--- Animated, cool DJ plays diaspora music before Lauryn Hill enters.
--- Hahaha, “I came here to celebrate an indictment; how about you?”!!!
--- “We’re here to celebrate 50 years of hip hop, 25 years of miseducation.”
--- Wow at the THUNDEROUS applause when Ms. Hill showed up an hour in -- in a *regal* outfit!!!
--- “When It Hurts So Bad” (Why’s It Feel So Bad)” has a strong, unified chorus and sound. My favorite so far.
--- “Final Hour,” “Lost Ones,” and “Every Ghetto, Every City” are operatic and infectious. Ms. Hill, the band, the orchestra, the rapper, the hype man: wow!!!
--- Sadly, two things held me back: my phone’s low battery and my ignorance. I’m usually a Backup Battery Boy Scout, and I usually listen to all albums as much as I can before a show. Alas, life got in the way, limiting how much an appreciate her greatness.
--- Glad I got to at least end the phone portion of the show with “Zion,” a ballad whose power stood out on the first run through -- especially the “beautiful-beautiful-beautiful” ending. (The run through was literal: I first heard it on the treadmill at Gold’s haha.)
Next time (50th anniversary tour?) I’ll be sure to prep more — and bring an extra charger.
--- I love how reactive he and Annie when we see the beginning of Blinded by the Light at their place beforehand. Awww that they both love The Wire. They also bring up the moment where Lester bests Marlo and the moment where Bunk and McNulty solve a crime with all F’s before I even say anything!!!!
--- Saga and a half to take care of the bag and find our seats. Annie was a pro for both.
--- Hard to register “No Surrender,” “Prove It All Night,” and “Letter for You” with all the seat searching and semi casual fans.
--- Awww at Tom and Annie warming my Raynaud’s hands!!
--- “Promised Land” and “Out in the Street”!!! Back in business, and the guy behind us is awesome.
--- “Lucky Town” is a waste. Glad if some fan appreciates the obscurity though. Solid guitar solo at least.
--- Tom: “I didn’t realize he was this good at guitar. When he retires, he should totally become a guitarist for a random band.”
--- Omg, on “Candy’s Room,” THE BAND BEGINS!!! Tom reports that it’s up to 18 instruments. I swear some of this was not in the DC show. HA, Tom, “Bruce is a conductor now.” Lol at him hamming it up with hair during a glory note.
--- “Night Shift”: A rare midtempo song I enjoy. I dig the credit to other artists and the female solos!!
--- “Hungry Heart”: awww, Baltimore Jack, he switched it!!!!
--- Wow, “Pay Me My Money Down” from The Seeger Sessions. He’s going everywhere. LIVE. There was definitely accordion in DC. He sometimes brings in local musicians for a song, so these may be Baltimore guys!!!!! Tom: “That was some good shit.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht615n_fCl4
--- Such a dramatic intro to “E Street Shuffle.” Me: “He really is a conductor.” Tom: “I told you. Quote me on that!” Drums!!!! The guy behind me: “Did you see that?!”
--- “Backstreets”: the first time I’ve ever seen a performer cry!!!! He didn’t do that at all in DC, nor add this whole spoken word section that connected back to the George story in “Last Man Standing.” Oh man at the “in the end” relevance and delivery.
--- “Because The Night”!!!!! I’d been slightly disappointed by in DC, but that was unreal.
Annie leapt on it from the first note, and the energy was POTENT.
--- Aww, Tom says “She’s The One” sounds like Laughing Colors. Hahahaha at “thank you, good night” for the 80th time from the guy behind me.
--- Hahahahah at the boldness of “Wrecking Ball” lyrics about the Giants in Baltimore and Tom wooing at “all our little victories and glories have turned into PARKING LOTS.”
--- “Badlands”!!!!! Tom: “You were right. That was good shit.” Hahahah at the crowd continuing all the whoa-ohs to the encore.
--- I do not write a word about the encore. “Thunder Road,” “Born to Run,” “Rosalita,” “Glory Days,” “Dancing in the Dark,” “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” “I’ll See You In My Dreams,” and our expression speak for themselves.
Grade: A+
p.s. The next day, I discovered that I lost my voice. For about a day and a half. That's never happened after a concert. #WorthIt
--- Aww at the emphasis on “young again” in “No Surrender”!
--- “Ghosts” off Letter to You!!!! I was all fear the first song. It’d be mechanical. The ‘excitement’ would be rote. NOPE. I don’t even remember this song off Letter To You, but the lyrics are great, it makes me want to go back and re-listen, and the band is having FUN.
