Scheduled: ??:?? Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??Tour premiere for "Atlantic City" and live debut of "Froggie Went A Courtin'". It seems that Bruce had no intention of playing the latter. The original setlist that was on the lightboard showed that he was intending to play "Devils & Dust". A seven-year old boy in the front row waved a stuffed animal frog at Bruce. He went up to take the toy and motioned as if he was going to sign it for him. The kid told him that he wanted to hear "Froggie" to which the Boss sheepishly looked down and laughed…. "Uh…..we don't play that one ………." After a bit of chiding from the pit crowd… Bruce looked back at the band and asked if they could play that one….. who's gonna argue with the Boss!?…. To which Bruce laughed as he strapped on his harmonica……"That's what I like….confidence from the band….." (sarcastically). "Okay, this one goes out to ………what's your name?……." kid says "RIVER"………. Bruce: (laughing) "Yeah, I got another song for you too". Patti Scialfa is not present. Horn section is Baron-Manion-Pender-Rosenberg.
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As part of '18 Nights Of Bruce', video of "Old Dan Tucker" from this show was presented on AOL's website.
Audience tape.
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Intro to “Atlantic City”
´´Hello, Indiana….good evening, everybody….we got a beautiful night….thanks for coming out….alright….´´
Intro to “O Mary Don´t You Weep”
´´That´s right….there´s good news, that´s right….yes, yes, yes….oh, we´re gonna have fun tonight….´´
Intro to “Johnny 99”
´´Sam Bardfeld on the violin….spotlight that man!….yes he is….thank you….oh yes, go ahead, Larry….alright, we need some folk funk, we….we invented this ourselves, that´s right…oh, look out now….´´
Intro to “Old Dan Tucker”
´´Thank you….oh yes, Eddie Manion….Mark ´Love Man´ Pender….Richie La Bamba Rosenberg….Art Baron on the tuba….alright, Indianapolis….as I was saying….we´re gonna test the Indianapolis vocal cords….we are few tonight but we are mighty….alright, alright, come on, Greg…..´´
Intro to “Eyes On The Prize”
´´Well done….very well done….woo!….yes, yes, yes….yeah….we´ve been playing outside every night, it´s been very nice….I like the heat….I didn´t play outside for many, uh, for a long time because I thought it would mess my hair up….the wind and the humidity, you know, I, I couldn´t have that….but, uh, I´ve got this extra strong, strong, like, hairspray now and it´s okay, we can play outside now….oh….yes, yes, yes, this was originally a….a gospel song, it was called ´Hands On The Plow´ and uh….it was rewritten in ´56 as a great freedom song….by a Civil Rights activist named Alice Wine, she changed it to ´Eyes On The Prize´ ….´´
Intro to “Jesse James”
´´Oh yes….alright, give me that rhythm, Larry….alright (Larry starts playing) this is a song that I believe was filled with, uh….uh, actually the, the incidents are true but the character portrait, I believe….is….bullshit (chuckles) but, hey, that´s, but, you know, like the said in ´Liberty Valence´ when, uh, reality gets in the way of the myth….print the myth….come on, guys….´´
Intro to “Erie Canal”
´´Yes, yes….thank you, brother man….this is a great work song….and uh….I believe it´s the only pop song ever written to a mule….actually no, it is not - there was this song by Walter Brennan called ´That Mule, Old Rivers And Me,´ a big smash (chuckles) a smash! (chuckles) back in the ´60s….so it goes to show you that theme of, uh, mule-loving still has a (chuckles) it´s still something you can (chuckles) it´s yet to be exploited to its full (chuckles) but uh…. this was a, uh, great, great, great work song written in, around 1900 and, uh, back when the Erie Canal was, uh, mules and horses was how they carted goods to market and freight up and down northeast….alright….if you can give me a hand, we´ll get a little work chant on this one (starts the chant, the crowd is pretty quiet) a little more gusto, my friends (chuckles) this is kind of sad….(Bruce and the crowd chant)….´´
Intro to “My Oklahoma Home”
´´Thank you!….woo!….that´s right….this was a great song that, uh, I find hard to believe has only been recorded two other times, I had a friend, uh, a friend, Jackson Browne, he, uh…. he came to a show one night and said, uh, ´You know what´s good about those good songs? ….They stay written….once you write one, it stays written´ (chuckles) so a lot of these songs are like that, they were written, some of them, a hundred years ago, 150 years ago, and they were good and they stayed written, this is a song that´s, uh, this is just a beautiful song written that´s, kind of somebody did on the Dustbowl, with an enormous amount of toughness and wit, it was the kind of natural disaster that we, you think you read about in your American history books until recently….so, uh, this is called ´Where, where is my Oklahoma home? It´s blown away´….´´
Intro to “Froggie Went A-Courtin´”
´´What do you got there, my friend? (a kid in the audience has a toy frog)….I guess I got a request from this man down here, I don´t know, that´s….we´ve never played this one, I don´t know if we know this one….how old´s this gentleman? how old are you, my man?….six? seven, alright….let´s do it….let´s get wild, let´s get crazy out here in Indianapolis….alright, this may be the oldest song out of all the old songs….I think this was, uh….tracked back to Scotland around 1549, which makes it a little bit older than seven, my friend (chuckles)….oh yeah, we got it, everybody got it? (laughs) yes, I love that false confidence from the band, it´s my favorite thing: false confidence from the band….alright, this is for, what´s your name? ….Kevin?….River - oh, I had another one for you (laughs)….´´
Intro to “Mrs. McGrath”
´´(?)….was written in 1815….they needed to write these songs then and they need to write ´em now, this is a little something for Memorial Day….´´
Intro to “How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?”
