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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEEN & THE E STREET BAND - MAY 7, 2009 - AIR CANADA CENTRE, TORONTO, ON
Badlands
No Surrender
Outlaw Pete
She's the One
Working on a Dream
Seeds
Johnny 99
The Ghost of Tom Joad
Raise Your Hand
E Street Shuffle
Prove It All Night
Louie Louie
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
The Promised Land
Racing in the Street
Kingdom of Days
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born to Run
* * *
Hard Times
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
Land of Hope and Dreams
American Land
Rosalita
Glory Days
My brother entered the arena already chanting the oh-OH-oh-ooohhh-oh outro of Badlands, a telling sign of our spirit and exploits coming in, and the start of a night where Bruce played almost everything we were subconsciously wishing for, starting with the natural opener. No Surrender followed languidly soaring, and though not hit by that sudden but expected blast of in-the-moment emotion (see Dumpjack's Neil Young review), I was reminded how pertinent his songs are still, written and performed personally for me and my well-being last night, as well as 20,000 other people in attendance at this show and every one in the decades before. Truly the mark of an incredible writer and entertainer, to have such personal and vast appeal.
On this tour, Bruce seems to be in a very fortunate place, with two recent albums worth of material providing the excuse to be on the road for a year and a half barely interrupted, and new songs there to not really be played. A few from Working on A Dream appear to pepper the set and provide checkpoints for what is otherwise a very loose and increasingly unpredictable set experience, something fewer of my heroes and less contemporary bands can pull off these days, small or large stage.
Nils, with two recently replaced hips, spun life into a Ghost of Tom Joad treat. We flipped lids when Bruce selected E Street Shuffle from the crowd, a song I'd not heard live and was willing into the set all week. Racing In The Street was beautiful, patient, spacious, and possibly the musical highlight of the night, whereas everything that fell around it late in the set, old or (slightly more loaded with the) new, seemed divinely placed. Though, more of this was preconceived by Bruce than I thought – except Racing replaced a planned I'm On Fire, on Bruce's handwritten bill – and even having seen the setlists coming in, I was on the edge of my seat through a scripted end to the meat of the show.
Tenth Avenue Freezeout was dedicated to my sister, and we all called Rosie over in the encore. Glory Days followed and I've never seen anyone do a better job of bringing the normally tame Toronto crowd to a frenzy, uncaring that they could be seen dancing with that overbite under houselights for the second straight song.
It's not a Springsteen show unless you're left thinking well that was probably the best I've ever seen him play. I wish didn't just have the 80-81 and 84-85 tour t-shirts, and had been there to see that youth and energy, but with a slight acceptance of the way things now are, openness to his message thusly informed, and the new life cycled into these timeless songs of hope and hard work, it's impossible to not get carried away ...
... singing oh-OH-oh-ooohhh-oh, oh-OH-oh-ooohhh-oh into the night ...
Next week in Albany.
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