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After the house lights went down, Bruce was one of the first on stage. When the lights came up, his was front-and-centre and ready to go. No grand stage entrance like previous tours. I took it as a symbolic gesture of being ?just one of the band?.

John Henry ? Worked really well as the show opener. High energy from the first notes. The floor seats got straight to their feet and most never sat down for the whole show. The back and sides of the arena look a bit left out from all the fun.

Johnny 99 ? Fitted well in the context of the show as a folk tale, but was probably the weakest rearrangement of his own material.

Dan Tucker ? Introduced as a ?150 year old Bob Dylan song?. The stage rush came just 4 songs into the set. Bruce was surprised, saying ?the stage has been rushed for a 150 year old song?. Security spent the next hour or so half-heartedly trying to return people to their seats, until finally giving up at the end of the main set. Seats on the floor was a mistake.

Cadillac Ranch/Mystery Train ? Bruce tried to get the crowd to sing the ?Mystery Train? refrain, but nobody new the words (except Elvis fans like me, of course). He said the crowds effort was ?real fucked up? and ?we need some professional help?. He then got Patti to teach the crowd the refrain and tried again. It was a bit better. Still, great fun.

Erie Canal ? ?The only love song to a mule, but mules are important.?

?My Oklahoma Home? ? Introduced as a song about people displaced from their homes in the 30?s. Something he thought we would never see again in America ? but we did. This was one of perhaps a half dozen references to New Orleans during the show.

How Can I Keep From Singing ? Tour premier! Nice, but took all the energy out of the crowd.

How can a Poor Man Stand Such Times & Live ? Bruce bashed Bush for ?playing politics with peoples lives? and got a big cheer. One of the clear highlights of the show.

Jacob?s Ladder ? Got the crowd dancing again.

Open All Night ? Wow! Fantastic reworking with a big band sound and Bruce shouting/rapping the lyrics. Good vocalising from Patti/Suzie/Lisa. Lots of band play-acting, with the tuba player setting his moment in the spot light. This tour?s ?Rosalita?. For me, the best part of the show.

We Shall Overcome ? Nice, solemn arrangements, but the crowd got restless with the long acoustic intro, with calls of ?Born in the USA - Where were your born Bruce??

Pay Me My Money Down ? Raucous and fun. Another barn stormer.

?When the Saints?..? ? Very reminiscent of the Reunion tour arrangement of ?If I Should Fall Behind?, with Bruce sharing lead vocals with other band members. Great arrangement, but strange ending to the show. Bruce needs to add an uptempo finale.


Great, fun show. If you ain?t seen it yet, you are gonna love it.

Gotta go, I?m off to Hamersmith.


Chris
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I was at Dublin and Manchester, my first time at the MEN, I thought the contrast in atmosphere at both gigs was amazing, the point has a natural buzz but the MEN left me cold and too far from the action, the seats were a mistake, they had room for 3,000 more if they had left the seats out (I'm sure the Pogues did in 04) the point did and the atmosphere was brilliant. Another great show from Bruce, the one addition I noticed was in 'Pay Me My Money Down' the line about Bill Gates, taking his money home in crates, Bruce momentarily paused and then said ' but I do take my money home in crates' with a chuckle, maybe a reference to some critics having a swipe at him for playing the poor man in a rich man's shirt. The one observation I would make is Bruce really is enjoying this show, its loose but there is a message, at no time do you think (as in 92) the E St band would do this better coz its completely different this is a great stop gap for Bruce and the fans, I've just remembered something else on a couple of the intro's in Dublin when overexhuberent fans were clapping fiddle intro's Bruce went straight to the Mike and Shuushed the crowd, done with a smile, they stopped in their tracks, he tried it last night but they didn't stop, he said something but I didn't catch it.
[]Bruce went straight to the Mike and Shuushed the crowd, done with a smile, they stopped in their tracks, he tried it last night but they didn't stop, he said something but I didn't catch it. [/]

Yeah, a lot of the crowd in Dublin started shushing the clappers too as I remember....

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I thought the show was okay.

The venue was most inappropriate though. He has no clue whatsoever as to how to put a tour together; the MEN was simply waaaaay too big. In '99 the place was bouncing, particularly on the 2nd night; last night, it felt weird and half-empty. Incidentally, Bruce remarked that it was "5 years" since he'd played the MEN; in actuality it's almost 7 years to the day.

Of the reworked Bruce songs, I liked the funked-up Johnny 99. sounded like a James Brown outtake circa 1974, albeit with fiddles and banjos.

We were given brief glimpses of why Springsteen is the greatest live act ever, but that's all they were - glimpses. I had to tell my mates after the show that I reckoned he was operating at about 40% of his capability.

He is also a tease. I felt sure they were gonna play a pretty straight ahead version of Working on the Highway, but it turned out to be a pretty crappy version of You Can Look.

Surely he could play songs more suited to the instrumentation on stage - shit like The River, Atlantic City, etc. There are some real opportunities here to make that kind of dark, brooding material really work.

I also, surprise surprise, reckon he should've played a smaller venue in Glasgow, a real rock'n'roll town, instead of this weird MEN experience.

I don't mean to sound so negative, as there were many, many musical positives. I just felt there was no real buzz in the air; the quintessential Bruce atmosphere was strangely absent, for me. GA on the floor might've helped.

You lucky people who're goin to Hammersmoth tonight may have a better chance of a good Bruce show; the venue will be much more conducive to this kinda show.

"I think he's attempting re-entry, Sir!"

 
Johnny 99 and Open All Night were fantastic. Cadillac Ranch was dull and You Can Look was okay. The new (you know what I mean) material worked very well with the obvious exception of How Can I keep From Singing. The crowd made it a less than great experience but no complaints about the show. In fact, musically I'd rate this above any E Street or solo show I've seen, but then I already loved this kind of music. I'd like to see Bruce record some original material with this band. I was coming round to this view before this album, but I hope I've seen my last E Street Band show. If they tour again, I will go, but this band is far more interesting.
I agree with all the above posters.
MEN is just not the best venue and being midway on the floor where I was, must have been a million times better than at the back on the ceiling.
But it was pure unadulterated FUN! ( despite the nazi yellow coats) The band rocked. It was kind of liberating to be free from wishing for then next cannon song from Bruce's own back catalogue.I could not remember a Bruce show where I grinned all the way through.All the stomping and singing along was punctuated by some lovely poignant moments.
If it turned out to my last Bruce gig ever I wouldn't be disappointed. I'd certainly see this band again and am very envious of all the buffalo guys and gals right now at Hammersmith!

Shackled And Drawn from 11th May 1981 to 2013 and counting

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