TGOTJ Tour

I regret skipping it too.

It only comes around once, never miss a tour.

I was 5th row at the Becon Theater, right near Mariah Carey and David something - the guy from Soul Asylm. The intimacy of that show is something I'll never forget.

It was the format I had always wanted to see him in. His stories, which yes he actually told back then, were absolutely amazing - some about how the songs were written, others about the themes of the songs. It was like he was talking one on one to you.

Many here bash that album and tour. I loved it.

I wasn't a real fan of the album, although I certainly didn't hate it either, but the fours shows I saw, were amazing.

I always found Across the Border to be the high point.

I regret not being at these shows. But I must admit that the addition of the piano and various other instruments helped to keep the sets vital during the D&D tour. Something I find missing when I listen to the Joad shows. All though I can imagine that being there would've made a huge difference since the Joad shows were much more of a story telling event than the Devils & Dust tour turned out to be. That story telling doesn't really work when I listen to the bootlegs but I can imagine seeing him tell those stories would make a world of difference.

I moved from Portland to Alaska back to Portland and finally to Korea while the tour was on, and missed a show by a week or so. Got all the Backstreets sent to me, though, and I really liked reading the show to show summations. Freehold Night and Asbury Park Night are two of my all time favorites, though as dt always points out, they're not really Joad tour boots.

I was in Copenhagen 3rd row.. what a show beeing so close to the stage and at a intimate show like that was an absolute higlight for me...... fantastic..
I rember that I thought FI BIU was kinda "misplaced" beeing played acoustic.. but after hearing it on TR tour several times like that and knowing the story of how it originally was intended to be things fell into place..

I would love to attende another show like that...

I would have loved to be at Somerville Theatre, Somerville, MA in 2003 FI..

I missed it too. I realized even more what a shame that was, when I saw him at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino on the D&D Tour. Relocated from BankAtlantic Arena due to a hurricane.

Initimate setting, story telling, and good music. Steve and Clarence showed up for a cameo.

Into The Fire
Born In The USA
Devils And Dust
Lonesome Day
Long Time Comin'
Fade Away
Meeting Across The River
Johnny 99
Ain't Got You
All I'm Thinkin' About
One Step Up
Reno
Roll Of The Dice
Santa Ana
Drive All Night*
The Rising
Lucky Town
Jesus Was An Only Son
Two Hearts**
New Timer
Matamoros Banks
(encore)

Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?
Thundercrack*
The Promised Land
Dream Baby Dream

*W/ Clarence Clemons And Steven Van Zant
**W/ Steven Van Zant

I missed D&D and I wish I hadn't because some of those shows are IMHO the most honest and fun shows he'd done.

I think I posted after I saw the D&D show, that although Bruce may not be the best piano player, or best guitar player, or have the best voice, the fact that he can do all those things on stage, alone (and play that funky pump organ and foot drum), and capture his audience, makes him a great artist.

Those Tom Joad shows were something else, that's for sure, from anything he'd ever done, and even different from everything he's done since.

The small theatres were perfect for those shows. The intimacy was real; you felt like Bruce was playing just for a few friends. The incredible acoustics in some of those old theatres were just amazing as you could hear him breathe, which made songs like "Straight Time" that much more intense as you could feel the anguish within the song's narrator.

The shows were ten times more "message-focused" than the current Magic tour. Bruce set the stage for the show with "The Ghost of Tom Joad," a song about America's "new" underclass, and followed it up with tales of people struggling to survive any way they could. And sometimes they didn't survive, such as the guy in "Highway 29" or the kid hit by a car in "Balboa Park." The songs were their stories, and say what you will about a guy in Bruce's tax bracket singing from the point of view of a migrant worker, but they worked on that stage.

There were times when the specifics of the "border triology" (Balboa Park, The Line, and Sinaloa Cowboys) threatened to numb you with the lack of melody. But when he followed those three up with Across the Border, possibly one of the most beautiful songs he's ever written, about the hope of a better life, you realize that without those stories, the set closer wouldn't pack as big a punch. And with Bruce's gorgeous falsetto to close the song, it wasn't unusual to see some in the audience become a bit teary-eyed.

