Friday, April 19, 2019

221 -- Bruce Springsteen -- Friday, November 4, 2017 -- Walter Kerr Theater -- NYC

This Bruce concert was different than any prior Bruce concert.  First, it was a Broadway show, so no phones allowed.  Thus, no notes to revisit memories.  What I do remember is being disappointed in the very beginning.  He actively stopped singalongs and discouraged mid-song applause.  What kind of pretentious, lifeless event was this – against the very spirit of Springsteen?!

What it turned out to be was brilliant.  The shift to quiet made it unbelievably intimate, a performance he put on for you in his living room.  Plus, when applause that did break out at the end of each brief set, it was thunderous.  Another thrilling surprise was how almost the whole show was new material.  During the preceding months, I’d read Born To Run, the memoir the perform was based on, took a road trip to Jersey to visit the sites, and met with two separate groups of friends to discuss it – first, Ben Marzouk, Pierre Dumong, Evan Davis, and Joe Kessler in DC; then, Jim Andrukonis, Steve Mull, Ryan Mull, Cathy Faraj, Emily Trone, and Mike Trone in Crystal City.  The book, trip, and discussions were all great, but I thought they were it.  He’d read from the book, play a few songs, and be done.

What he actually did was include never-released passages, flip songs in bold ways, and bring the house down.  Most remarkable was his rendition of “Born in the USA,” a song I’ve never liked…until that night.  Seeing the concert on Netflix is not the same as being in the theater, but based on media reports, it does come close…        

Grade: A+


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