--- “Prove It All Night”!!! Reverb everywhere from the incomparable pit. Woooo at the guitar solo at the end.
--- “Letter to You”: I appreciate the quieter parts, but it’s still a step down.
--- “Promised Land”!!!! Involuntarily LEAPS. He’s so CLOSE. Harmonica. JOYYY.
--- “Candy’s Room”!!!! So dark, different, and Kevin is now a rapper. Awesome.
--- “Kitty‘s Back”!!!!! Love the whole horn section, the piano, the drums, and Bruce’s hammy reaction to the feedback on the guitar. 17 people strong (?!). Justin Hurwitz would surely approve. Bruce Springsteen and the E STREET BAND.
--- “Nightshift”: stood out on the new album, so I’m glad he picked it. Omg at the guy Bruce duets with on it. Falsetto for days.
--- “Trapped”: I love how the upper deck is flipping out for a semi obscure song?!!! By far the best of quiet songs so far. Great balance of tones.
--- Hahahahah at him conducting the opening of “E Street Shuffle”. Hahahaahh at the bongo / drum showdown. Livvvvveee!!!! He just trots out the hits and calls it a day, doesn’t he?
--- “Johnny ‘99”: partay!! Awwww, it happened. I involuntarily bite my arm!!!!! That’s the milestone. The show has arrived.
--- Lol at more cowbell. Stevie’s just hanging out!!!!
--- Very frustrating start, as I deal with sagas related to school tournament. This made me miss “Landlocked Surf Rock,” “Would Ya Could Ya,” and “Silhouettes.” I walked in during “Learning How to Love.”
--- “We’ve been playing in DC for a long, but it’s always been a dream of ours to play The 9:30 Club.”
--- “What the heck?” Heh, the Christian influence comes to the surface.
--- “This is my first time playing this song on this guitar. All guitars are basically the same, though, so it should be fine.”
--- “Trying to Survive”!! Slow pitch down the middle, but it works. I like the switch to anger.
--- “Where I’m From” has a cool washed-out blues Queen mix. All over. Stirring ending!!
--- “This one’s for a call named Julia.” YES, “JULIA”! I literally, involuntarily scream, “This is the best new song.” More intimate on the album, but I’m glad they played it.
--- Wooo at the hard rock change of pace with “Everything,” “O Ya,” and wait for it……
--- They gave a shoutout to Exists For Good. For $5 A Month, you can offer support for the refugee victims of hurricanes and earthquakes in Syria and Turkey.
--- “Caught Me By Surprise”!!!! Indeed at the title. An intoxicating mix of washed out acoustic, autotune, group acapella, and joy. “Dramatic refrain” indeed. NOTE TO SELF: I need to listen to all their songs again, a lot, recognize them, and go to the front next show. Plinking keyboard added to “Second Guessing Games”?! Add to the originality. Go for it!
--- “Why Even Try” is a smooth, straightforward change of pace that sounds good. Appreciate it.
--- Ditto but even more soaring for “Everybody’s Looking for Some Light”!!! Love how he comes into the audience (totally unexpectedly), literally leaps on stage, and seems genuine.
--- “Do You Ever Feel”: yesss at the hard rock counterpart to “Light”!!!
--- Wow, The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle is now 50.
--- “E Street Shuffle”!!! I recognize I’m biased, but all the dancers and jammers on stage make it TROUNCE Van Morrison. Heh, nice touch flashing a Greetings from Asbury Park pic at the end. Can’t wait to listen to the album in the car on the way home.
--- Yayyy, he calls “4th of July (Asbury Park)” Sandy the height of his storytelling powers!!!! He has us picture all these sensory details before starting. Can’t fathom why people write it off “Sandy” as third-rate. The guy’s voice doesn’t have enough grit and volume the song needs, but I love the intro and the washed-out electric. Never heard electric on this song!!
--- “Kitty’s Back” keeps it kickin’ in a high gear!
--- “Wild Billy’s Circus Story”: Awww, “I’m just killing time because I gotta catch my breath after that last tune.” Ooh, my first ever time hearing this performed live! “Hired hand tightens his legs on the sword swallower's blade”: what imagery! “God save the human cannonball.” This singer has the grit and volume asked for in the previous song. What a discovery!!!! I involuntarily think, “God, I love music.”
--- “A lot of people think this is a flawless side of music. Only three songs on it, but I have to agree with them.”
--- “Incident on 57th Street”: I dig the instruments and the female vocalists, but this mumbly-then-shouty cover man is no Bruce. Oooh at the piano solo at the end! A perfect transition to…..
--- “Rosalita”!!!! TRANSCENDS AGE.
