On this rainy Sunday night the Boss returned to St. Louis and the Scottrade Center, a little more than a year after his last appearance at the same venue. Like last year, which was sort of a mixed bag for me, I went with my dad. I wasn't a real big Springsteen fan then and the general consensus was it was the best show of the Magic Tour. Since then I've become a bigger and more familiar Springsteen fan. So how did the Working on A Dream Tour stop go?...
We got there about 40 minutes before the "scheduled" start time of 7:30, but like last year it wasn't anywhere close to starting then. I had better seats, 22 rows back, but right to the side of the stage. A little difficult to see the video screen, but a great view of the Big Man and nice view of seeing the whole band. While waiting we noticed a yellow foam cowboy hat with Cadillac Ranch written on it. I was hoping maybe an early request that might get honored, but alas it wasn't meant to be...
It was a little before 8:30 before Springsteen & Co. took to the stage(Better than last year's hour and a half wait, but still pissed my old man off) with Big Boss Man playing on the loud speakers. About a month ago it was announced that here and other concert stops he'd be playing complete albums in concert and it was Born to Run for St. Louis. Tomorrow night KC gets Born in the U.S.A., a flip of the coin for me, the latter has more friendly songs, but the former has my favorite song... And last year he did play 5 of the songs off Born to Run here...
The opening song was his recently written one about the closing of Giants Stadium, Wrecking Ball. It was alright, maybe its also possible thoughts on the future of the E Street Band...
Like I said I'm a lot more familiar with Bruce now, and overall this was a better experience. He played a few more hits and I recognized a lot more. Heck, except for a few moments during the Born to Run album sequence, the whole night flew by. I couldn't believe it had been three hours...
Set List
Wrecking Ball
Seeds
Prove It All Night
Hungry Heart
Working on a Dream
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out (with Curt Ramm)
Night
Backstreets
Born to Run
She's the One
Meeting Across the River (with Curt Ramm)
Jungleland
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
Working on the Highway
The Promised Land
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Badlands
No Surrender
* * *
For You (solo piano)
Raise Your Hand (instrumental)
Roll Over Beethoven
Surprise, Surprise
Detroit Medley
American Land
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita (with Curt Ramm)
During Hungry Heart, he made his way to the back of the front GA pit and did his usual crowd surfing back to the stage which was a hoot. His wife, like last year, wasn't with the band. He didn't do much talking except at the very beginning saying "Hey St. Louis!" and he yelled out "How are you doing Sophie?" at one point remembering the sign which read 'Sophie Loves Bruce' from last year, which gave him the push to play one more song, Twist and Shout, last year. And before introducing Born to Run and a little of the history about it and its importance. At the end he gathered Max Weinberg, Clarence Clemons, Garry Tallent, Steven Van Zandt, Roy Bittan and the spirit of the late Danny Federici, acknowledging the men who made the album with him.
Thunder Road was cool to see again, but didn't really get me excited. The second song of the album is my fave and was glad to hear after not getting hit with a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out last year. That's where it started cooking for me. The drumming of Mighty Max starting Night was simply amazing work and made me appreciate that song more than I normally do. Like last year, he's the driving force and constantly working. Backstreets was a stellar emotional performance, one of the best of the night. Then the house lights came up mid set for usual set closer Born to Run, which had a lot of added jamming. She's the One, not my favorite and while Meeting Across the River and the start of Jungleland was one where everyone sat and you could hear a pin drop, 2-5 songs were the heart of the album performance.
Waitin' on a Sunny Day, Bruce did his usual routine of gathering a little kid to help sing the chorus and the little kid did a heck of a job, and with Bruce's help at the end, shouting out "Take it Big Man!" After that hearing Working on the Highway and No Surrender were treats for the fans. The only songs I couldn't figure out were Seeds and shamefully The Promised Land.
There really wasn't much of a encore break. The gathered after No Surrender and Bruce collected a sign that read "Bruce Play the Piano," which he did while everyone else left the stage. For You was another one where everyone in the arena was quiet. He added some more humor by having trouble with the lyrics(they were on front and back) and getting sound to the piano. It was another good moment, though he did play the song by sign request last year with the whole band...
And once again he picked up a Chuck Berry inspired sign request, "We always get Chuck Berry requests when we play in St. Louis," and played Roll Over Beethoven, "Like We do it on E Street!" which was another blast of the night. After that for a girls fifteenth birthday Surprise, Surprise was played by request. And the final request was for "Devil in A Blue Dress", which turned into the Detroit Medley, another song played last year, but another rocking tune which got everyone cheering, even my dad. Other sign requests not honored I could see and remember were for, A Night with the Jersey Devil (from Sophie), Because the Night, Pink Cadillac, Blinded by the Light, Candy's Room, Mary's Place, Paradise by the "C", and Held Up Without A Gun. Dancing in the Dark not one of my faves, would have much, much rather gotten a Glory Days. But it was fun and house lights up, with Bruce grabbing up several younger women to dance, as well as a woman with a Red Headed Woman sign. And Rosalita brought the rock & roll show to a rollicking ending.
One of the other best moments came during the band intros. When finally getting to Clarence, he added "...Bigger than Shakespeare!" while the Big Man was holding a copy of his new book. Priceless.
Like I said, for me, this was a much better experience(I got to him do my fave song of his!), but to the expectations from last year and the fact that this tour was winding down as well, especially after rave reviews from his recent Philly shows, it probably was disappointing for the really die-hards. I know Backstreets.com echoed this thought in their review, while the Post Dispatch review was quite the opposite. I think the playing of the album cut down on some of the spontaneity and set changing. Plus last year was the penultimate show to the Magic Tour and it was still late summer. I mean the crowd was into it, but after Rosalita, there wasn't a real hard push for "one more." Maybe Bruce just wasn't feeling it tonight, not to mention possibly fighting a cold.
Obviously, there could have been one or two more, another hit some place, but I had a ball. I'm tempted to call in tomorrow and go to KC...
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