´´Thank you, this is a, uh, song, our first show was in, at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival….it was a real pleasure and honor to perform there, particularly this year, it´s hard to explain, you can´t really get from your television what New Orleans is like, uh, it´s, uh, it´s not like anything I´ve ever, I´ve ever seen firsthand before, it was just miles and miles of destroyed neighbourhoods, uh, the waterline´s still up to here on, on, uh, so many buildings and, uh, I think the town lost close to half its population and, uh, this is, if you´re a musician, the city of New Orleans is like sacred ground and so much of this music we´re playing tonight has its roots in New Orleans and, uh….it´s sort of where everything came from around the world and got mixed up and turned into rock´n´roll, folk, blues and jazz and, uh, it´s, it´s a town that is still in terrible need of your, your support and your attention and uh…. well, this was a song written by a guy named Blind Alfred Reed, he wrote it in, uh, right before the Great Depression, I kept the first verse and I wrote three others for the show down there and, uh, it´s kind of in honor of our president´s visit to the city where he, uh, managed to gut the only agency that´s there to assist American citizens in times of disaster and need through political cronyism….but….we won´t get into all that right now, we´ll just let the music do the talking….this is ´How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?´….´´
Intro to “Jacob´s Ladder”
´´Thank you….alright….we are climbing Jacob´s Ladder….Jacob was a fellow in the Bible, he was always getting it wrong and screwing things up and God was always sort of giving him another chance and another chance, I´m not sure what the moral of the story was, that God loves fuck-ups or something but uh (chuckles) but, uh….till he got it sort of half-right in the end, because we´re all climbing Jacob´s Ladder rung by rung, step by step, inch by inch, you can´t get there on the easy train, you´ve got to work, you´ve got to struggle for it, you´ve got to get it, a-one, two, a-one, two, three….´´
Intro to “We Shall Overcome”
´´Yes it is….Curtis King on the vocals….Cindy Mizelle….get out there, darling (chuckles) Lisa Lowell, thank you, darling….woo!….oh yes….thank you, thank you, thank you, there´s good news!….thank you so much, this is a, uh….this is one of those songs, some songs are so, they´re so powerful and they´re so big that they get completely subsumed into culture and people sing them so much that sometimes it can get hard to hear ´em anymore….this is kind of one of those, it became a song that´s so overwhelming and so important that, uh….you can lose sight of the secret that´s at its core but, uh, it´s probably the most important political protest song of all time, it´s still sung all around the world where people are struggling….´´
Intro to “Open All Night”
´´Oh, it´s time for a dissertation on syncopation, ladies and gentlemen, come on, Sammy (Sam plays) swing that thing, kid….(?)(trumpet solo which makes the crowd cheer)….alright, come on, horn section, give me that riff now….that´s right…..wait a minute (chuckles) wait a minute now, I´ve got to take the temperature of the audience (crowd cheers) one, two, three, four….let´s give it another shot, boys (the band stops)(crowd cheers) they´re not ready yet….one, two, three, four (the band plays) let´s try it one more time….(the band stops) (crowd cheers) one, two, three, four (the band plays) alright, you´re ready now, here we go ….alright, now, you see, uh….
