10/9 Meadowlands recap

[EStreetJukes]

Before I start with a recap of the show, let me give the good and the ugly.
The ugly.. how GA was handled. The wristbanding and the lottery drawing itself went fine. Everything after that was a complete cluster****. They gave out about 680 wristbands (if I remember right 677 was the exact number). The winning lottery number was 378 and they were taking 385 for the pit. Simple math tells you that 680-378 is 322.. meaning you need an additional 60-70 people. Unfortunately the **** for brains security people at the arena lined up everyone from 378-680 in order, but left everyone else...lottery wristband and non-lottery wristband stand around in one large group. They were having to call out groups of ten to fill out the pit. After that, everyone else with GA was allowed to enter in random order... people without lottery wristbands going in before those with lottery wristbands, the people with lottery wristbands entering in whatever order they managed to be in the crowd in. A complete f'ing mess behind the pit.

The good. Missing the pit drawing had its benefits. I talked to one of the sound guys before the show, telling him my thoughts on the sound problems in Philly. He explained some details about the sound to me, said they knew about the sound problems and were working on them. For the show I hung out in front of the soundboard and the sound was good, very good. With and without earplugs I could understand everything Bruce said and sung clearly. The mix was good as well.

Now onto the show. The show we got was very different from what was on the handwritten setlist. The show we got was a high-spirited, Bruce having a ton of fun show. The show that was on the hand-written setlist would have made a very good show a great show.

This was your typical "A" show setlist that will appear to be the norm in cities with one show and/or opening night in cities with two shows, until the setlist evolves/changes. Although the high-charged intensity of night 2 in Philly was replaced with a "lets have some fun playing" atmosphere.

Onto the setlist with comments....
8:18 lights out and caliope playing "Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeeze" rises from behind Max's drum kit

Bruce comes out and shouts "New Jersey" and then "Is anybody alive out there?" twice before launching into a strong version of RADIO NOWHERE

Which lead into a strong version of NO SURRENDER
follwed as expected by LONESOME DAY with the crowd really into it

Which lead nicely into GYPSY BIKER featuring two great guitar duels between Bruce & Steve

then Bruce finally spoke "Good evening my fellow Jerseyians" and went into his nightly comments about things being Orwellian and played MAGIC. I'm liking the live version better than the studio version. The studio version has a few too many studio gimmicks whereas the live version features nice harmony vocals from Patti and the sparse arrangement the song needs.
(continued next post)

[EStreetJukes]

From there it was time to shift gears to a John Hooker-esque blues riff (which has been copped by ZZ Top, Canned Heat and many others) then Bruce doing some extended blues harmonica into the bullet mic before launching into a killer version of REASON TO BELIEVE. If you haven't seen this performed live yet, do yourself a favor and resist the temptation to listen to MP3s from other shows. Let yourself be shocked by the power of it being new to your ears.

Then Max started that familiar drum pattern that launches us into CANDY'S ROOM which was great and of course that lead into

SHE'S THE ONE. Featuring Bruce having some fun with some extended guitar solo and harmonica ending.

Then it was time for the nightly speech before LIVING IN THE FUTURE when he listed all the great Jersey things about living in America before he went into his commentary about the "un-American" things going on the last few years.

Then it was a strong version of PROMISED LAND.

Then, there was some confusion as to what was to be played next. I thought Bruce might have been calling for a guest, but apparently Patti wasn't ready to do what was next on the written setlist (Town Called Heartbreak) so they played DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN instead, with Bruce saying they'd play the song they were supposed to play next,and it was a very good version of Darkness.

However instead of Patti's song the next song we got was BRILLIANT DISGUISE, which the crowd loved and once again the playing on it was strong.

After Brilliant Disguise Bruce took us on a road trip, playing DARLINGTON COUNTY starting the opening riff on his knees or back before getting up to sing the first verse. Bruce was just grinning ear-to-ear during this and encouraged an extended ending with Clarence and Soozie trading off riffs.

At this point I should note, that what we got after Promised Land was Darkness/ Brilliant Disguise/Darlington County. On the handwritten setlist it was Town Called Heartbreak, Incident/Backstreets, You Can Look. How much better would that have been? Lots better.