You could say that those shows were stripped down as there was no accompanying musicians (apart from Kevin Buell playing the mystery keyboard on a couple of songs), but Bruce himself was also more stripped down than we'd ever seen him before (or since, I would venture). The "self-knowledge can be very expensive" intro to "Highway 29" was obviously not unique to the shoe store clerk. Bruce's intro to "Dry Lightning," when he talked about all those failed relationships, seemed like it was straight from his shrink's couch. I could list several more but I think you get the point.

Although one could see a huge difference in Bruce's guitar playing in 1988 and especially 1992-3 from previous tours, Bruce was making his acoustic guitar talk in a way that constantly surprised. It was hard to believe that was only one guitar on stage during "Darkness" and "Born in the USA," and the finger picking was something to hear.

Of course, that closing "Promised Land" was simply amazing and breathtaking. Using the guitar as a percussion instrument, moving away from the mic for vocal effect, and changing the phrasing on a song we'd heard dozens of times transformed it into an entirely new song. The "New Promised Land," as we started to call it, was a perfect summation of the themes and emotions explored over the course of the show.

Although the solo Devils and Dust tour can be compared to the 1995-7 tour, there really wasn't a comparison. Musically, obviously, the 2005 tour was much more interesting, with Bruce playing up to 5 instruments in a single show (pump organ, piano, electric keyboard, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar, plus harmonica), but the cohesive and focused set list just wasn't there like it was ten years prior. While the set list on the Joad tour was very static on a nightly basis, those songs made up a powerful show; the sum was greater than the whole of its parts. In 2005, it was more about what rarities he would reach into his catalog to play.

x2

Outstanding Post. Thank You. This is a good example of how this message board can work.

hey flynn - joad comp, please

God forbid you should search for something yourself.

The Cautious Man Mixes Presents:
Bruce Springsteen
The Price of Doing Business
The Tom Joad 1995-97 Acoustic Tour Compilation
CMM Volume #1

Disc 1:
1. Welcome
2. Tom Joad (9-25-96)
3. The Disclaimer
4. State Trooper (4-24-96)
5. Trying To Be New
6. Straight Time (3-13-96)
7. Self Knowledge & Sudden Insight
8. Highway 29 (2-12-97)
9. The Question of Salvation
10. Darkness on the Edge of Town (4-24-96)
11. Murder Incorporated (4-19-96)
12. Seeds (4-24-96)
13. Veterans' Day
14. Shut Out the Light (11-26-96) *with Patti Scialfa on vocals, Soozie Tyrell on violin & Danny Federici on accordion
15. The Mountain Camps
16. Brothers Under the Bridge (4-19-96)
17. Born in the U.S.A. (9-18-96)
18. Reason to Believe (9-25-96)
19. A Story About Kids
20. Long Time Comin' (11-12-96)
21. Tougher Than the Rest (11-26-96) *with Patti Scialfa on vocals & Soozie Tyrell on violin
22. Drummer in the Forest
23. All That Heaven Will Allow (11-26-96) *with Patti Scialfa on vocals, Soozie Tyrell on violin & Richard Blackwell on Congas
24. When You're Alone (11-26-96) *with Patti Scialfa on vocals & Soozie Tyrell on violin

Disc 2:
1. Desert Motel Story
2. The Ghost of Tom Joad (2-12-97)
3. The Expendable
4. Youngstown (4-19-96)
5. The Hitter (11-13-96)
6. Journey to Nowhere
7. The New Timer (9-25-96)
8. The Relationship Story
9. Dry Lightning (4-19-96)
10. No Change
11. It's the Little Things that Count (4-19-96)
12. Infomercials
13. Sell It & They Will Come (3-13-96)
14. Catholic School Flashbacks
15. Freehold (2-12-97)
16. The Santa Controversy
17. Pilgrim in the Temple of Love (4-24-96)
18. The Promotion
19. Red Headed Woman (4-24-96)
20. The Love Ambassador
21. There Will Never Be Any Other For Me But You (2-12-97)
22. A Sinister Mind
23. My Best Was Never Good Enough (11-29-95)

