Expectations were ludicrously high for Gothenburg 3. After two great concerts at the end of June – with night one being the second longest of all time, and night two being among the best evenings of this tour – many were anticipating Bruce and the Band’s final stop at Ullevi Stadium to be nothing short of an all-timer.
Unfortunately, besides perhaps the best performance of The River on this tour, that faith was not entirely rewarded.
Continue reading “GOTHENBURG 3: I Got You, and You’ve Got Me”
If I presented you with a map of Europe, would you be able to mark where Horsens is located?
Before Saturday night, seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing literally atop Circus Maximus in Rome could not have been considered a bucket list event because most never would’ve even dreamed of such a ludicrously stunning idea. And yet, tens upon thousands of Bruce’s ravenously enthusiastic Italian fans packed into this legendary site – which is now basically a giant dirt field with slightly elevated grassy hills on either side surrounded by ruins in the heart of one of the “most beautiful” cities in the world – as far as the eye could see for the third and final E Street spectacular in Italy. Palpably aware of the significance of this landmark locale, Bruce, the Band, and the seemingly never-ending crowd seemed to share one predominant goal: to celebrate nonstop this momentous occasion. Though the setlist may not have been sufficiently monumental from beginning to end to make the show match its all-timer of a venue, he included song choices of all kinds – from truly mind-blowing moments to rollicking covers to his usual greatest hits befitting the large festival setting – to satisfy every member of the Circus, whose unparalleled, unwavering energy never failed to convey the awe-inspiring circumstances of the extra-long night.
Continue reading “ROME: Ain’t No Cure for the Circus-time Bruce”
European prayers have finally been answered.
If Monday night’s fuse-blowing concert at Paris’ AccorHotels Arena demonstrated for the first time on this tour the magnetic energy generated from combining the intimacy of a typical American arena with the the signature passion of a typical European crowd, Wednesday night’s show at long last – after much begging, cajoling, pleading, screaming, and yes, even praying on the part of the European contingent of E Street Nation – tested what would happen when these fans were finally treated to the first ever full album performance of The River in Europe. The consensus, to which their American counterparts can attest: it was well worth the wait.
What do you get when you combine the intimacy of a typical American arena with the signature passion of a typical E Street European crowd?
That’s a question I’ve been excitedly pondering over the last couple of weeks, and Bruce and the Band’s first of two concerts at Paris’ 16,000-seat capacity AccorHotels Arena – formerly known as Bercy before a recent renovation[1] – provided the mightiest of answers:
Continue reading “PARIS 1: ‘The River’ Rushes On So Effortlessly”
French Playwright Florian Zeller burst onto the New York theatre scene this past season with the excellent Broadway production of The Father.[1] Though he’s been popular in London for a few years thanks to the excellent translations of Christopher Hampton,[2] the relatively young Mr. Zeller is a new, much welcomed commodity for New York theatregoers hungry for fresh dramatic voices. As such, when I found out another of his plays – also translated by Mr. Hampton – had recently transferred to the West End’s Wyndham’s Theatre after a successful run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, I made it a priority to see The Truth on a recent trip to London to determine whether Florian would be a one-hit wonder or a promising playwright to keep an eye on.
What did I just experience?
No, seriously:
WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST EXPERIENCE?!
A few hours ago, my girlfriend and I were chatting about how the airport in Milan that we had just flown into for tomorrow’s concert looked like it was in the middle of a forest. Recalling the last time that I felt as if I was in such woodland terrain – at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin – I made some throwaway comment about the craziness of seeing wild boars running across the entrance to the stadium a few nights before the concert. She responded – as she often relentlessly does – with lighthearted, self-pitying scorn, “Oh, you mean the boars that I asked you to send me a picture of yet you still haven’t?!” Matching scorn with scorn, and taking the opportunity once again to question whether my Bruce-resenting girlfriend ACTUALLY reads my lengthy diatribes, I retorted, “I included a picture of the ol’ boars in the footnotes of my Berlin piece, which you not only claimed to have read but even liked! As such, you totally should’ve seen the furry creatures by now…” Her fateful response, which inspired this rather random, hopefully brief post:
Bruce has gotten the message.
After weeks upon weeks of European fans begging to hear more River tracks, Bruce has finally started to give them what they want. But at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadium on Wednesday night, Bruce also had a message for his fans in return, one that has already been proven true countless times on this tour:
Never underestimate the setlist a seemingly minor market may receive.
Click here to read my thoughts on Gothenburg 1.
The most common conversation amongst diehard fans regarding this River Tour 2016 has undoubtedly concerned Bruce’s setlist construction. In Europe, tramps have repeatedly chastised Bruce for forsaking far too much of the album that gives this tour its name, opting instead to play just as many – if not more – of the same songs from Born in the U.S.A, a casual fan favorite. If they’re not going to be treated to the E Street Band’s signature live spontaneity, then Europeans at least want their predictable setlists to be full of songs actually from The River.
Continue reading “GOTHENBURG 2: The Anatomy of a Near-Flawless “River” Tour 2016 Setlist”
Write All Nite 