Then it was the set-closing five-pack: DEVIL'S ARCADE/THE RISING/LAST TO DIE/LONG WALK HOME/BADLANDS
For LTD, there seemed to be a little extra intensity.
For LWH Bruce just seemed to be basking in the glow of how well the band was playing it
For Badlands, Bruce was pushing the crowd louder shouting "Is anybody alive out there" three times before going into the instrumental reprise at the end.

Bruce came out for the encores, looked around and saw the glow of several hundred or more cellphone screens being held up like lighters and comments "the Bic Company stock just died"

Then he commented on how it was nice to be home, gave a plug to the Community Food Bank of NJ and then said "This is for Jen, Happy Birthday" and played GIRLS IN THEIR SUMMER CLOTHES, letting the audience sing the first chorus loud and clear.

No special introduction for THUNDERCRACK... but after the angel from the inner lake part, Bruce had an extended sing-a-long while waiting for Danny to find the right groove.

Then it was a thunderous BORN TO RUN which led to the houselights staying on for a wild DANCING IN THE DARK.

Before things finally wound up with AMERICAN LAND and they did something a little different with this one tonight. They had the final two lines "Who will make his home in the American Land" (which gets repeated twice) on the video screen with a red bouncing ball to follow the words. After the band intros they went into the instrumental reprise of it and as that was winding down the line came back up on the screen, as if to encourage everyone to sing-a-long to it.

[HeldUp]

Nice review, ESJ. Thanks for sharing.

[JerseyGirl2]

ESJ
Minor correction -- pit number drawn was 387 (I should know because if it was 378 I would have been in, I had 385). And I heard it they were taking about 300 for the pit, which matches the numbers a little more closely.

Agree pretty much with your assessment of the show. Couldn't tell what the commotion was, I thought maybe one of the instruments wasn't working quite right?

I absolutely loved Reason to Believe, and there was a huge smile plastered on my face for Thundercrack -- I had only heard it live on the D&D tour, what a difference!!! The songs from Magic played well live, although I thought Last to Die seemed a little off (can't put my finger on exactly why though), which is a shame 'cos it's one of my favorites from the album.
DITD actually rocked with much more intensity than I've ever heard -- almost had an edge to it that matches the lyrics more (an angry I want to change my clothes my hair my face).

There were a few times when I thought Bruce's intensity level was so much higher than the rest of the band, couldn't tell if that was just everyone's age showing, or if they were letting him be the showman and they were the supporting act. Bruce didn't let up....

Missed the video board of American Land... I think the setlist was good, yes, maybe a couple of changes could have made it great but the show was totally enjoyable as it was (maybe that had to do with being GA for the first time, more about that in the other thread).

[murphy]

ESJ

There were a few times when I thought Bruce's intensity level was so much higher than the rest of the band, couldn't tell if that was just everyone's age showing, or if they were letting him be the showman and they were the supporting act. Bruce didn't let up....



First show of the tour but he seemed more into than others. Stevie looked bored at times. Nils was into it for the most part and can play that guitar sideways, upside down and behind the back. Kind of trough to watch Clarence sit. Max always looks like he is into it. Garry too. Not sure WTF was up with Roys keyboards or sound and overall the sound can and SHOULD get better IMO.

Great show anyway

Murph

[madmandrummer]

The mess in the middle of the show was due to a problem they were having with Roy's keyboards (his electric piano I think). The soundmen just coudn't seem to get it on line. Roy couldn't hear it at all, nor could anyone else.

It was not only embarassing, but I think it prevented the band from doing Incident, as the initial problem occurred where that was a choice on the setlist. Bruce kept saying "We'll come back to it" when they couldn't straighten out the problem (but I don't think they ever did get back to it).

The problem re-occurred during a later song and Roy was basically flipping out on the sidestage soundman, throwing his arms up in the air and yelling to the guy.

Much has been said about sound problems on the tour so far, but it's pretty ridiculous when the sound people can't even get an instrument on line.

[GEEBOSS]

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