(….) Alright, I think it´s your turn….keep it swinging, boys….let me take the temperature of the audience (goes into the ´Alright´-part that usually ends the song)….I think I wanna hear you do that last line: ´Come on in, everybody, ´cause we´re open all night´ (does the ´Alright´-part again and now the audience sings the last line)….´´
Middle of “Pay Me My Money Down”
´´Alright, Charles, let´s check ´em out, is everybody dancing out there? (crowd cheers) it looks good….oh, wait, wait, what´s going on over here? oh, please get the Indiana ass out of the Indiana seats over there, come on….(?) thank you, my friend, very, oh yes, now you´re good also, yeah….now, Charles, are you ready to help these folks? they need a little bit help, oh, there they go, alright (?) that´s good, uh, I think we have a hundred per cent, oh yeah, Charlie, let´s give ´em a hand, go! (Charles plays his accordion solo)….´´
Intro to “My City Of Ruins”
´´Well done….yes….thank you….yeah….the new guys, you know, they´re, they´re just not used to the glory yet….it goes to their heads a little bit there….it´s all about that….thank you very much….yes, we have our old friends from the Cleaners Foodbank….in the hall tonight, they operate nine foodbanks here in Greater Indianapolis and over one-third of the people they feed are kids….and in the last 25 years they´ve distributed….wow, 170 million pounds of food to those folks in need….so they´re out there getting….an unfortunately necessary job done….and they are very often folks´ last resort and they´re there in times of need, they´re here in your community doing God´s work so, please, uh, tip your hat and chip into the Cleaners Foodbank, you´ll see them on your way out….we´re gonna send this one out to them….´´
Intro to “Rag Mama Rag”
´´Yes, we played this one last night and it was a goddamn carnival ride so we´re gonna (chuckles) so we´re gonna play it again….this is by a, uh, folk song writer by the name of J.R.Robertson, but we need our courage boosted, we need the support of our people out there, we need a little encouragement (crowd cheers) that´s what we need to be cheered on (crowd keeps cheering) we´re a little insecure on this one, let me hear it, one, two, one, two, three, four….´´
Intro to “You Can Look”
´´Ladies and gentlemen, we´ve got some men…..who need to play some appliances….that´s right, for your price of admission, you will now see a man play the kitchen sink….go ahead, man….(a solo on spoons and plates and what-not) Jesus Christ, be careful down on those plates, boys, Patti´s gonna fucking kill me….holy shit!….that´s my mother-in-law´s goddamn silverware! ….´´
Intro to “When The Saints Go Marching In”
´´Thank you….the Seeger Sessions Band!….yes, yes….oh….thank you so much….that´s Marty Rifkin on the pedal steel and the dobro….Charlie Giordano on the keyboards…..the lovely Cindy Mizelle on vocals….Curtis King on vocals….(?) Lisa Lowell on vocals….Larry Eagle on the drums….Art Baron, king of rock´n´roll tuba….La Bamba….Mark ´Love Man´ Pender ….Eddie Manion on the saxophone….Frank Bruno on the guitar…Sam Bardfeld on the violin ….Greg Liszt on the banjo….Jeremy Chatzky on the bass guitar….the fabulous Soozie Tyrell on vocals and violin….Mr. Marc Antony Thompson on guitar and vocals….thank you so much, thank you….I wanna thank everybody for coming out tonight, I appreciate it tremendously….it´s just a, uh, this has been a whole lot of fun, it´s fun to play outside, my hair stayed pretty nice and, uh, the whole thing was just, just a blast….and I wanna thank you for coming out and taking a role (?) with our project up here, this was, uh….it´s just been, uh, a tremendous amount of fun and uh….and, uh, we just wanna thank you for your support and we´re gonna send this one out to you…..this is a song that we learned for New Orleans, it´s kind of the theme song of the city so we were a little nervous about playing it down there, it has been played so much and it has such a history but I was going through an old folk book that I had and I found two verses that I hadn´t heard sung that much and it kind of opened up the song for me and, and, and, uh….and also they´re a couple of verses that kind of explain what we´re doing here and what our whole project is about and, uh, I just wanna thank you for coming out and sharing it with us and we´re gonna send this one out to you…..´´
| Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi. |
| Steve Fick | I guess that what I am doing here is confirming the other accounts of this tour. My wife went with me although she did care for the Seeger album. She had a negative attitude towards the whole thing. That changed very quickly. She is only of her 5th or 6th show and may finally have realized just how great Bruce really is. She was amazed at how Bruce was able to put music from an album she thought was more or less ridiculous into such an amazing show. As for me, I am on about my 28th show now and am still amazed. I had looked at the tour's setlists and was ready for him to come out with Mary Don't You Weep and John Henry, and instead I got the tour premiere of Atlantic City — unbelievable.For everyone that likes Bruce at all you need to go see these shows to see how he transforms songs from Nebraska to full blown stage productions. The thought of people dancing in the aisles to Open All Night is not real until you see this tour. Atlantic City under went another transformation and is better then ever. Bruce always has surprises for everyone with different songs and playing Froggy (for the first time) for the 7 year old in the front row who gave him a little stuffed frog is a great example of how he can stray from his playlist at the drop of a dime. Bruce once again showed that he is the greatest live performer of our generation. Can't wait to see the next tour and what else he can pull out of an ever growing bag of tricks. |
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