--- “A producer must have said, ‘Bruce, you have that incredibly medley and you end with a slow ballad.’ Don’t get wrong, though, this album changed my life as a teenager. And now I see the man in front of me reacting that way. It’s touched a lot of nerves.”
--- “New York City Serenade”!!! Perfect counterpoint to “Rosalita.” Jesus Christ at the acoustic plucks.
--- “The Fever”: Shoutout to WHFS, who played this Tracks track which was recorded around the same time as “Wild Billy.” Aww at the bespectacled guy in front of me loud clapping at this obscure number. Killer red lights, slick sax, and growly delivery!!
--- Father Mumbles is back for “Growin’ Up” lol. It’s a downgrade, but still fun.
--- “My older brother, who was my greatest musical influence, saw Bruce at Shady Grove Music Fair.” Apparently he was hanging on a wire and jumping on a piano.” HA, both brothers took turns saying and denying that they were Bruce.
--- Ha/aww at the guy literally calling his brother on speaker in Texas before launching into “Spirit in the Night”!!!
BRING ON BRUCE IN MARCH AND APRIL. It will be unreal.
In the end, the show proves that music can last. If it’s a hospital bed or not, to my last dying day, I will leap to it.
Grade: A
“Growin’ Up [Live at the Roxy]” for the first time on the way home!
--- Mesmerizing
electric rendition of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” in honor of Jeff Beck, who
died days earlier. What a start!!!
--- Apparently
this is the 10th anniversary of Newmyer Flyer shows, including their first one
here at the Birchmere!
--- It’s
my first time at the Birchmere, and it’s a cool venue. I don’t love that it’s
429 dinner tables, which discourages dancing, but the lights, viability, and
acoustics are all strong.
--- The
venue and audience made reflect on age with unexpected intensity. I’ve always
loved hanging out with retirees, especially Jim Andrukonis’ Frost alumni group.
Their experience, wisdom, and humor have been a treasure. They’re able to
gather and engage with films in a way few young people do.
The
unsettling element at the Birchmere — as it may be in a few months with Bruce —
is how constricted the crowd is. In my mind, rock music is supposed a resemble
a rocket — a “heart-stopping,
pants-dropping, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, love-making” explosion that lifts
you off the ground. Hard to feel that when the audience seems planted,
expressionless, in the ground.
What I have to recognize, I think, is it’s a physical thing.
The movement may not be there, but that doesn’t mean they’re not moved.
[Update: “Rosalita” later will prove fans of any age can still do both. :)]
--- Most
of the Van Morrison set will be a tribute to the 1971 Moondance album.
The crooner nails the title song, a jazzy flutter that’s infinitely better
live!!! Plus, I’m excited by any chance to link to the end of Frasier’s
“Moondance,” one of the greatest scenes in tv history. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZRq0ZU51XGQib9fQujN6Cej_LEoQPPNu/view?usp=sharing
--- It’s
interesting to hear how many of these musicians have won awards in the DC area.
It reminds me there’s an entire local music scene I’ve never tapped into.
--- “Everyone”
is apparently the quirkiest song on the album -- “something peculiarly Irish
about it.” Heh, I agree. I like the sound effect that somehow reminds me of a
shamrock.
--- Hahaha at the "Glad Tidings" intro:
“This is a weird song. I first heard it on The Sopranos. It’s the one
when [spoiler alert] Tony Soprano whacks Tony B. It’s a Christmas song too.”
The upbeat ballad vibe makes me picture how it was used ironically in the
episode!!
--- “Jackie
Wilson Said (I’m In Heaven)”!!! This track stood out to me on the album (I
thought Brody would be all about the rhythm), and it’s a blast live.
