I managed to catch the great man last night at the United Center. Having enjoyed his wife’s album, I had told the people going along with me that one of the highlights would be Patti Scialfa singing ‘A Town Called Heartbreak’ half way through the set. Whether she knew that I had been a bit rude about her on another site or not, I don’t know, but she didn’t turn up
. Bruce said she was with the kids
. That and the traffic into Chicago were the only disappointments.
The set list is changing quite a bit now but the show really got going when they hit ‘
Reasons To Believe’ and from that track onto the closing ‘
Badlands’, the time flew by.
Adam Raised A Cain,
She’s The One,
Backstreets,
Cadillac Ranch and
The Rising were all there. The E-Street Band sounded excellent and I preferred the concert arrangements of their new material. I realised how much of Roy Bittan’s playing had been lost in the way that Magic had been mixed. In the encores – he did five or six numbers –
Girls In Their Summer Clothes was superb the way it was done last night.
Last To Die and
Long Walk Home arrived one after the other and work really well live. You were left in no doubt about their subject matter.
My personal preference would be to have Stevie’s microphone switched off (that’s Van Zandt – not Nicks). He’s reached an age where he can’t play guitar, dance and sing at the same time. I don’t know what he was singing during Dancing In The Dark but it wasn’t what Bruce was singing. Nils sounded great and filled in with Soozie on Patti’s vocal parts.
The atmosphere was fantastic and most people were on their feet by the time he had finished
No Surrender (second song). We’re going back tonight and are in one of the seated sections (we were in the GA bit last night), but I’m pleased that people don’t sit through the show.
If you’re going to see him you’ll love it – but nothing from Tunnel Of Love my favourite album. Maybe tonight?