Scheduled: 19:30 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??
Premieres on the tour for "Tunnel Of Love" (which completes the set for all songs from that album being played on this tour, in its sole tour appearance), "Sherry Darling" (in its only tour performance), and "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City" - which is an excellent version very reminiscent of the early demo version. "Cynthia" and "Ain't Got You" also included in the 25-song set. Piano songs are "The River", "I Wish I Were Blind", "Racing In The Street", and "Jesus Was An Only Son". "Reason To Believe" is with the bullet mic. "Dream Baby Dream" is on pump organ. "Tunnel Of Love", "Sherry Darling", and "Nothing Man" are on electric piano.
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Sorry, no Media available.
Official concert recording available for purchase in multiple formats, including CD and high definition audio, from Springsteen's official live download site at nugs.net/bruce (previously live.brucespringsteen.net).
- Running Time: 2:18:15
Audience tape circulates. Released on two-CD set 'Grand Rapids Night' (Crystal Cat). A high-quality recording of "Tunnel Of Love" is included on the 2017 'Odds & Sods' (Crystal Cat) collection.
Intro to “Tunnel of Love”
´´How you doing?….thanks….nice to be in Grand Rapids….I guess the, uh, only thing I need tonight is about as much quiet as I can get so I can give you my best, alright? enjoy yourselves….alright, gonna start with something that I….haven´t played before so, uh….let me see what I got…alright, here we go….´´
Intro to “Black Cowboys”
´´Alright, wrote a lot about parents on this last record and what happens when those bonds get severed….and uh….read a beautiful book quite a few years back called Amazing Grace by a guy named Jonothon Kozol….who, uh, just wrote…..this lovely book on lives of innercity children and how we, uh, triage our citizens, this is ´Black Cowboys´….´´
Middle of “Long Time Coming”
´´….croc, cracling like crossed wires…(….) I hope I ain´t gonna fuck it up this time…..´´
Intro to “Sherry Darling”
´´Oh….finally I, uh, I finally got those words right, ´I hope I ain´t gonna fuck it up´ (chuckles) ….´too bad,´ you know, that´s, that´s, I, I should´ve got that on the record, that was, you need the little qualifier in there, need a little elbow room, ´I hope, I hope,´ I had to fuck it up to hope, I´m not gonna fuck it up, alright, anyway, I hope I don´t fuck this up, it´s, uh (chuckles) I haven´t played this one before, this was a, uh, request from somebody, I forget who, but, uh, it´s a good summer song so, uh, let´s see how we do…..´´
After “Sherry Darling”
´´(chuckles) Happy summer, happy summer….´´
Intro to “Part Man Part Monkey”
´´I was, uh, recently over in Europe where I…tried to explain to the folks of old Europe that, uh….in the States we have a big debate going over, uh, who came first the Man or the monkey….I´m not sure they understood what I was talking about, they´re, they´re pretty sure the monkey came first over there….that they even know where the monkey is….but I tried to explain to them that a lot of the very popular sitcoms and things that made their way over to Europe, such as the Flintstones, probably, uh, couldn´t get made in the climate that we have in the country today….due to the, uh, ambiguous relationship between Barney and Fred….I don´t even wanna get into Dino….there´s no place like home….
(….) We´ve come a long way, baby….and we´re going back…..´´
Intro to “One Step Up”
´´I need a little echo at end of, the tail of this, Coop….´´
Intro to “Nothing Man”
´´(?)…it takes a mighty crew of three men to get this piano onstage….that´s right…..alright, let me see what I got here, alright….the music for that….can I get, I know you got it….come on ….come on, kids (chuckles) thank you, brother, alright….´´
Intro to “I Wish I Were Blind”
´´(Bruce´s mike doesn´t work)….up on stage, oh, there it is (chuckles)….(the mike is off again) off again, now it´s off again, now it´s back, there it is….what the fuck´s going on out there, huh? what are you doing?….what´s going on out there? somebody´s not minding the goddamn store, oh Lord, hold on, Coop, hold on, Coop….you know the soundmen do have their own groupies, you know, I gotta watch that….you´re in the middle of the set, all of a sudden: no goddamn microphone….one, two….alright, turn me up and turn this, make this, make this bastard brighter, come on, let me hear it….´´
Intro to “Jesus Was an Only Son”
´´´Thank you very much, thank you….I, uh….I was raised, uh, Catholic in a….in this little neighbourhood, we had a little L-shaped, you know, block and it was like my grandmom´s house that I lived in with my folks and, uh, then there was this little field and there was a nuns´ convent and then there was a priest´s rectory, then there was the Catholic church right on the corner and right across from the Catholic church was my aunts and cousins´ house, then right next to them was my aunt´s house, my uncle and cousins, and then two houses down was my great-grandmother´s house and then, that was my father´s side of the family (chuckles) then right across the street was my mother´s mother and her sisters and cousins and uh….we kind of had, we had the whole neighbourhood pretty sewed up….but my mother´s family never crossed the street to my father´s family and my father´s family never crossed the street to my mother´s and one was Irish, my dad´s was Irish, and my mother´s was Italians and, uh, the twain never really met, you know (chuckles) except in me, I guess (chuckles) and uh, and my wife (chuckles) you know, but, uh, uh, I saw about every wedding and funeral in, in ten years in that little church, you know, it was the only thing that we had to do, was, I, I´ve seen more guys carried away in the back of a Cadillac than you wanna, than you wanna know but, uh (chuckles) but that whole thing never quite gets away from you, the whole Catholic thing, it sort of, uh, it´s like that Al Pacino-line in that, uh, that, that terrible Godfather III picture where, uh, uh, the first two ones however are history-making (chuckles) so that´s a pretty good, that´s a pretty good percentage (chuckles) but he´s, you know, ´I keep trying to get out, they keep pulling me back´ so needless to say as I was thinking about parents and children, I had to think about, uh, you know, what it must´ve been like just Jesus as somebody´s son, just as someone´s child making the particular choices in life and, uh, you know, kids have their own destiny and, uh, and you´re along for the whole damn ride so, uh, this is called, uh, ´Jesus Was an Only Son´….