Wilco, The White Stripes, Dispatch, Muse, The Shins, Guster, Jimmy Eat World, Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Ok Go, Foo Fighters, The New Rockers, Bruce Springsteen, Lifehouse, Nada Surf, Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, REM, Alkaline Trio, Alkaline Trio, Bruce Sprinsteen, Bruce Springsteen, Wilco, The Offspring, Jack Johnson, Foo Fighters, Counting Crows, Ben Folds, Weezer, Cake, Alkaline Trio, Rise Against, Coldplay, The Who, Smashing Pumpkins, AC/DC, Oasis, The Killers, Kings of Leon, Jimmy Eat World, Ben Kweller, Tokyo Police Club, Girl Talk, Modest Mouse, Flogging Molly, David Cook, Death Cab for Cutie, Kings of Leon, Sister Hazel, The Decemberists, Alkaline Trio, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Springsteen, Tv on the Radio, Wilco, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Blink 182, Weezer, Taking Back Sunday, Rise Against, Green Day, Jet, The Bravery, Blink 182, Weezer, Ben Folds, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Springsteen, The Get Up Kids, Bob Dylan, The Pixies, Weezer, Rock and Cole, Rise Against, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Alkaline Trio, Spoon, Ben Folds, Nada Surf, Vampire Weekend, The Protomen, Phoenix, Weezer, Arcade Fire, Spoon, The Presidents of the United States of America, Live, Naughty by Nature, Everclear, Third Eye Blind, Billy Idol, Rock and Cole, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, Gogol Bordello, Girl Talk, Jimmy Eat World, Bon Jovi, DJ Pauly D, Carbon Leaf, Dropkick Murphys, Girl Talk, The Strokes, Lupe Fiasco, Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Jack's Mannequin, Guster, Wilco, Smashing Pumpkins, Givers, Ra Ra Riot, Wu Lyf, Foo Fighters, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Rock and Cole, O.A.R., The Black Keys, Bruce Springsteen, Nada Surf, Guster, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, Wilco, Motley Crue, Kiss, Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket, Bruce Springsteen, Alabama Shakes, Nas, ZZ Top, Jack White, Nas, Skrillex, Dispatch, Passion Pit, Of Monsters and Men, Rock and Cole, Fun., Mumford and Sons, Elliott Yamin, Crystal Bowersox, Rockapella ft. Carmen Sandiego, Alkaline Trio, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Grizzly Bear, The XX, Bruno Mars, Beyonce, Guster, Ben Folds Five, BN Ladies, American Idol Season 12 Tour, Jimmy Eat World, Imagine Dragons, The Flaming Lips, Franz Ferdinand, Alkaline Trio, Alkaline Trio, Elton John, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Kanye West, Rock and Cole, Rebelution, Young The Giant, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Springsteen, Alabama Shakes, Ben Folds, Queen ft. Adam Lambert, New Politics, Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Phillip Phillips, OAR, Arcade Fire, Jimmy Eat World, Foo Fighters, Zac Brown Band, Black Keys, Carrie Underwood, Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, Eminem, Taking Back Sunday, Ben Folds, Dave Matthews Band, Mumford and Sons, Kelly Clarkson, Foo Fighters, Rise Against, OAR, Christina Perri, Ed Sheeran, Stevie Wonder, Kendrick Lamar, Givers, Straight No Chaser, Melinda Doolittle, Muse, Bruce Springsteen, Wilco, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Guns 'n Roses, Paul Simon, Panic! At the Disco, Weezer, Tony Bennett, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Weird Al Yankovich, Bruce Springsteen, Adele, Jimmy Eat World, Green Day, Explosions in the Sky, Wilco, Rise Against, Dispatch, Jimmy Eat World, Incubus, Sister Hazel, Regina Spektor, Ben Folds, Roger Waters, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Colony House, Mutemath, Foo Fighters, Bruce Springsteen, Haley Reinhart, Dispatch, Franz Ferdinand,U2, Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World, Game of Thrones: Live Concert Experience, The Pixies, Weezer, Gary Clark Jr., Muse, Snow Patrol. Ben Platt, The Rolling Stones, Ra Ra Riot, Jimmy Eat World, Third Eye Blind, and The Mountain Goats, Sonic Castaways, Jeremy Eliot, Norah Jones, Mavis Staples, Katy Perry, Wilco, Nada Surf, Jazz Trotters, Foo Fighters, Guster, Rise Against, Sleater-Kinney, Wilco, The Eagles, Noah Kahan, Laughing Colors, Up All Night, Guster, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Dave Tieff, Rage Against The Machine, Franz Ferdinand, Dispatch, O.A.R., The Killers, Broken Social Scene, 'Bruce Springsteen' at Paul Verbesey's 'Surprise' Party, Arcade Fire, Noah Kahan, The Struts, Spoon, Jimmy Eat World, Straight No Chaser, Van Morrison [Newmyer Flyer], Bruce Springsteen [Newmyer Flyer], Colony House, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Springsteen, Lauryn Hill. [Recaps soon to come for Dispatch, Jason Isbell, OAR, Goo Goo Dolls, Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service, and Taylor Swift.]
Upcoming Shows
Hozier (Friday, May 17, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD). Alanis Morissette (Saturday, June 29, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD). Joan Jett (Saturday, June 29, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD). Foo Fighters (Tuesday, July 23, Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey, PA). Fitz and The Tantrums (Saturday, July 27, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD). OAR (Saturday, July 27, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD).
