BruceFan79_99
Feb 29th, 2008, 10:10 AM
Great show last night. Definitely not "Hot Hartford Nights" outside with temperature at showtime a brisk 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Once again the people in the seats were inside before the people in the pit made it into the pit. I was sidestage in 114 in the friends and family area. I'm not sure who the elderly lady with the cane and the younger entoruage were who came out and settled in front of me inside the boards area in folding chairs were, but they were important to someone in the band as everyone was kept out of that area during the show. Near the end of the main set, Steven got quite animated first with his guitar tech and then with the blonde haired girl who manages the backstage area on the stairs behind Roy. He was pointing to the party in front of me, so maybe they were his guests and he was unhappy with something happening near them. The show started with Bruce on the microphone introducing the "greatest band in the world, here to play for you tonight". He then literally jumped into So Young and was dancing and jumping all over the stage. Bruce seems to have a different energy without Patti onstage and last night he showed it off many times. He later spoke to the missing Patti by telling us that "Patti sends her regards, with three teenagers at home you need to watch them so the house doesn't burn down while you're gone". He also said that Danny sends his regards and is doing well and will hopefully be joining them later in this leg of the tour. The show had some great songs and tour debuts, but it also had some unevenness. The River was great, haunting harmonica and all, but followed by Devil's Arcade made for a very long slow period. The Rising got the crowd up again, but then Gypsy Biker made all but the floor mostly sit again. Of course, most of the people around me sat through all but the anthems, but even in the non-friends and family section the audience sat a lot more than I'm used to seeing at a Bruce show. Can't fault the encore though - Girls into Backstreets into Kitty into BTR into American Land was pure energy. I was hoping he'd do one more to keep the magic alive, but it wasn't to be. This will probably be the last show I see unless he adds the rumoured Fenway dates, but it was a great bookend to the tour for me if it is my last show. One last item of note - Steve's guitar tech has a friend that looks like our Andrew from Atlanta (or did Drew make a covert return to Hartford?). I did a double take when I saw him down there during the pre-show.