(….) At His mother´s feet….now the first thing that strikes you when you have your kids is how there´s suddenly this feeling in your gut that there´s nothing you wouldn´t do, nothing in the world, to keep them safe….and that that´s a life sentence….
(….) will pierce your dreams this night….now if you figure that what gives our choices weight and meaning are the things that we sacrifice for them, you choose some part of life…. and you give up something else….that´s the adult bargain….but I always figured that….Jesus had to be thinking about the things He was gonna….lose…..and he had to be figuring….that it´s beautiful this time of year down in Galilee and there´s a little bar there that needs a manager….Mary Magdalene could probably tend bar….they could have a bunch of kids….and got to see the sun fall on their faces and watch the air fill their lungs at night when they´re sleeping and see the next day….and see the next day….and the next day….and the next day…. and the next day….´´
Intro to “The Hitter”
´´Thank you, thanks a lot….alright….alright, uh….well, uh…..let me see, we carry with us…. we carry with us the seeds of all the things that we build and, and create and that´s real and we also carry with us the seeds of our own destruction, that´s real too, and, uh…..I guess in theory that was, that was God´s….I suppose it was, it was meant as a punishment, that was the whole story of east of Eden, you know, uh….I´m not sure that it is….life would have been pretty boring….how many walks around the garden can you take, I mean, you know (chuckles) then what?….you keep coming back to that apple tree….it ain´t going anywhere (chuckles) neither is that urge (chuckles) so, uh….my whole theory is the whole thing was planned like that in the first place, that the whole idea that there was a choice there was….I don´t think so (chuckles)….there´s that great line in Wiseblood, Flannery O´Connor (?) a guy starts the Church of Jesus Christ Dead Buried and Remaining That Way (chuckles) but uh…. it´s an idea, this is ´The Hitter´ (chuckles)….´´
Intro to “Matamoros Banks”
´´Thank you….thanks, I wrote this song as a, uh, wrote a, lived in California four years or so, uh, uh, wrote a bunch of songs that were set in the Central Valley, down along the border…. on The Ghost of Tom Joad, this was a song, it´s kind of a part of that group of songs, I wrote it as a sequel, every, uh…..every year there´s hundreds of people that die trying to cross our southern borders, they die of dehydration in the desert and they die in the rivers and in the backs of vans, coming, trying to come to United States to do the worst and the dirtiest jobs tha we have, uh, we´re in hard, hard need of a humane immigration policy….so this is song, I wrote it backwards, I wrote it from the point of a body at the bottom of the river to the man walking across the desert till he gets to the banks of the Rio Grande, uh, across from Brownsville, Texas, this is ´Matamoros Banks´….´´
Intro to “The Promised Land”
´´Thanks a lot, wanna thank everybody for coming out to the show tonight, thank you very much….a lot of fun….and uh….oh, man, I wanna do a shout-out to some friends of ours here in the house, the Second Harvest (?) of West Michigan….a foodbank here in West Michigan, they feed the hungry with (?) industry surplusses and they use discards and they send it to organizations in 40 county service areas, they´re out there helping the, uh, struggling citizens of West Michigan, please on your way out, check out, check ´em out, they´re out there in the hall, if you can give them some support, they, they could really use it, thanks a lot….uh, I´ll do this for them, Second Harvest, and, uh, for you, thanks for coming along….´´
Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi. |
Rob | An awesome show! I finally got to see a show on this tour, and it was well worth the wait. Some funny moments included Bruce messing up the line in Long Time Coming - "It's me and you, Rosie, cross… cracklin' like crossed wires…". Bruce had a huge grin when he and the crowd realized the goof. Then he changed the next part to "I hope I'm not gonna f*ck it up this time". After the song he said that he wished he had recorded it that way, to give himself a little wiggle room. He seemed to be off his game just a bit later too - when he played Cynthia, he sang "Cynthia…." and then paused and then restarted it. It looked like he had forgotten the words. Then, during Bobby Jean there was a spot where the same thing happened. Oh, and there was a sound glitch before "I Wish I Were Blind", and he made a joke about sound engineers having groupies too, and that someone wasn't minding the store. All in all, it was a fun show and nobody seemed to mind the glitches - most thought they were fun. Oh, and the highlight of the show for me was Sherry Darling, as well as a rockin' version of Part Man, Part Monkey. |
Bency Abraham | I am 3 months and 20 days late in my review. I totally forgot to write my review. I made the 3 hour trip to grand rapids. I can honestly say that it was better than the show at the fox theatre. For one, the opening song was tunnel of love, that was great on electric piano. It was funny to see bruce mess up the end of long time comin', he also played sherry darling, one step up, it's so hard to be a saint in the city, cynthia, I wish I were blind. I liked the rip on kansas before playing part man, part monkey. The highlights of the night were ain't got you, an incredible version of the rising, the promised land, and dream baby dream. It was a solid 2.5 hour concert. It's a shame that bruce did not come back to detroit on this fall leg of D&D. But hopefully he goes back on the road next year. |
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Any Given Wednesday |
There’s one clear common thread connecting the rock artists whose live recordings are most highly collected. From the Grateful Dead to Phish to Pearl Jam to Bruce Springsteen, when these artists play live, every show is distinct. The setlists they perform change night after night to collectively encompass not only the widest possible swath of their own catalogs, but through covers, the music of other songwriters, too.
