Monday, May 01, 2000
Springsteen delivers wallop of classic rock
By Larry Nager
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It was Springtime for Springsteen, as the Boss' E Street Band reunion tour stopped at Firstar Center and turned Sunday evening into Saturday night.
SET AS WALLPAPER
Click on pixel width best suited for your desktop, then right click your mouse to "Set As Wallpaper."
(Jeff Swinger photos)
|
Springsteen and Clemons
600 | 800 | 1024
|
Lofrgen and Van Zandt
600 | 800 | 1024
|
Springsteen
600 | 800 | 1024
|
It was his first full-band show here since 1984 and the beginning of the “Born in the U.S.A.” tour that would turn him from arena rocker into stadium-filling mega-star. But he failed to sell out that two-night stand in what was then called Riverfront Coliseum.
Sunday, the 50-year-old rock veteran and his expanded E Street sold out the place and gave the crowd 3-hours-and-10 minutes of classic rock that deserved the name.
Mr. Springsteen is staging this tour as a rock 'n' roll revival with himself cast as the energetically explosive evangelist. “Unlike my competitors,” he shouts during “Light of Day,” “I cannot promise you life everlasting. But I can promise you life right now.”
Sunday he really delivered, in a sweat-soaked, bipolar marathon that moved from a riveting solo “Born in the U.S.A.,” driven by his hypnotic, acoustic slide guitar, to some of his best good-time rockers.
The latter often had a distinct country twang, as the Jersey Boy turned rockabilly for “Darlington County,” “Working on the Highway,” “Stand On It” and the final encore, his Eddie Cochran homage “Ramrod.”
It was one of the more countrified shows of the tour, featuring a two-stepping “Dancing in the Dark,” complete with pedal steel, that was more Grand Ole Opry than MTV. His wife Patti Scialfa improved the singing, as she always does, providing particularly lovely Emmylou Harris-style harmony on “Mansion on the Hill.”
But it was the 1978 model Bruce that most of the crowd had come to see and he was there in force. He kept his fans singing along and punching fists in the air to such signature tunes as “Ties That Bind,” “Promised Land,” “Two Hearts” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town.” And that was just the first four songs.
He saved “Born to Run” for the final song of the first encore set (Sunday, encores ran 55 minutes). With every light in the place turned up, it delivered the patented Springsteen catharsis, as fans hoarsely shrieked lyrics and madly pumped their arms.
Unlike other shows on this tour, in which the Boss seemed like the only one who really meant it, the rest of the band followed his lead. They seemed like a real rock 'n' roll band.
In that mood, “If I Should Fall Behind,” Mr. Springsteen's song of love and loyalty, rang true, as members took their place at the microphone.
Steve Van Zandt croaked out a few Dylanesque lines, Nils Lofgren, on tiptoes, sang a beautiful tenor, Ms. Scialfa gave the boys club some much-needed femininity and Clarence Clemons gave the rockers some equally needed soul.
Their performance of the song spoke of a genuine unity, a band in the best sense of the word, truly greater than the sum of its parts.
Sunday night, they made that packed arena feel the same way, turning aging boomers and the smattering of teens and kids (mostly charter Bruce fans' offspring) into one real rock 'n' roll audience. It'll be a long time before Firstar — and Cincinnati — rocks that hard and with that much sense of community again.
Stadium overruns cut parking plans
FWW construction nearing the end of the road
Fan honors Crosley Field memories
Newborn drop-off proposed
Ohio courts re-examined
Springsteen delivers wallop of classic rock
Vietnamese keep faith here
Priest also a war refugee
Utility bill can be paid online
Youth to preserve Holocaust legacy
Kidnap suspect headed to Ky.
On the job with the Foal Patrol
Energetic Prine rocks Taft Theatre
GET TO IT
Opera casts Summer Festival
Queen City's moments to shine reflected in book
Ruthven's pig is a choo-choo
Sugar Ray fans get up-close look
She keeps 'Becker' honest
$6M study to evaluate Interstate 75
Boone's newest park hooks plenty of anglers
Dr. Pembaur dies; won lawsuit for illegal search
Fairfield HS reconsiders class times
Ohio's overtime bill rising
Report: Ohio must help kids pass test
Results of our E-poll
Sheppard ruling challenged
State paid to feed lawmakers during lengthy sessions
Talks, shows highlight Worldfest
Trails rated top need
TRISTATE DIGEST
