Review: Bruce Springsteen in Nashville

Springsteen proves himself as 'future of rock' - over and over

By PETER COOPER
Nashville Tennessean
Staff Writer
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
August 22, 2008

Here’s what Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band left out of Thursday night’s show at the Sommet Center:

1. Thirteen of the 18 songs on Springsteen’s greatest hits album.

2. Any pre-recorded video, the likes of which runs at nearly every major concert on every major stage.

3. Even a whit of irony or condescension.

A great Springsteen show – and that’s how we’ll file this one away – isn’t about hits or gags or any of the other staples of modern, big-venue concert life. Every night is unique, nothing is choreographed, and the Boss takes requests from fans who hold up signs with the names of preferred songs.
And, 35 years into his recording career, Springsteen still trades on surprises. While most big-time concerts are like Broadway shows, with little changing from venue-to-venue, Springsteen’s Nashville set list included 14 songs he didn’t play at the concert 48 hours prior in Pennsylvania.

But the set list isn’t the big deal here. The remarkable thing is the way that this man and his band command a stage, playing nearly three hours of material with the kind of intensity that fills chiropractors’ schedules with patients. By the concert’s midway point, Springsteen’s black shirt was heavy enough with sweat to rival the weights of Nashville great Porter Wagoner’s rhinestone suit jackets.

Plenty of musicians, including Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn and singer-songwriters Victoria Shaw and Danny Flowers, came to observe, but there was nothing in the set that could be co-opted or lifted. Springsteen opens his doors, invites everyone in and turns his back on his belongings, but his stuff seems too heavy to steal.

Anyone else would look silly doing what makes Springsteen look remarkable. He’s a 58-year-old man running around like an Olympian, shouting in a voice that would make anyone else hoarse after a couple of songs, and insisting on spontaneity and passion. As songs neared their conclusions, he jogs around to the E Street players, shouting out the next song and the key signature like Peyton Manning hollers audibles at the line of scrimmage.

The result of all this is that no one left wondering, “Where was ‘Hungry Heart?” or “Why didn’t he play ‘Darlington County?’” Instead, the audience reveled in rare hearings of “Held Up Without A Gun,” “Loose Ends” and an abbreviated “I Walk The Line.” Springsteen’s show was about the power and importance of individual moments. That’s what rock ‘n’ roll used to be about, as well. Country, too, and R&B.

More than three decades ago, critic Jon Landau declared that Springsteen was the future of rock ‘n’ roll. The Boss proved Landau correct, and all that is in the history books. But what if Landau is still right? What if Springsteen remains the future? What if video synchs and programmed tempos and vocal tuning are phases that can be grown out of? What if audiences re-learn a basic musical truth, which is that beauty and imperfection can, should and do coexist?

Well, then, Springsteen could be a model rather than an aberration. But that's Pollyanna talk. It won't happen. "We made a promise we swore we'd always remember," he sang. "No retreat, baby, no surrender."

Most of them have long since forgotten, and long since retreated. Springsteen put another step forward on Thursday night at the Sommet Center. It was a really good show.

Thursday night's set list

"Out In the Street"

"Radio Nowhere"

"No Surrender"

"Lonesome Day"

"Spirit In The Night"

"Good Rockin’ Tonight"

"Growin’ Up"

"I’m Goin’ Down"

"Held Up Without A Gun"

"Loose Ends"

"Youngstown"

"Murder Incorporated"

Short version of Bo Diddley's "Mona" segues into "She's The One"

"The Promised Land"

"Mary’s Place"

"I Walk The Line" (abbreviated version, accompanied by Nils Lofgren)

"I’m On Fire"

"The Rising"

"Last To Die"

"Long Walk Home"

"Badlands"

ENCORE

"Girls In Their Summer Clothes"

"Thunder Road"

"Born To Run"

"I Fought The Law"

"Rosalita," accompanied by the E Street Band and Dave Bielanko of Marah

"American Land"

"Dancing In The Dark"

Peter Cooper writes about music for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 615-259-8220 or pcooper@tennessean.com.