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Originally Posted By: Skipja?k
i guess this means that the euro shows will be a mess, people tossing beer & piss to the idiots at the front who are holding up the 'rosie' signs and spoiling everyone on the floors view.

i hate them fuckin signs and flags











grin grin grin grin grin grin

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 "Hey man, did you see that? His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud" 

 

Originally Posted By: MadamMarie
Originally Posted By: Tara
Wow Zeke, good job


Really! How did you do that?
Playing around with Adobe Photoshop I guess or maybe the simple little program called Neat Image?
There are plenty of programs to fix photos with & all more or less does the same - some a little better than other of course!
Originally Posted By: Cosmic_Kid
]Playing around with Adobe Photoshop I guess or maybe the simple little program called Neat Image?
There are plenty of programs to fix photos with & all more or less does the same - some a little better than other of course!


Pretty much what you said. There are plenty of photo fixing software out there, but it requires skill to use them. wink

There ain't no magical "fix photo" setting, same goes with audio remastering.

Some restorations i have done:
http://zeke.wippiespace.com/restorations/

I would love to turn a hobby into a business, but what I've seen people ain't ready to pay for a such service.


Oh well...this is turning way too much off topic. laugh

OK, here is my review, but it is actually more like a journal entry for my entire experience at the show.

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Hard to believe, but I waited over seven months to see a show on this tour.

I had refrained from listening to any boots, watching video clips, etc. in anticipation of this show. Though I know the set lists, I like to try and bring some element surprise to my first show on any of Bruce?s tours. In 1999 I had the opposite approach, and it certainly took away from the first shows I saw in the UK. However, since Danny?s passing, Bruce seems to have ripped up his ?Magic Play Book? except for the five-pack at the end of most shows. It is the Magic Tour after all.

I met a lot of nice people at the bar in CNN Center. There were some first-timers, a lot folks flying in from NJ for the show (it was Spring Break last week for NJ) and many locals. Despite my best effort, I was pulled into several Bruce-Fag-like debates about when songs has premiered, when the E Street Band was in Atlanta last, what year this show was or that show was ? etc. I just could not stand by while so much misinformation was flying around the bar. Some guy actually wanted to bet me on the year 41 Shots was debuted in Atlanta. Needless to say he did not know who he was speaking to and I enjoyed my victory beer and shot. The bar tenders were overwhelmed and didn?t bother to charge for most of the drinks. I left a large tip.

But then I was a bit more toasted than usual for the show?s 8:20PM start.

My seat was in section 113, which is good, but not great. I managed to bargain my way to the Big Man?s side of the stage in the third row. The section was full of band and crew guests, but there were empty seats to be had there. Due to my slightly skewed state of mind, I socialized a bit more than usual and tried to blend into the group. There were a lot of folks from the Atlanta Food Bank there. I also met two 70+ year old women who were guests of Clarence. They apparently have known him for 15+ years and had been to more shows than I have. There were also a few children around. The guy next to me, who didn?t want to talk, had his 8 or 9 year old daughter with him. Another man further to my right had an even younger son with him.

I was nervous about getting bounced out of my seat. I figured if the show would just start and the lights went down, I?d be safer. I few others around me in groups of two were also in the wrong seat, but got bounced out. I have to admit my heart was pounding a bit. I didn?t want to go back to 113.
Come on, Bruce. It?s 8:20. You?re late.

As if he could hear me, the LED advertisement displays that line the entire arena went out and a minute later the house lights as well. I was safe. The crowd was louder than they were for the last E Street Band show I saw here. The girls behind me were screaming. It was going to be a good night.

The band came out in the dark to their places and the video screen behind the drum kit lit up. Just like in the Florida shows, the band watched the screen with all of us. The footage of Danny was fantastic. Somebody put a lot of love and care into creating it. I could see Max?s face due to his close proximity to the screen. He was watching intently ? even reverently. The footage made a few of the women behind me gasp ? as if to say they couldn?t believe he was gone. Present company included.

Once Blood Brothers was over, the first notes and drum beats to No Surrender were belted out. In the second tier seats above me to my left was a man holding a banner that read, ?Danny Federici: No Retreat, No Surrender.? The man looked pleased and maybe even though his banner had something to do with the opening song.

