught us about the tour, the current state of the E Street Band, and more. They eased the E Street Band into the 11-minute-long, 48-year-old mini-rock-opera “Jungleland,” played and sung with enough muscle and drama and soaring perfection to momentarily make the rest of the show’s messages seem like a lie. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Springsteen's debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, drawing on interviews and access to new recordings and shows, Heylin paints a bold picture of The Boss.After a two-hour-plus main set that slammed home themes of mortality and impermanence and the way of all flesh, Bruce Springsteen reemerged on Madison Square Garden’s stage Saturday night, April 1, for his usual lengthy encore, and announced “something special for New York City.” He pointed over at Soozie Tyrell, who began a dead-on recreation of one of rock’s few canonical violin melodies, over piano from all-time-great arpeggio purveyor Roy Bittan. Fans will also learn another side of Springsteen, one punctuated with his clashes with studio executives seeking a commercially viable, radio-friendly album, and his temporary disbanding of the E Street Band to pursue projects like the eerie acoustic of Nebraska. The band's players-most notably saxophonist Clarence "Big Man" Clemons, guitarist "Little" Stevie Van Zandt, and drummer Max Weinberg-became Springsteen's comrades in concert, helping him find the elusive sound and sonic punch that highlighted The Boss's most creative period, including Darkness on the Edge of Town, Born to Run, and Born in the USA. Clinton Heylin's revelatory biography, E Street Shuffle, chronicles the evolution and influence of Springsteen's E Street Band as they rose from blue-collar New Jersey to the heights of rock stardom. Before he was the swaggering, stadium-packing megastar, Bruce Springsteen was a brooding introvert, desperate to strike a balance between his nuanced songwriting and the heft of his backing band. This book provides intimate look at one of rock's brightest stars and his legendary backing band by the UK's premier rock journalist.
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