Happy to say that I have seen live my top favourite ‘heartland rock’ artists: John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen. They were all excellent, but at the quality of the live sound all other three surpassed Springsteen. As for energy only Bob Seger matched Springsteen.
After the opening song ‘No Surrender’, Bruce had his political venting moment then he carried on with singing.
The 28 songs setlist:
No Surrender
My Love Will Not Let You Down
Land of Hope and Dreams
Death to My Hometown
Lonesome Day
Rainmaker
Darkness on the Edge of Town
The Promised Land
Hungry Heart
The River
Youngstown
Murder Incorporated
Long Walk Home
House of a Thousand Guitars
My City of Ruins
I’m on Fire
Because the Night (Patti Smith Group Cover)
Wrecking Ball
The Rising
Badlands
Thunder Road
Encore:
Born in the U.S.A.
Born to Run
Bobby Jean
Dancing in the Dark
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Twist and Shout (The Top Notes Cover)
Chimes of Freedom (Bob Dylan Cover)
The Boss’s live mix was acceptable, but not that high quality at all, especially the first 30 minutes, the sound was muffled and the bass just too much, burying under the other instruments. After that they tuned in ok-ish, but the bass dominated all the way through. Some say it’s the arena. Based on my experience some engineers can handle the arenas, some cannot. I have seen lots of bands in arenas and the quality of sound was a wild variety.
Every now and then Bruce Springsteen’s voice went off-note, but hey, he is 75 y.o., his energy is still enviable and his voice is still better than the majority of today’s singers half of his age. Pulling off song after song basically without pause between them, one barely ending and he counted 1 2 3 4 to the next. The absence of Little Steven was compensated well by Nils Lofgren and Springsteen itself on guitars. According to the press the crowd was 51,000 strong in the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen. Some songs had German subtitle on the screens, but the locals had no problem singing along at all. Very supportive crowd and we got three hours of Bruce Springsteen. Final note: totally worth it.
This was the second show out of town I have ever traveled to.
(I have also traveled in 2008 from Calgary to see Roger Waters ‘The Dark Side of the Moon Live”
in Edmonton a three and half hours one way drive.)
Video collage below shot with iPhone.
