February 1, 2009
My Review of Bruce's Halftime Performance:
Longer Version:
Rumor had it that he would play "Born to Run", "The Rising", and "Working on a Dream". But never one to be predictable, Bruce surprised me.
They opened with "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" complete with audience participation, Bruce bending over backwards at the mic, and his standard sliding across the stage on his knees (the man has rock and roll in his blood). Although this song can easily stretch out to 15 minutes live, they pared it down to about 3 minutes of fun. It gave Clarence a chance to show off his chops. (side note - Mr. Clemmons was dressed like a king in a long black outfit trimmed in gold, he looked incredible - he's 67 years old!)
Next they pulled out the song we knew they would play, "Born to Run". I think its the song most identified with him, other than "Born in the USA" which of course would be inappropriate. They did a good job with it - there was a light show going on in the background which was very unusual to see since its something he never has at one of his concerts.
Then another song that was expected, the title track of "Working on a Dream". This was okay. He pulled Patti and Steve to the front to sing with him and a gospel choir lined up in front of the rest of the band. It was "nice" but left me feeling like "please - don't end with this its such a let down cause nobody knows it and its bland compared to your other mucis, the message is great but its not working here." I admit I know some of my friends that tease me about Bruce are watching and I didn't want them to have one negative thing to throw in my face tomorrow.
Luckily Bruce and The Band pulled out the perfect song to end with ...
The jumped into an ad-libbed version of "Glory Days". Bruce changed the baseball themed lyrics into football lyrics which brought cheers from the crowd. He called Steven over at the end of the song and motioned at his watch, the kidded around sending an inside joke to all their fans who sat at home (or the lucky ones on the field) in disbelief that it was OVER in 12 short minutes. (kind of like your lover teasing you for 12 minutes then abruptly leaving, not a good feeling).
It was a good performance. I hope those of you who have never seen him perform live got a small taste of what its like, and that you liked it!
P.S. Another side note - never in all these years have I seen Patti wearing so much make-up! It was a shock to see her like that, she's usually got minimum makeup on and is such a natural beauty...I wonder if it was the idea of being seen by literally MILLIONS of people all over the world or what????? I wish I could ask her.
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8 comments:
Absolutely one of the most riveting performers in rock. "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" was the highlight for me.
Best halftime show I remember seeing. Oh, and the game wasn't bad either. I kind of liked the outcome. ;)
I thought you might want to snag this.
Now, there is a MAN!!!
I wonder if Bob Costas' interview with Springsteen during the pre-game show "inspired" him to do that slide during the first song - where he slid right into the cameraman.
I will give him credit. He did tell Costas that he had finally accepted the NFL's invitation to play at the Super Bowl (after many years of turning them down) because he had a new album to promote.
"Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" was worth the price of admission!
I had to defend your boy to a clueless texter that sent me a text saying
"This song is so boring"
Yes it was during tenth ave freez.
I have blocked calls from this person.
The performance was good. Not a classic, but much better than 99% of the junk they try to pass as rock and roll today.
Sean, I agree, that was my highlight too!
Beck, sorry Facebook kicked us off. I can't remember what I was going to say but it was important! Thanks for the cool s l i d e.
Linda, yes. No arguments here.
Southern, I saw that. Bruce is an honest kinda guy.
Guru, Don't tell me you were there. Were you THERE? I hope you were there.
Mike, this is one of the many reasons I sincerely love you.
Good review. Thanks for sharing it with me. I loved it so much as you know, since you read my blog. I will talk to Clyde soon!
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