Disc 3:
1. Birthday Wishes
2. Mansion on the Hill (4-24-96)
3. Atlantic City (9-25-96)
4. Dead Man Walking (3-13-96)
5. Nebraska (9-25-96)
6. The Stalker & Belgium Waffles
7. Point Blank (4-25-96)
8. Johnny 99 (11-26-96)
9. Changing the World
10. Spare Parts (4-25-96)
11. Streets of Philadelphia (4-19-96)
12. The Bar Conversation
13. Racing in the Street (11-26-96) *with Soozie Tyrell on violin
14. Feeling A Little Cocky
15. Two Hearts (11-26-96) *with Patti Scialfa on vocals & Soozie Tyrell on violin
16. No Surrender (9-25-96)
17. I Don't Want To Go Home (11-26-96) *with Patti Scialfa and Steve Van Zandt on vocals, Soozie Tyrell on violin,
Danny Federici on accordion & Richard Blackwell on Congas
18. The Concept Album
19. Bobby Jean (4-19-96)
20. A Tale of Asbury Park
21. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) (11-26-96) *with Patti Scialfa and Big Danny Gallagher on background vocals, Soozie Tyrell on violin,
Danny Federici on accordion, Steve Van Zandt on guitar/vocals, Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez on vocals/tambourine & Richard Blackwell on Congas
22. Rosalita (11-26-96) *with Patti Scialfa on background vocals, Soozie Tyrell on violin, Danny Federici on accordion,
Steve Van Zandt on guitar/vocals, Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez on vocals/tambourine & Richard Blackwell on Congas

Notes:
This is the first volume of the "Cautious Man Mixes"-a series I plan on completing showcasing Bruce Springsteen's powerful on stage performances.
Originally, this was intended only for my own personal use and for a few close friends (and fellow Bruce fans), but the results came out even better than I
thought they would so I thought I would offer it up here to see if there is any interest. My thoughts for the series are for it to span all of Bruce's Tours
from the 1976-77 "Chicken Scratch" Years to the 2006 Seeger Sessions Band Tour. This is a very time-consuming process, so it will probably take
several more months to complete. If there is enough interest, I will put up each new "volume" of the series as it is completed.

My concept for this project has been several years in the making, as I hunted down the original silver CDs or lossless torrents of my favorite performances
to get rid of all my various LPs, compilations, cassettes, and MP3 downloads. The songs, as well as the introductions, were chosen based on sound and
performance quality, which is certainly subjective and therefore not everyone's favorite preference may be on here. The songs and their order on the discs
were also NOT chosen to be representative of a "standard tour setlist" either, rather I just grouped together what I felt was thematically appropriate. Again,
this is a subjective process which you may or may not agree with.

Bruce comments are split into individual tracks before the songs, to isolate them from the actual song. The introductory comments before each
song are not necessarily from that same performance, but rather were mixed from other sources in certain cases. This was done to get what I considered the
"best" introduction Bruce did on the tour in front of what I feel is a strong performance. The entire project was mixed as a continuous performance for
maximum enjoyment, rather than fade in/out before/after each track. Some very minor EQ changes were done in certain spots during the mixing/editing
process to "even out" the mix as best as possible.

No lossy sources were used in the making of this compilation. Whenever possible, original silver CDs were used.
The master mix was done the old fashioned way, on analog equipment, which I feel gives the songs more "atmosphere" and a "warmer" sound.

Lineage: Original Silver CDs & Flac/Shn Downloads burned to TDK CD-R with EAC>Yamaha and JVC DVD/SACD players>Yamaha Mixing Console
for mixing/minor EQ adjustments/mastering>Pioneer Component Burner>TDK Master CD-R>EAC>Flac Frontend>YOU!

A HUGE thank you to the original tapers of the following shows, which were used in making this compilation:
11/29/95 Berkeley Community Theatre Berkeley, CA
2/29/96 Symphony Hall Birmingham, England
3/13/96 Cirkus Stockholm, Sweden
4/19/96 International Congress Centrum Berlin, Germany
4/24/96 Brixton Academy London, England
4/25/96 Brixton Academy London, England
9/18/96 Oakdale Theatre Wallingford, CT
9/25/96 E.J. Thomas Hall Akron, OH
11/12/96 Shea Performing Arts Center Buffalo, NY
11/13/96 Landmark Theater Syracuse, NY
11/26/96 Paramount Theater Asbury Park, NJ
12/12/96 Ryman Auditorium Nashville, TN
2/12/97 Capitol Theatre Sydney, Australia

Enjoy,
The Cautious Man!

