Thursday, April 30, 2009

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND PLAY "STUMP THE BAND"

I can't wait to see Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band when they come to New Jersey in a few weeks. Whenever Bruce is on tour, I follow the setlists on Backstreets (which is where I got this picture from).

This time around, it seems like a continuation of the Magic tour from last summer: they're not so much promoting the new album (they do a few new songs each night, of course) as they are celebrating their career and having fun. They've been playing lots of interesting covers: they've recently done ZZ Top's "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide," and "I Wanna Be Sedated" by the center of Little Steven's Underground Garage universe, The Ramones. Last night, they did The Clash's "London Calling." I often refer to the Bruce/Steven/Elvis Costello/Dave Grohl performance of "London Calling" from the Grammy Awards as "the best four minutes of tv, ever." (Of course, I wasn't around to see The Beatles on Sullivan).

Dave Marsh, who hosts a great live call-in show on SIRIUS XM's E Street Radio, says that this tour is a "victory lap." Well, they've earned it. Still, I'd love to hear "Surprise, Surprise," "The Last Carnival," "Good Eye" and "Kingdom Of Days" on this tour. Speaking of "Kingdom of Days," Patti Scialfa, who missed a few dates on the tour due to a horseriding accident, was back last night. Glad you're feeling better, Patti. I interviewed her years ago, and she was super-cool.

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