Category:Music
He was a day late–due to a severe cold–but Springsteen climbed the stage at the Gelredome in Arnhem (NL) tonight for my 1st show in the Magic tour. My 25th Springsteen show ever.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band live is the best rock show in the world; ever. Period! I love the show. The songs from the new album need a little work live but overall they were great. And the new Reason to Believe is a blast. And I got listen to Tunnel of Love and Santa Claus is Coming to Town live for the very first time in my life… Happy happy joy joy!
Next stop: the Antwerp Sportpaleis in about 10 days.
I have a ticket for Bruce Springsteen’s concert in Arnhem (the Netherlands) tonight. I was gonna go there with a couple of friends. But as we left for Arnhem this afternoon, we received a phone call saying that the show has been postponed until tomorrow night. Springsteen has a cold and he seems to have a problem with his voice. Let’s hope he’s fully recovered by tomorrow. Stay tuned for more…
 In the world of Springsteen, rumors are always based on some form of truth. So the release of Springsteen’s latest album Magic came as no surprise. It was no surprise either that a tour would follow soon after the release of the album. A tour with the legendary E-Street Band. Only the best live band ever!
It was kind of a surprise that they would play in Belgium as there is only 13 European dates scheduled for this year. But I guess we got lucky: Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band live in Antwerp on December 12. WOW! As ussually, everyone is afraid not to get tickets. Me too. So I put my backup plan in action and got me a ticket for the Paris show. Just in case I won’t get tickets for Antwerp.
I just bought Springsteen’s most recent album Live in Dublin a few days back. The album has been released a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t get around to buying it sooner ‘cause of my personal feelings related to the past tour. And I was waiting for the version with DVD. Listing to the album has brought back my love for music. I’m listing to music more than ever. I just finished digitizing all of Springsteen’s album and transferred them to my iPod: 350 songs worth more than 24 hours of music.
But the Springsteens don’t sit around and wait. Last week, Springsteen’s wife, Patti Scialfa announced the release of her 3rd album Play it as it Lays. The release date for her album is set for September 4th. And Bruce himself is ready to release a new album too. His new album (with E-Street Band!) is rumored to be released early October. According to my friends at Be True, the album will be released on October 1st. And I’m sure that a new tour will follow soon. I’m absolutely ready for a new tour by the best live act ever.
I woke up to a dark and gloomy sky. I checked The Weather Channel and the outlook for New York and New Jersey wasn’t pretty: rain and scattered thunderstorms. And sure enough: it started to rain in the afternoon. All my plans for the afternoon down the drain! No sense in goin’ to the Jersey shore for a tour of some of the places that are important in Springsteen’s music career and in his personal life in this kinda weather.
By the time I had to leave for my very 1st Springsteen Show in Ney Jersey, there was a real downpour. That didn’t make me too happy, as I still had to pick up my ticket from the will call window at the PNC Bank ArtsCenter. Also, the ArtsCenter is an half-open amphitheater: the seats and stage are under a roof, but you can also watch shows from the lawn behind the seats.
Right before the show, they played Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head over the P.A. which is not part of Springsteen’s usual walk-in music. And sure enough: it stopped raining! Could this be the beginning of an awesome show? It surely was! Never before have I seen Springsteen play with such fierceness and such eagerness. And never before have I seen an audience respond to an artist as this New Jersey audience did. At times it felt as if everybody was “Brooooocing”. Even the folks up on the lawn made one hell of a noise. Springsteen responded with “You’re gonna wake up the kids!” and he seemed to like that.
To top it all off, I got 3 songs I hadn’t heard before on this tour. One thing’s for sure: I’ve seen the best marching band in the world tonight. And I was part of the best crowd an artist can have.
I flew in to Newark Liberty International Airport yesterday for a concert trip. I Got to my hotel late in the evening after having to wait in line at immigration and at the Hertz counter to get my rental car.
After a good nights rest and lunch at the local Panera Bread Cafe, I made my way to New York City. Walked around the city for a bit and paid a little visit to the new Hard Rock Cafe on Times Square.
And then on to the Garden—Madison Square Garden that is—for a concert: Soul II Soul with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. I’ve been a fan of Faith’s music for a few years now. And this was an excellent opportunity to see her live.
She and her hubby Tim are huge in the US. In Europe, Faith Hill has had a couple of hits. She’s probably best know for her single There You’ll Be, the title song for the movie Pearl Harbor. But hardly anybody in Belgium knows Tim McGraw.
And it was a pretty nice show. Faith and Tim opened the show with a duet. Next, Faith took the stage for a full hour with songs from her latest album Fireflies and the best songs for her other albums. To close Faith’s set, she sang 3 more duets with Tim. He stayed on to finish the rest of the show. In total, 2 and a half hours of pure entertainment on an awesome stage. Loved it!
Tomorrow will be the high light of this trip: Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger Session Band in Holmdel, NJ.
Came across an interesting Springsteen related website: springsteentracker.com. You can build a list of all Springsteen shows you have attended on this site. Your list is linked to Google Maps, so you can see where you’ve been for a Springsteen show.
See the list of shows that I have attended here. There is one show missing in my list: Springsteen’s performance in Paris as part of the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.
It has been a very busy Springsteen week. Springsteen announced the first concerts to support his new album with Pete Seeger covers. Tickets went on sale for most European shows in the past week. As usual, it has been an absolute nightmare to get tickets. I managed to get tickets for Paris and Amsterdam, but not for London.
Anyone wanna trade a pair of category 1 tickets for Paris for a pair of tickets to the London show? 😉
And last Thursday, I got a chance to preview Springsteen’s new album. Sony BMG had organized a listing party for the Belgian music press and a select group of Springsteen fans. Free food, free drinks and above all a first listen at We Shall Overcome The Seeger Sessions.
Here’s a few shots from that night:
Rumors about an upcoming release of a new Springsteen album were floating around the Internet for several weeks. And as Springsteen fans always seem to be well informed, the rumors turn out to be true. Springsteen’s publisher, Shore Fire, announced the release of We Shall Overcome The Seeger Sessions. According to the press release, “the album features Bruce’s personal interpretations of thirteen traditional songs, all of them associated with the legendary guiding light of American folk music, Pete Seeger, for whom the album is named.” The album will be released on April 25th. Bruce is planning a short tour in the U.S. and Europe to accompany the release of the album.
As always, I am excited with the news that Springsteen will be touring again very shortly. But I am not sure what to think about the album. I like Springsteen’s folky side just as much as I like the rock songs. I enjoyed the albums The Ghost of Tom Joad and Devils & Dust. But I wonder why Bruce decided to release a cover album. Springsteen is a talented songwriter, and is perfectly capable of writing his own folk songs. I don’t understand why he needs to revert to covers to tell his story.