I'm blown away, again.
Hubby and and I were among the fans who enjoyed Bruce Springsteen's show Monday night at the Greek Theater. This was my third live Springsteen show, and I tell you this, the experience each time has been almost religious in the passion and fervor the man ignites in everyone present. We've all probably heard about how great Bruce's live shows are, how hard he works and how hard he plays, but to live the glory (yes, glory) of it is something I highly recommend, whether you consider yourself a fan or not. (The celebrity quotient alone is great for all you people-watchers out there.)
This show is a stop on his tour with the "Seeger Session Band," where he brings selections of American folk music to breathing, crying, screaming life. The Seeger Session Band includes horns, violins, banjo, upright bass, keyboards and more, outstanding musicians, each one of whom brought roars of approval at every turn. When I say the accordionist tore up the place, you know there was some MUSIC being played. From rollicking, sing-along versions of "Pay Me My Money Down" and "Old Dan Tucker" to heartful, stunning ballads of "We Shall Overcome" and "Eyes on the Prize," Bruce and the band sweated and bled every note. "Overcome" in its sad hopefulness, and "When the Saints Go Marching In" as a wistful prayer (sung by Bruce, Patti and Mark Anthony Thompson) were beautiful. The Celtic fiddle-and-drums "Mrs. McGrath" was a plea from the heart to feel each mother's hurt when her son comes home from war broken, having traded his blood and bones for a hollow cause.
Hubby gave a great review of the performance and the music, he puts it more eloquently than I can. So I won't say more about the quality of the music and the musicians (all 18 of 'em) other than that it was excellent.
Each time I have seen his shows I am impressed by Bruce's profound love for his country. In a way that none of the flag-flying automobile drivers and chest-beating politicians can touch, Bruce expresses the ache for what we should be and the hope that most of us feel it, too. He seems to sing for everyone who has been knocked down, screwed over, or cheated. And for anyone who has known empty sacrifices in war. For those of us in real pain with real problems, people who get overlooked or forgotten once the next new distraction throws up its shiny glare.
I left the show feeling like I'd had a spiritual experience, one that inspired me to get outside myself and remember people suffering in war and poverty and devastation. In my heart, not my head. I know it seems like I'm overstating it, or hanging some kind of hero banner around the guy's neck, but I admire the way he loves America. His music and the passion in his expression are amazing; he must be exhausted by the intensity and energy of what he shares with his audiences every moment he is onstage. It's an emotional, urgent demand for America to acknowledge all of her suffering and give that pain real value by doing something to stop it.
3 comments:
Wow, I feel swept away just hearing you wax rhapsodic over the concert. I've never seen Springsteen, though I have felt the way you describe after a handful, just a handful, of other shows I've seen.
Rickie Lee Jones' last concert stop in LA was nigh on a religious experience for me, and she was doing a bit of rabble-rousing herself. I understand that this was a few years ago now, but I'm surprised she hasn't so much as warranted a mention in recent write-ups about the new wave of protest songs.
2003's The Evening of My Best Day, her last album, had a few things to say about the current administration: Check out the leadoff track "Ugly Man" and "Tell Somebody (What's Happening in the USA)."
Here's what she had to say in a press release about the album and her impetus to return to songwriting after a six-year hiatus: “The election of George Bush; the passage of the Patriot Act; the monopolies of media and their misuse of language. I began to realize that someone had to speak up. There is a great tradition of protest music, from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan, and I’m naive enough to believe that a song actually can change conditions. It’s all about power and intention and my intention is to wake people up and shake them out of their lethargy. But you can’t do it by yelling. You have to explain, to entertain. My constituency has always been outsiders and I think it’s the outsiders who have a real chance of reclaiming this country.”
A recent issue of Rolling Stone takes off from Neil Young's new album to talk about other artists who aren't afraid to speak their minds, and I'm sad that RLJ didn't get any ink. Hope you don't mind that I hijacked some space to give her a nod here.
I'm glad you mentioned RLJ. I'd like to check out those songs and the rest of that album.
And the quote is right on for me. Not only do we need shaking up and waking up, we respond so immediately to those messages when they come to us in music. At least, I do.
What with the sh*t going on now, and the sh*t that has always gone on, I really want to start doing, acting, living, for how I'd like things to change.
This was a far more impassioned and insightful review than mine was, that's for sure; I'm just glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for being so eloquent and sensitive. Your sweet boy
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