A shorter version of this piece was originally published on Backstreets.com, which you can read here.

Five tour premieres? In Coventry?! Where the hell IS Coventry?!

Bruce and the Band clearly knew, and they showed up big time at the relatively small Ricoh Arena[1] for yet another three-hour and ten-minute, 33-song spectacular. Though that many tour premieres would lead some to assume the setlist was one of the absolute best of the tour, unfortunately the fact that they were all clumped on either end of the show prevented it from scaling those lofty heights, especially since the stretch in between almost derailed the whole evening thanks to a series of brutally predictable setlist decisions. The night was ultimately a tale of two great, expertly paced halves, with a subpar deviation separating the two.

Continue reading “COVENTRY: Saving My Love for This Travelin’ Band” →

 

After the high that was Bruce and the Band’s concerts in Dublin – most probably the consensus picks as the best shows of the entire tour, America included – Glasgow could have gone in one of two directions:

Continue reading “GLASGOW: A ‘River’ That Don’t Know Where It’s Flowing” →

This piece was written for and originally published within the space constraints of Backstreets.com.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band knew exactly where they were from the get-go at their first of six stops in the United Kingdom. Walking on stage – without Patti – inside Etihad Stadium shortly before 7pm, Bruce immediately addressed the slight yet persistent rain that plagued the crowd for most of the day and night: “Hello rainy Manchester…again!” referencing the downpour that accompanied their last show here. Yet Bruce followed up that joke by promising yet again the poor weather would only bolster their performance: “We wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Continue reading “MANCHESTER: Brucey Claus Came to Manchester Town” →

Madrid was a tale told between two tour premieres.

Being the last show in Spain – a country that Bruce loves almost as much as the country loves him – many were expecting a special night, though few could have predicted how that specialness would manifest itself in the setlist. Instead of a plethora of tour premieres like in Portugal, or dipping deep into the well that is The River album,[1] or playing it fast and loose with sign requests, Bruce had a very specific story to tell and message to communicate to his adoring Spanish fans and Basque fans and Catalonian fans and fans from all around the world who had made the trip to Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Simply put, the show was an ode to the power of communal experience in overcoming obstacles that life may present to individuals, a concept that Bruce understands is poignantly conveyed through the Spanish concert experience – as he emotionally demonstrated through the show’s carefully constructed setlist, particularly the two tour premieres of the night.

Continue reading “MADRID: Great Companions for This Part of the Ride” →

An edited version of this piece originally appeared on Backstreets.com, which you can read here.

And THAT’s why you never underestimate a Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert.

Many people had pegged their headlining gig at Rock in Rio Lisboa as a lesser stop on the European itinerary because festivals often entail Bruce-illiterate crowds, poor sound, shorter shows, and greatest hits-filled setlists. Though some of these expectations ultimately proved true, no one could have predicted that the Portuguese crowd stretching as far as the eye could see in Parque da Bela Vista would be treated to five – count them, FIVE – tour premieres. Another happy surprise: Bruce fans across the world were also able to enjoy the concert thanks to a top-notch online live stream.

Continue reading “LISBON: Streaming in the U.S.A.” →

Click here for a more conventional, specific recap of the Donostia concert.

At every stadium concert in Europe, two different flags flank each side of the stage high above the crowd. The stage left one is always the American flag, representing where Bruce and the Band were born. The stage right flag, however, changes based on the country in which they’re playing. Here’s the flag that was flown inside of Donostia’s Estadio de Anoeta on Tuesday night:

Continue reading “DONOSTIA Analysis: It’s Basque Time” →

Amidst the beaches and Basques of Donostia – commonly referred to as San Sebastián by those unfamiliar with the difference between the Spanish and the Basques[1] – my favorite treasure found within this small yet beautiful city were unequivocally pinchos. Lining the narrow streets of this glorified village-by-the-sea are quaint little restaurants whose bars are literally overflowing with tiny delicacies. Though most associate this region with Michelin star joints – locals claim they have more of those than any other condensed area in the world – such upscale fare could not satiate this down-and-dirty Bruce fan like the overwhelming number of delectable pinchos beckoning me from the street around every corner.

Continue reading “DONOSTIA Recap: The Pinchos Land” →

Leading up to The River Tour 2016 launching its excursion across Europe in the city of Gaudi, paella, and ceaselessly exuberant Catalonian fans, the concert felt less like merely the first stop of the European leg and more akin to the first show of a new tour. Without the full album, in sequence performance providing the predictable framework for the setlist, those inside Barcelona’s legendary and massive Camp Nou on Saturday night – not to mention everyone else following along at home – were promised a show full of the cherished feeling that has long epitomized a Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band spectacular: spontaneity.

Continue reading “BARCELONA = Bosselona” →

On the final night of the (first?) American leg of this River Tour 2016 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Bruce announced that he and the Band had decided against playing the full album at every show of their upcoming swing around the European continent. This news was greeted with excitement (“Yay! More setlist variety!”), disappointment (some European fans: “Wait! I want to see The River performed in full! Not fair…”), and self-hatred (me: “Crap! There go all of the pieces I was in the middle of writing that were based on the setlist structure built around the nightly full album performance). Since I’m planning to write recaps of all of the shows that I attend in Europe, I was originally saving a few of my thoughts inspired by the aforementioned setlist structure for various European shows that may have featured more of the same old setlist choices. But since it appears as if static setlists could be a phenomenon of the past for this tour – and since I want to keep my European recaps show-specific rather than tour-specific – a lot of these thoughts have sadly reached their expiration dates.

Continue reading “In This Darkness I Will Reappear” →

A slightly edited version of this post originally appeared on Backstreets.com, which you can read here.

Two types of fans predominantly populate your average Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert. The first group are the normal folks who only see the Band when they visit their hometown and love the performance regardless of the – unbeknownst to them – static setlists. The second group are the rest of us, those who basically stalk a geriatric band of rockers around the world to note and thus enjoy even the smallest changes between shows. As the (first?) North American leg of The River Tour 2016 enters its homestretch with only a week’s worth of shows remaining before hopping the pond for the summer, Bruce’s rambunctious stop at State College’s Bryce Jordan Center was a concert mostly filled with, played for, and appreciated by the aforementioned first group, dominated this evening by an inordinate number of exceedingly enthusiastic local university students. Though the second group of fans may have been dismayed at only the same old songs being played for the most part, the show and the crowd provided enough purified rock and roll juice to satiate even the snobbiest of audience members.

Continue reading “PENN STATE: Down in a College Man’s Town” →