anyone listening to the apollo show right now?
anybody alive out there?

Horrible.

For the actual Springsteen fans here, this is a great listen.

Bruce gives the keynote speech at SXSW on the meaning of music:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012 ... g-of-music

About 50 minutes long but worth it. Listened to it this morning while making breakfast.

Also found out FemDerris scored work tix for Sunday's tour opener here in the ATL.

Will report back.

i won the lottery and got in to the sxsw show at acl moody theatre on thursday. had a major dilemma in that my girlfriend didn't get in, so i missed the first 5 and last 5 songs of the show. regardless, it was rousing, and such a trip to see him for once in such an intimate venue. it felt right. the band sounds great, and bruce is in top form. i'll say this, though, that it doesn't feel quite like an e street show, appropriately so... sonically and energetically somewhere between e street, seeger sessions, with an emboldened soul element... but especially considering all the new material being played, the new look/sound, that only max, stevie, roy, gary, and nils remain in the lineup, it is very obvious that this is a new (and wonderful) era for the boss and the band.

Setlist from the tour opener (reprinted from the ajc):



Review

Damnit Bloor! I wrote down the setlist last night to post it. All my work in vain.

Happy to report that I have been cleansed...........nay...............BAPTIZED in the rock n roll waters once again!

I've probably been to 50 or more arena shows in my life and no one holds sway over a crowd of 40,000 better than he does. It felt completely intimate. He's the best that's ever been. Bands half his age can't touch him. He had a full on 5 piece brass band, soul backup singers, violin, multi-instrumentalists, 2 keyboard players. The sound was amazing.

I was lukewarm on the new album but, as expected, the songs take on new life live. The vitriol absolutely seethes in them live. Particularly "Wrecking Ball", "Death to My Hometown", and "Shackled and Drawn". Even "Rocky Ground" with it's full on rap didn't feel out of place. The influence of the Seeger sessions and the live Dublin album is really felt on the new stuff live. Many of them took on a Irish feel.

Still, it's only rock n roll but it's ability to lift spirits and heal is never more alive than with the E Street Band.

Best moment of the night: The last song was "10th Ave Freeze Out". Right after the line "When the change was made uptown and the big man joined the band", the band went silent, the house lights came up, and the crowd erupted for an almost solid 2 minutes. As moving a moment as I've ever experienced at a rock show.

The fucking Boss.

I made a couple notes Bloors setlist.

Glad y'all had a good time. Some days "Promised Land" is my favorite Bruce song.

I saw enough people post about the concert and the new songs, so I gave in downloaded the album. It's actually really fucking good. The last few have taken a while to grow on me before I realized that I knew and liked most of the songs - but this one has been pretty immediate. Actually the lead single is the closest thing to a clunker - and despite a few cringeworthy moments, I find myself really liking it as well.

Way better than Working On A Dream.

still not sure if i think it's a good song, but i find myself humming "we take care of our own" all day

caught bruce's show in buffalo last friday, the last stage i know of that the e street band shared with clarence clemons, in late november 2009. i was hoping for a special acknowledgement of that, like perhaps the first jungleland since the big man passed, but instead what we got was an amazing, uplifting, exultant show, where some of my least favourite songs on the list actually ended up being my favourites on this night. whereas i had a great time in austin, and found an incredible appreciation for the sound and spirit of the new material, the highlights here were the bust-outs: ties that bind, rendezvous & mountain of love! and point blank. and the incredible energy of a buffalo crowd. this was my girlfriend's first show, and i don't think it so much floored her as it reminded me how effectively bruce manages to carry you away, to an apex 3 hours later, as much with road-tested tricks, new adjustments (the 10th ave freeze-tribute), and great new songs like shackled and drawn. happy birthday max.

[Buffalo Gals]
We Take Care of Our Own
Wrecking Ball
The Ties That Bind
Death to My Hometown
My City of Ruins
Rendezvous
Mountain of Love
Jack of All Trades
Prove It All Night
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Shackled & Drawn
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
The Promised Land
Apollo Medley
Point Blank
American Skin (41 Shots)
The Rising
Lonesome Day
We Are Alive
Thunder Road
* * *
Rocky Ground (with Michelle Moore)
Ramrod
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out

I can't believe how much I enjoy "Wrecking Ball" (the song); it's not much different than say "Devils and Dust" until those horns kick in.

Also, the second part of our podcast this week was exclusively about post-2000's era Bruce: Check it out, defame, comment, etc: http://www.vescoisland.blogspot.com/

nice setlist...ramrod!

For what it's worth I am in Denmark this week working with their education system... and I am so sad for my country. I just am struck over and over that here in Denmark "they take care of their own." And the Right in the US see this as political, not ethical.

Music used to remind us of this. I am not sure the Jay-z/Kanye tour does that. Oh, and fuck Ted Nugent...

maybe I'm hearing the song differently than you, but isn't "we take care of our own" a bad thing?

Just got tickets for Citizen's Bank Park in September.
this will be my first Bruce show!

nice, i'm all set for skydome 8/24, site of my first show on the human touch lucky town tour...