My seat afforded me an excellent view of the side stage goings on. The man at the side stage soundboard was also in change of the teleprompter. I could just make out the song titles and it was interesting to see him do his job. For each song, he would slowly and deliberately scroll the screen as the song progressed. It was most interesting to see him stress slightly when Bruce deviated from the plan. Nils came to speak to him maybe a dozen times during the show usually making motions to indicate he wanted to be turned up or down. I couldn?t tell if the board controlled the stage monitors or the actual mix being fed to the main speakers.

There were, of course, a lot of signs in the pit. Most of us remember the 15 reunion shows in NJ were the Rosie signs came out and we got the ?I?m not a fucking jukebox? comment. Well, those days are over. By the time Out in the Street was being played, you could see Bruce and Little Steven surveying the pit and checking out the signs. Most were for songs and some were there for fun. I remember seeing ?Record Your Next Record at My House!? and another announcing somebody?s 35th anniversary.

The Thunder Road sign was a bit clever. Somebody had taken Bruce?s own hand writing from an old set list and enlarged it to fit on the sign as if they though Bruce could read his own hand writing better than block lettering. It must have looked like ?Thdr Rd? to those who aren?t familiar with our hero?s hand writing.

Blinded by the Light was proceeded by Bruce reminiscing about meeting and playing music with Danny for the first time about 40 years ago. It was an appropriate remembrance that was lighthearted and didn?t bring down the energy level of the show. The performance was good and the crowd sang the chorus with Bruce. I love the imagery Bruce gave us during the Devil?s and Dust Storytellers show with him flipping through his rhyming dictionary while creating this ?minor masterpiece?.

Bruce mentioned Brendan O?Brien before going into Your Own Worst Enemy with a smirk, maybe using the song to kiddingly compare his arrival in Brendan?s current hometown. It certainly killed the energy level of the show, but Bruce was digging it. I guess when you are the boss you are allowed to play at least one song for yourself. I think it was an inside joke of sorts.

Trapped was excellent ? one of my favorites. I am embarrassed to say I missed Patti on this one. Her voice is important to the chorus, in my opinion. Still, it was an excellent compliment to Your Own Worst Enemy and the crowd ate it up.

I heard Murder Inc. enough in 1999 and 2000, but it must be a favorite of the band due to the solos. I could see Steve, Bruce and Nils having a blast with it. At this point in the show, since I knew we?d get The Promised Land and Badlands ? I started to wonder how many songs we?d hear tonight that were prominently featured during the reunion tour. It turned out to be a lot, but that was OK with me in the end.

I love She?s the One and tonight?s version did not disappoint. I was especially interested in hearing how the transition into Living in the Future would go. I have to say I was not impressed. I know it is a silly song and Bruce uses it to speak to the crowd, get a drink, walk around the stage a bit ? but it lacked the bite I hear and love on the CD. The sound quality of the vocals was also not great where I was sitting, so I could not really make out all the words he was saying. I guess I?ll go look for the boot.

The Promised Land never gets old for me, but it was what was to come after I was more interested in. What would Bruce pull out before the five-pack? He would let the audience decide, it turns out.

Smiling from ear to ear, Bruce reached into the pit and grabbed a sign that said ?Bobby Jean?. He turned around, turned the sign over and showed it to the band. Seconds later, to the crowd?s amazement, we were listening to Bruce?s ode to Little Steven, but maybe this time it was more for Danny. Bruce was a fucking jukebox tonight and he was enjoying it. I know Bobby Jean is not a favorite for many fans, but the crowd thought it was just fine. He even displayed the sign at the base of his microphone for the audience like it was a caption on VH1 for his performance.

The audible that I could clearly see after Bobby Jean was not something new to the set list, but turned out to be Bruce instructing everyone to skip This Hard Land. It didn?t matter to me at the time, because I?ve never been fortunate enough to see Point Blank live before. It was a powerful performance and quite possibly added to the set due to the verdict handed down in NYC today. A lot of people, myself included, though we?d be hearing 41 Shots tonight, but it wasn?t on the set list. Maybe Bruce feels the song belongs solely to the incident from 2000 and didn?t feel the need to apply it here.

I actually enjoyed the five-pack more than I thought I would even though I knew the songs and the order they would come in. The Devil?s Arcade was more powerful than I thought it would be live ? mostly due to Bruce?s mood and tone, Max?s thunder and the fact that the song?s message seemed to resonate with the crowd. The Rising brought the entire arena to its feet again. I am always surprised at Bruce?s intensity during The Rising. It is as if he thinks the song is too important (due to what it represents ? not because it is his song) not to give it everything he has.

