The Chain, Broken

[David]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

I feel this way, too. Christine was gone for 15 years, and they did one album.

One album!!!!!

It's been a very unproductive band. Ridiculous!

And the idea that the band should add this or that to its concert set because of this "legacy" or that "legacy" is really muffy in my opinion—the notion that a song represents a former member and should therefore be present. You don't build a good set by throwing together an otherwise random grouping of songs from each of the various eras. You're not ordering a meal in a Chinese restaurant ("choose one from column A and one from column B").

Springsteen didn't do Edwin Starr's War in 1985 because he wanted to pay tribute to Edwin Starr. He did it because he wanted to make an artistic statement about politics at that time. You heed artistic reasons for building a concert set if you're a thoughtful, intelligent performer. You might want to make grand statements or you might just love the song and the way the band plays it—both legit. But I suppose adding some Green, Welch, and Kirwan was a lot better than a crass catering to "play the big hits only."