Thanks, Eugene. I know about the Cautious Man series of compilations, but I prefer Flynn's. I tend to appreciate the performance choices he makes more than the choices other people make.

I'd second Joe's request.

Plus it is so peaceful over here. My New Year's resolution is to post more in OAN. Just put Brixton Night on the IPod for today's gym workout.

A great encapsulation of the GOTJ shows. One of the best posts I've read on this board.

Agreed. Let's turn OAN into a hippie commune, and make SmokeyJoe the lone mod.

I'm not sure he even knows how to ban someone.

Now having just finished listening to Brixton Night again, I am even more mad that I missed the GOTJ Tour. I remember thinking I should go, but why I did not, escapes me.

The Joad Tour will always be special to me. After eight years of being a fan, I finally got to see my first show in D?sseldorf. Back then I was not as crazy as I am now so I only saw that one, butt waht a show it was.

Had a good seat near the middle isle - ar from stage, but with a great view. The minutes before the lights went out felt like hours. Next to me sat an excited 14year old girl. I looked over and was about to tell her to calm down when I saw myself in her, so I just smiled and kept on waiting.

From the moment the light went out and Bruce walked on stage I felt as if he was playing just for me. He managed to create a very private atmosphere, telling stories as if we were all sitting in his living room.

That evening he made me laugh and cry and sent shivvers down my spine. I sang along to every word and listened closely to whatever he told. It was wonderful and sweet and everything felt just right.

I never remember setlists, but I know how much I loved Youngstown and No Surrender. I also recall laughing very hard at Sell it and they will come, but most memorable where the stories, especially the ones Bruce told about his kids. Funny and heartfelt. I could have listened to him for hours.

Never since I've been to a Bruce show that felt the same way, even though I have enjoyed very single one of them. Thanks for reminding me of that show.

Another good post..

Is OAN finally off life support?

Glad to inspire the memory. I love the part in the boot where a lady yells out "Bruce, I love you" and Bruce says "Well maybe if I got to know you, I might love you too".

An astute commentary on the nature of hero worship. We see what we want to see.

I love that quote. I remember it being at Christic Night 1. Those shows in LA in 1990 may have been the seed that took root that became The Ghost tour and then Devils and Dust.

Maybe both? It's definitely on Brixton.

From BruceBase:

Christic Night:

16.11.90 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ?Reason to Believe?:
(someone in the audience yells ?We love you, Bruce!?) But you don?t really know me (cheers).....uh....I?m glad to be here tonight for the Christic Institute so (cheers)....over the past decade....our country has been sold an illusion of itself.....and uh.....for me, the Christic Institute.....is in process of trying to make us all grow up.....everybody (cheers).....and uh......this song is about the price.....that blind faith.....and refusing to give up your illusions.....extracts....from you.....?

Brixton is a little different. A lady yells "I love you Bruce" and he then says "Maybe if I got to know you, I would love you."

Eugene wanna be.

I like that dude, Philly...

Thanks for all the interesting posts, not least Redbossfan's post and Flynn's! I missed the tour, too, but certainly not by choice. The Oslo Spektrum was limited to 4-5000 seats to maintain the intimacy, and it sold out in - well - no time. Then - on the evening news as the show was going on, I heard they had dropped a few hundred tickets for sale right before the doors opened, to kill the scalpers market. DAMN, I was frustrated! At the time, I lived some 20-ish minute subway ride from the venue and could easily have been there for those tickets...

As the show finished, some members of the audience was interviewed by tv, and there were a few who found it boring. I recall one woman saying something like "I don't understand how a man with children can be this pessimistic". She of course - between lines - admitted to not knowing the GOTJ album. Worse, she admitted her intellectual incapability to grasp that someone indeed are focused on matters outside of his own home (that got covered during a certain life phase with the TOL album anyway...). I've got the boot from the Oslo show and a few more, and it is really interesting/touching to hear those intros!

He used to talk to his audience in those days, he doesnt anymore.