The Word from The Boss

I’ve always thought I could take or leave Bruce. He’s not one of my absolute favorites or anything. Don’t get me wrong; I like a crapload of his songs. But at the show last Wednesday I wasn’t one of those, “I know all the words” people. He opened with “Badlands,” and that was the one I really wanted to hear. The fact that my favorite Springsteen song is so damn obvious actually surprised me. Sad, right?

But most of the middle-aged folks dancing in the seats seemed to be serious fans, who knew even the early hymns by heart. I say that because it really was like church. Like Lakewood Church to be specific. Lots of white people raising their joyful hands and voices in song inside a building constructed for basketball. Understand, I’m not taking a slap at Bruce. I loved the show, but there was a serious mega-church vibe. This clip is from the previous show in Glendale, AZ on April 3rd (ultra-earnest review here), but Bruce gave us pretty much the same speech during the “Working on a Dream” breakdown.

I’ve told friends before that I kinda like watching Joel Osteen on Sunday morning. I’ve even been to a service (although that was an “ironic” lark with some pals of mine). Their audiences might be different, but I think the attraction is the same. Endless energy and positivity, while acknowledging the travails and troubles of daily life. And like Osteen, Bruce didn’t focus on the negative. That would be counter-productive. It seems in the Obama era, Bruce is content to forgo his infamous tendency to launch into long, politically-oriented speeches. His above speech was pretty much all the speech-ing there was.

Sadly, the night was short on downers as well. I’m a sad bastard, and I was looking forward to a break when Bruce would play one or two songs from Nebraska. When he finally did break out “Johnny 99”, it instead sounded like this:

I guess he’s been playing it like that for a while. But to my ears, playing it all hopped up like that takes all the energy and power out of it.

Another downer I was sad to miss was “Streets of Philadelphia”, but I can see how it might not be planned for a Texas audience. Here’s a weirdly faithful cover by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. If this cover proves anything, it’s that the original’s production, which might at first sound dated, has aged pretty well.

And now that I’m doing a bunch of searches and watching some live clips, I have to say that “Badlands” is not really my favorite. That distinction belongs to another omission from Wednesday’s set list:

And he didn’t play this either.

Finally, these last two clips force me to admit it’s really not possible for me to “take or leave” Bruce. Although my fandom is pretty ambivalent, I can’t deny he’s made an impression. All those times riding in my step-dad’s Saab 900, turning that Born in the USA cassette over and over again; it did something to me. I’ve probably written 50 songs just like this one, and I realized on Wednesday where I must have picked up the lion’s share of my notions about songwriting.

Custom Drinker – We Wait

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