Three days after checking out the Panic at the Creek, I found myself hurtling down I-40 through a rainy Monday night to see “the Boss” in Greensboro. My seats this time weren’t exactly second-row, center, but hey … no complaints. It would be the memorable capper to a riproaring weekend—or what passes for a riproaring weekend for someone stumbling through his mid-30s.
Having never seen Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band before, it was one of those opportunities that’s difficult to pass up, since you just don’t know how much longer he’ll be willing to hit the road. That sense of wistfulness pervaded the show at Greensboro Coliseum, cemented early on when the show opened with a video tribute to Danny Federici, the keyboardist who had passed away just 11 days prior after a three-year battle against melanoma. A recording of “Blood Brothers” played in the background as the band, clad all in black, prepared and the images flashed across the big screens, documenting the 40-year musical relationship that Federici and Springsteen had.
Rumors had been swirling that Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama was going to open the show by introducing the band before helicoptering on to Chapel Hill for his appearance there, and since the E Street Band doesn’t like to start until nearly an hour after everyone is seated, there was plenty of time for the buzz to escalate. Alas, Obama never materialized, yielding the stage fully and completely to Springsteen.
Quickly launching into full concert mode, the band opened with “Roulette” and “Don’t Look Back,” two songs which hadn’t been played yet on the tour. It was slightly jarring to see Tony Soprano’s righthand man, Silvio Dante, tearing it up on guitar as Steven Van Zandt, and it was equally off-putting to see Harold Ramis lookalike Max Weinberg beating the crap out of the drums. Springsteen’s wife and band member, Patti Scialfa, was nowhere to be found, with reports that she was back at home with the couple’s three kids. However, guitarist and violinist Sister Soozie Tyrell was a welcome addition to go with old standbys Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (who sort of gingerly walks around the stage every now and again before returning quietly to his corner) on the sax and Niles Lofgren on guitar.
Some of the many highlights of the two-and-a-half hour show were a frenzied “Radio Nowhere,” “Long Walk Home,” “Devil’s Arcade” and “The Rising,” as well as the playing of “Waiting for a Sunny Day” for a young female fan, after which he signed her poster. Another small girl had on a “I Like U Better Than Hannah Montana” T-shirt, which drew a laugh from the Boss. Perhaps my favorite moment was when Springsteen introduced “Magic” with the line, “Here’s to the end of eight years of bad magic,” before playing the song as an amazing duet with Sister Soozie. I’m not a fan of extended solos on each and every song like the E Street Band is, so that didn’t enhance things for me, but I was still blown away at the seemingly endless energy put forth by the band, careening from one song to the next without a break, and no intermission.
Most of the 25 songs—including a pulsating five-song encore—came off of two albums separated by 35 years: 1973’s “Born to Run” and this year’s “Magic.” Springsteen continues to belie his age, throwing his 58-year-old bones about the stage, leaping into the air, sliding along on his knees, maniacally attacking his guitar, sweating profusely and basically throwing everything he had into the performance. They say that fewer bands give more back to the crowd or play more to their audience than Bruce’s Boys (and girls), and I would have to agree with that following my one E Street Band experience. The awesome “American Land” was the perfect song to end the show, an Irish jig-sounding tune that brought back recent memories of Ireland.
And with that ended Scooter’s mini-musical three-day marathon … it should take me no longer than six weeks to fully recover.
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