That’s admirable in its own right, and it makes seeing multiple nights on a tour all the more rewarding as a fan. But even if one were to see but a single concert by the aforementioned musicians, playing something fresh and different creates palpable presence. Each singular performance benefits from an artist consciously choosing to be in the moment.
I have often said, and nearly as frequently experienced, that part of the seductive appeal of seeing Bruce Springsteen in concert is never knowing what song you might get to hear. This has been true for most of his career, but since the Reunion tour, it is more like an official tenent of his platform. For stretches of the Magic, Working on a Dream and Wrecking Ball tours, audience sign requests and other attempts to “stump the band” evolved to become overt centerpieces of the show.
For me, Springsteen’s ultimate high-wire act in this regard was the 2005 Devils & Dust tour. A solo show, without the collective safety net of the E Street Band, found Springsteen at his most spontaneous and fearless, not merely adding unusual songs to set lists, but often performing them in a one-of-a-kind manner. In fact, over the course of the tour’s 72 shows, Bruce assayed a whopping 139 different songs, 42 of which were played but once or twice. One could say the tour’s unspoken motto was: I do not play these songs often. I have not played them on this instrument. I may not play them this way again.
Case in point, the sublime version of “Tunnel of Love” that opens Grand Rapids. “I’m gonna start with something I haven’t played before,” says Bruce, just before his hands come down on the electric piano and the marvelously muted, swirling chords that only that instrument can make pour forth. Past a tentative first few notes, the confidence in his own playing swells, and the clarion vocal and wistful keyboard begin to interplay, as one lingers and punctuates the other right up to the last 12 resonant chords that end the song so beautifully. We didn’t hear “Tunnel of Love” live, we witnessed a new “Tunnel of Love” being born.
It doesn’t get any more magical than that, and yet, he has never played the song solo again.
What Grand Rapids captures so effectively is Springsteen’s version of this magical alchemy, that on any given Wednesday–not in New Jersey or Los Angeles, not in Milan or Gothenburg, but in his one and only concert ever in Grand Rapids–an unrepeatable performance could be created. And through the magic of the live download series, those of us who weren’t sitting at Van Andel Arena get to hear what what those lucky folks experienced.
While only three days separate Grand Rapids from Columbus, the other archive release from the Devils & Dust tour, to the points above the two shows are as distinct as they are kindred. Around a spine of songs from the album (including a rare outing for one of its least performed tracks, “Black Cowboys”) Springsteen puts his keyboard playing to the fore and the song selections are inspired. The choice of electric piano reinterprets “Sherry Darling,” now as much a melancholy remembrance as a summer party song, and the instrument applies a dreamlike filter to “Nothing Man,” bringing even deeper intimacy to its narrative.
Sequencing “I Wish I Were Blind” on piano to follow suggests an earlier chapter from the life of the same narrator; recontextualized, songs that never felt connected suddenly feel part of a whole. Staying with piano, Bruce delivers a fine rendition of “Racing in the Street,” his playing as majestic as the song warrants, especially the long outro. Later in the night, his final performance on piano, “Jesus Was an Only Son,” is another highlight, set up with a wonderful story of his family and sung with conviction and tenderness.
There are surprises on guitar as well, as Springsteen resurrects “Part Man, Part Monkey,” the amusing evolution tale from the Tunnel of Love tour. That album’s “Ain’t Got You” is delivered in fine form in the encore, as is the tour premiere of “(It’s Hard to Be A) Saint in the City,” sounding as fresh as the John Hammond audition.
Across the night Bruce is chatty, personable, occasionally profane and quite funny, revealing himself as much through his looseness as he does on Broadway with his marvelously crafted storytelling. That in-the-moment candor, a set filled with outstanding performances and an audio mix even more up-close than Columbus makes Grand Rapids a thrillingly unexpected gem.
By Erik Flannigan via Nugs.net. |
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