Badlands is a great way to close the main set, but they play it too slowly for my taste now. It sounds like it did in 1999. Bruce must like it played this way, but I prefer the tempo a bit faster like in 2000. Maybe I?ll make a sign for the next show: ?Max: pick up the tempo on Badlands, please. You know it makes sense.?

End of Part 1
Time for the encore - now things should get interesting again.

Amazingly enough, the Atlanta Food Bank people in the three rows in front of me left the show before the encore. I took the opportunity to help myself to their seats. Now I literally could not get any closer to the stage and had some room to move.

Bruce took the Thunder Road sign created with his own handwriting and once again turned it around to show the band. In seconds they were ready to go (of course it was also on the set list to open the encore so they were already ready to go) and the harmonica came out. It was an excellent rendition. All the ladies loved it and the crowd knew all the words. I did miss the give and take between Bruce and Clarence on opposite sides of the stage (during The Rising Tour), but still, the music was excellent.

Born to Run came early in the encore. While I will never tire of hearing this live, I was distracted by the fact the show might end earlier than it should. If we get Dancing in the Dark, American Land and then the house lights, I have to admit I would have been disappointed. I could see the ?accordion technicians? at the side of the stage ready to run up and deliver the instruments to Roy and Charlie. This worried me, but before I could get too worried, about five or six women from up in the section came down to join me in the newly freed front-row-Big-Man-side seats. Excellent - I dislike the usual sausage fest one often experiences in the pit. Even Nils came over to check them out.

Born to Run ended, the crowd went wild and Bruce turned around and seemed to ask the band if they were up for Rosie. It didn?t take long for the band to answer back by breaking right into it. The house lights stayed up and the usually subdued Atlanta crowd took the show, with the band, to the next level. This immediately made the ladies around me start screaming and dancing even more than before. It was nice to watch ? but actually distracted me from the Rock and Roll a bit.

The last time I heard Rosie was in Milan in 2003. I felt like we were all privileged to hear it in Atlanta. Something usually saved for shows with a more dedicated fan base. I am happy to report just about the entire arena was on its feet to show the respect the song and the performance deserves.

Rosie elevated the show to the level I was expecting based on the shows in Florida, but I wanted more.

As Rosie?s last notes rang out, the accordion techs were poised to run up on the stage and I was facing the prospect of a four-song encore. I know that sounds so elitist and I know Bruce owes me nothing, but it was how I felt. Then, like an unexpected gift at Christmas when you still believe in Santa Claus, Bruce turned around to the band and held his hands up as if to say stop. The accordions came back down the stairs as fast as they went up. I held my breath ? my eyes fixated on Bruce?s face. I could see him shout out one word, one syllable ? and then before I had time to consider what that word might be, Tenth Ave started with Roy and Max and the energy level in that arena went higher than I have ever seen in Atlanta. The screaming ladies around me actually started to block out the wattage of the sound system.

Tenth Ave made the show ? no question about it. It literally brought the house down. I felt like Bruce had now given us more than we deserved. They nailed it: every note, every lyric, every motion, every solo was perfect. The lead up to the first verse was extraordinary ? better than I have ever heard. The song ended with the usual audience participation and Bruce walked right over to us. I could smell him he was so close. What does he do when he gets over to us? He doesn?t flirt with the ladies (who were now climbing over me to get to him), but instead he gives a thumbs up to the two children now sitting on their respective father?s shoulders. This would have never happened in 1978 - everything changes, I guess.

I liked American Land more than I thought I would. It is an excellent way to end the show despite what you might think about the Seager Sessions. Roy and Charlie finally got their accordions and made their way to the front of the stage. They really played off each other and seemed to be pleased about being away from their respective corners.

I was exhausted when the show ended ? physically from standing/dancing the entire time and emotionally (not to mention I had to piss like a race horse). I sat down for the first time and watched the stage hands start breaking down everything. Nils? significant other was sat on the side of the stage for almost the entire show. She was nice enough to give me and a number of others a set list copy. Most of the other guests only came out for the encore, but she was there watching and enjoying the whole show.

I?m looking forward to NJ in June and whatever else I can get to before the tour ends, but I doubt I?ll ever be closer than where I was in Atlanta. I couldn?t help but think I was witnessing some history here that night. Would the E Street Band ever play Atlanta again? Time will tell.

Anyway, thank you, Bruce. You made my year.

End of Part 2
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