The E Street Band Comes to Town

13,000 fans packed the Blue Cross Arena on Saturday night to hear Bruce Springsteen rock Rochester for the first time since 2012.  The show, which had been sold out since 40 minutes after tickets went on sale December 11^th, included all the songs from Springsteen’s 1980 album, The River; a couple special requests, and of course a few legendary classics.  The full set list counted an incredible 34 songs.  All told, the Boss (age 66) performed uninterrupted for three full hours.

I’m not one to say that you have to see Bruce live to be a fan, but an E Street Band concert does truly give you a greater appreciation for his music.  At 66 years old, Springsteen performs just as passionately in 2016 as he did in 1976 (so I’m told), when he played his first show in Rochester.  Known for his famously long performances, Bruce is equally enthusiastic as he jumped around the stage with his guitar like a mad man for every upbeat song he played.  Bruce crowd-surfed, danced with a loyal fan, acknowledged a young kid with a “My 1^st Show” sign, and played back-to-back requests, “I Wanna Be With You”, and “I’m Goin Down”, making a fan’s night.  However, my personal favorite moment was when Bruce let the crowd sing the whole first verse of, “Hungry Heart”.  I, like many other fans I’m sure, will never hear that song the same way again.  This is the effect that seeing Bruce and the band live has.  It makes you love songs that you once liked, and love your favorites even more.

As expected, the night’s set list did not disappoint.  The Boss entered to cheers of “Bruuuuuuuce” and opened with “Meet Me In The City”, a new song released on The Ties That Bind: The River Collection in 2016.  This song was my favorite of the night as the energy inside Blue Cross was electric.  As announced, Bruce played all 20 songs from The River, which is a good mix of upbeat, dance-worthy songs like “The Ties That Bind” and “Cadillac Ranch” and slow, emotional ones like “Independence Day” and “I Wanna Marry You”.  During the show, Bruce explained his inspirations for The River, calling it his “coming of age record”, which was very moving and cool to hear for long-time fans.  After The River, 4 songs from Born To Run and 3 from Born In The U.S.A. were played, in addition to fan favorites: “The Rising” and “Badlands”.  Bruce closed with a memorable 5 song encore including some of  his all-time greats: “Born To Run”, “Dancing In The Dark”, “Rosalita” and an emotional rendition of “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” that honored the late E Street Band Members Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici on the big screens in Blue Cross.  The Boss closed with his cover of “Shout” as he has with all of his “The River Tour” shows.  Overall, the song choice was very fulfilling, leaving almost nothing to be desired… (sigh) except maybe “Jungleland”.  Oh well, who am I to complain after Bruce Springsteen belts out 34 songs in my hometown?

A core element of any Springsteen concert is of course the E Street Band.  Almost as beloved as Bruce himself, E Street is part of what makes The Boss so special to see live.  The band was alive as ever on Saturday night in the ROC, after bunking locally at the Strathallan hotel.  Faithful band members Steven Van Zandt, Max Weinberg, Roy Bittan, and Nils Lofgren were all present in addition to the relatively new (since 2008) keyboardist Charles Giordano, who told The Shield in an exclusive interview (true story), that he was able to learn all of Springsteen’s hundreds of songs by writing the music to each one out by hand.  Soozie Tyrell* was joined on stage by Jake Clemons, the band’s sax player since his uncle’s death, who celebrated his 36^th birthday on the day of the show.

There is truly a certain magic in a Bruce Springsteen show.  In Rochester, fans from all walks of life came together to sing and dance their hearts out and witness the “heart-stopping, pants-dropping, house-rocking, earth-quaking, booty-shaking, love-making, LEGENDARY E Street Band”.  Bruce had the crowd on their feet the whole night, and exceeded expectations as he always does.  The atmosphere of unity and excitement on February 27^th in the Blue Cross Arena is something I will not soon forget, and something that, in my opinion, goes unparalleled in the music world.  Nobody knows how much longer Bruce and the band will tour, but if this was their last time in Rochester, it was one hell of a run.  Thanks Bruce!

 

*Correction:  This article originally said the Bruce Springsteen’s wife, Patti Scialfa, was on stage when in fact, I had confused her with Soozie Tyrell