Bruce, plus a 16 piece band which included horns, banjo, steel guitar, accordion, piano, etc., played a marathon 2.5 hours covering mostly material from the Seeger Sessions CD. It was such high energy that one was exhausted by the end. It was equal parts of a big tent revival, a New Orleans jazz funeral march and an Irish pub band, a la the Commitments. As with all of Springsteen's solo excursions to the Valley, E-Street band member Nils Lofgren, and Scottsdale resident, made a cameo appearance.
Ever being the consummate showmen, Springsteen was able to propel the concert through a definite arc. Beginning with some of the more uptempo celebratory songs from the album and then quieted down to a serious and political center. The two defining songs of that part of the concert being "Bring 'Em Home" and "Mrs McGrath". "Bring 'Em Home" is actually not on the album, but IS a Pete Seeger written song. Most of the other songs are not written by him but rather popularized by him. Two of the more poignant sections of the song:
They want to test their great theory
Bring them home, bring them home
With the blood of you and me
Bring them home, bring them home
and
No more graveyard lies
Bring them home, bring them home
Full of gleam in someone's eyes
Bring them home, bring them home.
From "Mrs. McGrath":
"Now I wasn't drunk and I wasn't blind
When I left my two fine legs behind
A cannonball on the fifth of May
Tore my two fine legs away"
"My, Teddy boy," the widow cried
"Your two fine legs were yer mother's pride
Stumps of a tree won't do at all
Why didn't ye run from the cannonball?"
" ... All foreign wars I do proclaim
Live on blood an a mothers pain
I'd rather have my son as he used to be
Than the King of America and his whole Navy"
Even if you didn't know Bruce Springsteen's politics, you could infer them from the fact that he did this project and from the choice of songs like these. It seems such an ironic counterpoint to clueless conservative idealogues like Ronald Reagan that mistook "Born in the U.S.A" for a patriotic song. In my eyes, it WAS a "patriotic" song, and so are these others, but not in the way that they were portrayed. Dissent is patriotic.
The concert worked back up to a frenetic pace by the end. Bruce and his band's enthusiasm for the material was contagious. I'd never have thought going in that a crowd could cheer an accordion or banjo solo just as much as they would an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo ... but they did. I don't think a lot of these musicians were used to the spotlight afforded them by playing to this large of crowd with Springsteen, but you could tell that they relished it. For some pictures of the show:
June 3, 2006 Bruce Springsteen performs with the Seeger Sessions Band at the Glendale Arena
For more about the album which this tour supports, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions:
Springsteen/Seeger
The album is evocative of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and bluegrass. It is a collection of work and protest songs made famous by folk artist and political activist, Pete Seeger. The subject matter that is covered reminded me a lot of Springsteen's earlier solo album, the Ghost of Tom Joad, which is my favorite of his.
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Taking the Long Way ... An apt title for the album. The Dixie Chicks took a path less traveled to a place of personal and political freedom. This is a gutsy, gutsy album and yet another feather in the cap of who I believe is just about the best producer ever ... Rick Rubin. Who else could boast of producing the best albums of the following eclectic group of artists' careers:
Johnny Cash
System of a Down
Slayer
Beastie Boys
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Cult
Run-D.M.C
This album kicks ass. The Chicks, for the first time, co-wrote every song on the album ... and it shows. They are some of the most personal and biting lyrics that they've ever sung. One of the highlights from "Not Ready to Make Nice":
... I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and
I don't have time to go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should ...
They've hit controversional topics before, most notably in "Goodbye Earl" but this album sees them confidently taking the mantle of a "political" band and not being afraid of the consequences. That should be a lesson for all of us. Life's too short to go around pretending you are something you are not, hiding your true feelings or kissing ass just to make a buck. All the money in the world won't salve the wounds caused by duplicity.
For a review much more comprehensive, see Vancouver Voyeur: REVIEW: Taking the Long Way
** BTW, just bought tix to see the Chicks at the Glendale Arena in September. Looking forward to it. **
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Eye on the the TV
'Cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavor it happens to be, like...
"Killed by the husband"
"Drowned by the ocean"
"Shot by his own son"
"She used a poison
in his tea...kissed him goodbye"
That's my kind of story
It's no fun 'til someone dies
Don't look at me like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
But with the other
Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie
... Cause I need to watch things die... from a distance
Vicariously I live while the whole world dies
You all need it too, don't lie
... Part vampire
Part warrior
Carnivore and voyeur ...
... and so begins the latest Tool album, 10,000 Days. Never the most prolific band, this album is the first since Lateralus 5 years ago. This song, and the album, are very much what you would expect from Tool: thinking man's progressive metal. Virtuosity without the obvious musical masturbation of bands like Dream Theater(and I like DT ... but I think sometimes they cater too much to band geeks).
"Vicarious", to me, seems like an indictment of our culture and how we love to watch violence as long as it isn't happening to us. It's a great song a fitting note to our current political climate. Probably the best ever musical representation of schadenfreude.
This is not a casual listen. Most of the songs over 7 minutes with 2 songs being 12 minutes plus. Like all Tool albums, it's hard to read the first few listens. All of their albums grow on you the more you listen to them.
For more discussions of Tool and this album, check out Jeff at Imagine Echoes:
New York Times Review of Tool 5/19/06
Tool 5/19/06
Inevitable has Occurred
Vicarious
4 comments:
I do not like Tool.
As for The Boss, I have some relatives that just saw him in concert. I can't wait to hear how it was. I love that new album he did with Seeger's band.
It seemed like a lobor of love instead of something to appease his loyal fans. My father-in-law, a semi-loyal fan, didn't like it. He said," I like his old stuff" to which I said," I don't think he would care."
You saw Springsteen? I M SO JEALOUS. And I love the album! I've downloaded several of the songs! Course, I'm an old folkie anyhow!
The wife wouldn't have it any other way. She's been a Boss fan since whe was a teenager, so we're kinda obligated to catch him every time he's out here.
Freethinker,
Don't worry ... even if you didn't know the politics of the Dixie Chicks record, it's still a great record. I think it has the best writing of any of their albums.
BTW, thanks for stopping by.
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