27.10.02 London, England, intro to ´Jackson Cage´
´´We got a request (?) you´re following us all around with that sign (?)….´´
27.10.02 London, England, intro to ´Empty Sky´
´´Thank you….thanks…..nice to be back in this old building….had some nice nights here….(?) ….gonna need a little bit of quiet for these next two songs, please, thank you (some guy: ´I fooking luv ya´)(?)….too much love drives a man insane….Jerry Lee Lewis….´´
27.10.02 London, England, intro to ´Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street ?´
´´Gimme some lights, I need lights, gimme lights, I need lights on the ´prompter, I´ve got to see….gonna do ´Bus Stop´, C….´´
27.10.02 London, England, middle of ´Mary´s Place´
´´Are you ready ?….are you ready ?….are you ready for that house party ? (cheers) alright…. but you can´t have a house party without a houseband…..and the music has got to be raucous ….so I wanna introduce to you the greatest little houseband in all the land, ladies and gentlemen, to the far side of the stage, ten fingers that have no mercy, the pathological piano-pumping Professore, the illegitimate son of Jerry Lee Lewis and Liberace, Professor Roy Bittan.…they have no mercy….on the vocals and violin, out of New York City, Sister Soozie Tyrell….on the guitar, star of ´The Sopranos´-television show….the only man comfortable anyplace in the world in his pyjamas….the coolest little dj in the U.S.A….Little Steven on the guitar….brother man….brother man….on the bass guitar, we´ve got the man bringing the thunder from down under, the Tennesee Terror, Mr.Garry W.Tallent….on the drums, the man that brings the power hour after hour, night after night, star of Late Night Television, the Mighty, Mighty Max Weinberg….on the guitar, Secretary of heart and spirit, the great Nils Lofgren….on the organ, born in western New Jersey back in 1950, a man that won the Ted Mack Amateur Hour, was sent to Switzerland, he showed ´em suckers how to play the accordion, Brother Dan Federici on the organ…..to the far side of the stage, the First Lady of Love, on guitar and vocals, Miss Patti Scialfa…..it´s you, baby !….you, girl !….wo !….and last but not least….I want to say London is finally ready for the Minister of soul….Secretary of the brotherhood…..probably the next king of England…..gimme a C-L-A-R-E-N-C-E, what´s that spell ?….what´s that spell ?….what´s that spell ?….I have seen future of the whole fucking thing and it´s Big Man, Clarence Clemons….(?) yes it is…..´´
27.10.02 London, England, intro to ´Dancing in the Dark´
´´Are you ready to dance ? (cheers) ooh, me too (chuckles)….´´
27.10.02 London, England, middle of ´Ramrod´
´´(?)…is the band with me ?….Stevie, I do believe that it´s quitting time….I do believe it´s going home time….I do believe, Stevie, it´s time to go back to the hotel and watch pornographic films….no ?….well, then, Stevie, what time is it ?….(Steve: ´It´s Boss-time !´) ….´´
27.10.02 London, England, intro to ´Born in the U.S.A´
´´Thank you….I originally wrote, wrote this song about the Vietnam War, wanna play it tonight as a prayer for peace….´´
27.10.02 London, England, intro to ´Thunder Road´
´´I´m gonna do this for all the folks that´ve been following us around for the past couple of weeks and uh…..´´
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi
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© All credits to the original photographer.
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Bruce Springsteen - Wembley Arena, London
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Thanks to the demolition work on the football stadium, Wembley Arena can't pretend to be anything else but a giant building site. But there is room in Bruce Springsteen's all-embracing world view for just about everything. "It's nice to be back in this old building," he said benignly. "We've had some nice nights here."
Rooted in the fallout from last year's terrorist horrors in America, the songs on his new album The Rising found the veteran songwriter probing into issues of grief and loss, weighing the human cost while carefully avoiding political polemic or breast-beating calls to arms. The nearest he came to the latter tonight was a full-tilt version of Born in the USA, but he prefaced it with a cautionary note. "I wrote this song about the Vietnam war," he said. "I'd like to play it tonight as a prayer for peace." The song's thundering beat and big, dark chords sounded like a giant storm gathering over the White House.
The new songs have tilted the mood of the show towards stoicism and struggle, rendering some of the hysterical optimism of earlier years obsolete, and Springsteen has rearranged the E Street Band's furniture to accommodate them. Violinist Soozie Tyrell, whose playing sprinkled new colours across the album, is now a fixture on stage, while Nils Lofgren's skills on assorted guitars have been rewarded with several episodes in the spotlight (his acoustic preamble to Countin' on a Miracle was particularly nifty). Saxophonist Clarence Clemons has been beefed up in the mix, and organist Danny Federici was given space to cut loose evocatively on You're Missing and the glorious gospel hymn of My City of Ruins.
But however elaborate the arrangements - especially the multi-guitar breakdown section in Worlds Apart or the electronic enhancements in The Fuse - it is Springsteen's non-stop action that generates the kinetic energy at the heart of the performance. Skidding across the stage on his knees, hamming it up like a pantomime matador in the 30-year-old Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street? or playing the medicine-show huckster as he introduces the band, he burns with a million megawatts of energy on stage. Aside from the knockabout stuff, he made room for some surprises, in particular a touching version of Incident on 57th Street, played solo at the piano. Its freewheeling, romantic narrative was a jolting reminder of the way his writing has deepened and darkened over the decades. He finally dragged himself away with Thunder Road. Springsteen will be back next year. To be continued…
