When the 2013 European tour was announced, I told myself I had to obtain tickets for the Milano San Siro show. Springsteen played San Siro already 4 times before and every single occasion had been special in their own unique way. I never attended one of these four shows, but I made a promise to myself to finally see, feel and live the experience of the special relation between Bruce and the audience in San Siro.
I wasn’t to be disappointed. Right from the intro of Morricone’s famous song, you could sense that something special was about to happen. The audience participation gave me goose bumps, the energy that was released seem to come from another galaxy, the gigantic sign from the opposite stand saying; “Our Love Is Real”, the first song LOHAD which already felt like an encore, it was overwhelming and beyond anything I ever experienced before during one of Bruce’s concerts. And our man JUST started.
Finally after more than 1,5 years of waiting DVD Dubbing Guy released his multi-cam Blu Ray version of this awesome concert and I could relive this mind blowing experience. Because this is the best concert that I’ve ever been to, my anticipations of this Blu Ray were sky high as you can imagine. I wanted to see the big dedication sign, I wanted to see Bruce and Steve come on stage and look at it and I wanted to see their reaction. I wanted to feel the energy again, I wanted to hear the crowd participation, and I wanted to see the passion from Bruce. Basically I wanted to get the feeling of being inside San Siro all over again.
I told myself before inserting the disc, that I could be disappointed because of my high demands. The first thing to pop up is a spoken intro from Bruce; “Since I was a kid, I’ve played quite a few places… but this one is special,” says an emotional Springsteen. “You are special. I keep you in my heart every time.” The decision from DDG to put this part in at this spot is sublime, because it directly transforms you into that special relation of Bruce and San Siro. LET THE SHOW BEGIN!!
The intro starts and my first demands are already met. I could feel the energy already building up and I can very clearly hear the audience participation. We see the big dedication sign, we see Bruce and Steve staring at it and for a moment it leaves Bruce speechless.
The audio from Pro Bro is superb, it has to be said. It totally captures the experience on a level that if you close your eyes, you could still feel the energy of this show. Well done!
As we all know from previous Milano DVD productions, DDG had plenty of angles to select from. We get awesome sharp close ups from Bruce. From the opposite stand we get great screenshots which give us the opportunity to see the participation of the audience. Side angles from both left and right side of the stage. It covers pretty much every detail of the show. As DDG told us before the quality varies from the different sources and is not up to the standard of Leeds 2013 (which to me looks like an official Pro Shot release), but still the quality is very good.
To me DDG has proven before with other releases that he’s capable of mixing the various angles in such a way that it enhances the viewing experience. You’ll get to see what you want to see at a certain moment of a song. This Milano release is no exception. Interaction with the crowd is captured beautifully on several occasions. The start of “My Love Will Not Let You Down”, which let you see the audience jumping and chanting on the first notes. The girl on the big screen crying after Bruce ends “The River”, the man showing his goose bumps to his buddies when Bruce decides to do a breath taking ‘gran finale’ of “The River”. The passion from Bruce during “Atlantic City”, when he’s spreading his arms and singing with every part of his body. The intense, electrifying drum solo of Max at the end of “BITUSA”. Bruce directing the audience to get down on the floor during “Shout”, which gives us fantastic views of Bruce and several band members lying on the stage. And there’s many more!
This production is one of the best, if not the best. Not only because of the skills DDG obviously possesses, but because of the performance and the place of happening. Playing a full BITUSA album provided some critical notes amongst fans during various set list threads. Remembering his history at San Siro, Bruce announced that in honour of that historical 1985 concert (his first time in Italy, back on the Born in the U.S.A. World Tour and the connection Bruce has with San Siro), he was going to play BITUSA from start to finish. We all know the official DVD that came along with the High Hopes release, on which the complete BITUSA from London 2013 was captured. Although still a great performance, it doesn’t match up with the Milano performance. Milano had much more intensity, showed more passion, more dedication and crowd participation. It was perfectly fitting for this evening and I’m glad he didn’t select another album.
After closing the show with a very emotional solo “Thunder Road”, Bruce left the stage and DDG provides us with some history showing images from all previous San Siro concerts!
GRAZIE MILLE OLLI!
