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Man, this is a tough one for me. I know the Darkness/River tours get a lot of hype, but I gotta go with my gut here, the 76 tour with the Miami Horns. I never get tired of listening to those boots (Incident, It's my life, Action in the Streets, She's the one with the harmonica) and the greatest Backstreets of all time was played during that run.

Others may differ, but it's 1976 all the way for me.


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In all honesty, I think it would have to be The River. I love the intensity of his performances on the Darkness tour, but his voice was at it's best on The River. BIUSA had the issues with the synths and the huge stadiums. Tunnel of Love was a great album, but I don't like any of the bootlegs on it. We don't need to mention the crapiness of the 92/93 tours (though the uber boots that TD got off that one were pretty good), GOTJ stunk as both an album and a tour.

I think that his voice on the current tour is the best it's been in a long time, but we'll have to wait 'til it's over to see how good it stacks up.
Vive Le Resistance!
I'll jump on Smiley's bandwagon.
The River era was my true point of discovery and even though that time had past before I got to hear my first boot from the tour (not by much though, as I picked up 'Follow That Dream' in 83), those shows always and still bring me back.
Just when they think they have all the answers, I come and change all the questions.
If it's a 'wish' tour that I only experienced by listening to bootlegs and reading stories about how great it was I'd say the Darkness-tour.

If I pick a tour I actually experienced I choose the complete opposite: Devils & Dust. The intimate concerts really did it for me! Absolute highlights were the shows in Dusseldorf & Frankfurt.

If it's the tour I had the most fun, I will probably end up with The Rising, which was the first tour I actually started to follow the band around through Europe (including Milan '03 - which was a wonderful experience) and did the last three in New York.

So it's a tough deciscion to make.

'I wanna be where the bands are'

The Chicken Scratch tour is a big favorite of mine. The intros to It's My Live and Pretty Flamingo are amongst my favorite and the addition of the Miami Horns was great. I love those boots. Especially Streak of Light with the Spector appearance.

Second must be the Reunion tour for me. I got introduced to Bruce through that tour and I still feel the band played so much better, tighter at least, than they ever did.

D&D has a special place for me as well. To me it was fantastic to hear how he could keep it interesting show after show with just me, myself and I.

I also love the Seeger Sessions tour, love the way he reinvented himself there.
In 2 or 3 days it will be the 27th anniversary of my first Bruce show. It came at a very emotional time for this John Lennon-worshipping teenager, and I'll always remember that wonderful 3 hours of being able to enjoy myself, to take a break from the trauma of that time.

BUT my favorite tour from an emotional standpoint was Reunion. I'd been paying attention to what Bruce was doing but not all that closely. I wasn't into the Joad tour, and I thought that aside from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dedication thing that the ESB was gone for good...

Reunion was the first tour that I ever went to more than one show in a row; by the last Boston show it felt like I was leaving for my night job. My first experience wtih the drop line (I got 5th row!), the first shows I ever went to by myself (and realized I quite preferred being able to focus solely on MY concert experience. I thought the band sounded fantastic, each and every song was a gift, and Bruce never looked better than he did on that tour at least since the days when both of us were much younger. The preacher shtick sucked me in completely. Those were some of the most exciting nights of my life, it felt like Christmas and an epiphony and hearing the voice of god and all of that. I fell in love all over again.

Of course though, nothing beats the Darkness tour. At least it sounds that way on the boots...
Originally Posted By: Morey
I say The River tour is the champ.

It's got the best vocals, the tightest playing, the longest setlists, the coolest covers -- it's the apex of Bruce's rock n' roll legitimacy and his emerging social conscious.

He would never have the best of both worlds like this again.


Morey is very convincing. I want to officially amend my answer from 'Darkness' to 'The River'.
I'm going with CJ, because the Reunion Tour was a chance to look back and savour all the other tours. Plus you got a little bit of everything as there was no album to promote. (Girls in Their Summer Clothes being an example of a song that is played to sell records).

Maybe a little too scripted and not the same passion as the River or Darkness Tours, but nice to look back and listen on 30 years down the road, give or take.

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