2006-06-19 Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY

Scheduled: 20:00 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??

Info & Setlist | Venue

Final tour performance of "Buffalo Gals". Horn section is Baron-Manion-Pender-Rosenberg. Patti Scialfa is not present.

Intro to “John Henry”
´´Welcome, friends….´´

Intro to “O Mary Don´t You Weep”
´´Good evening….welcome, welcome….welcome, picnickers out there….hello, everybody on the lawn….I think we lucked out, we have a lovely night, alright….come on, Charles, Uncle Charlie, come on….´´

Intro to “Old Dan Tucker”
´´Thank you, thank you…..good evening, good evening….alright, so, uh, got folks from Rochester? (some cheers) folks from Albany? (some cheers) no, they´re all locals, relatively locals…New York City?…alright….we´re gonna test the New York vocal chords….see how we´re doing….´´

Intro to “Eyes On The Prize”
´´That´s pretty good….wooh….oh yeah….thank you, thank you….it´s nice out there, I bet, a breeze….I´ve been telling the folks we haven´t played outside too much (?) we never played outside, didn´t want the wind to mess up my hair….this was originally a gospel, gospel hymn called ´Hands on the plow´…was rewritten in mid-50s by Alice Wine, it´s called ´Eyes on the prize,´ a great freedom song….´´

Intro to “Jesse James”
´´This was a historical ballad, originated in the immediate aftermath of the murder of Jesse James by a friend for 25 dollars….it was written by minstrel Billy Gashade, was rewritten as a social protest song by Woody Guthrie in 1939…this version here´s derived from the original and, uh, I guess holds to the maxim of when the legend becomes fact, you write the legend….´´

Intro to “Erie Canal”
´´Greg Liszt on the banjo!….yes, yes….alright….this was a great work song, written, uh, around 1900 but, uh, recalled in the mid-1800s when the Erie Canal was changed (crowd cheers) alright, the Erie Canal, we must be up in folk music country now, Erie Canal gets a great round of applause (crowd cheers) I know Pete´s only a couple of hours away so he´s gonna hear, he´s gonna listen if you´re singing loud enough or not…but uh, I don´t know if there´s someone here said they just did a tour of the Erie Canal, (?) a lot of great Canal ballads and uh….this was written by a guy named Thomas Allan, ´Low Bridge, Everybody Down,´ and the Erie Canal changed the face of….how goods were brought to market, it changed the face of the country….alright, let´s hear it….(Bruce gets the crowd chanting)….and now cease the horrible clapping (chuckles)….´´

Intro to “My Oklahoma Home”
´´Yes, yes, thank you….this is another great song, I tell you when I, when I went back and, when we sort of stumbled into doing this….the, uh, the beauty and the detail of so many of these songs, how well written they were and how Jackson Browne, a friend of mine, once said ´Those good songs, they stay written´ and uh….they do, they do, this is, uh, this is another beautiful song, I can´t believe it´s only been recorded two times, I think, it was written by Bill and Agnes Cunningham, they were members of the Almanac Singers and, uh, uh, founders, editors of Broadside Magazine, Dustbowl refugees, this was a great song called ´Where is my Oklahoma home, my Oklahoma home is blown away´…I remember when I was a kid, reading about the Dustbowl, they were the kind of events that you didn´t think happened any more, happened in, in your lifetime, but we´ve lived to see, you know, thousands of people uprooted from their homes and spread out across the country….(?)….´´

Intro to “Mrs. McGrath”
´´Thank you, that´s, uh, Frank Bruno….on guitar and vocals….lovely Lisa Lowell….Curtis King….supervising (chuckles) and beautiful Cindy Mizelle….thank you, this song was a great Irish anti-war ballad, was first published in 1815….was in Dublin Broadside….they had to write ´em then and they still gotta write ´em now, it´s a shame….´´

Intro to “How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?”
´´Thank you….Our first stop on the tour was the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and ….this was a song I heard just a week or so in front of that and…..it´s hard to explain New Orleans, I tell the folks every night you have to sort of see it, it´s hard to explain an American city that´s half emptied out, you can go for miles and miles and miles and there´s, a hundred thousand people lost their homes and, uh, a hundred thousand homes lost and, uh…. uh, you can´t quite get it from the television or from the newspapers and….um, it´s such an important American city that´s given so many beautiful things and beautiful people to the soul of the country (huge applause) that, uh….so this was a song that, uh, by a fellow named Blind Alfred Reed and, uh, he wrote it about a week after the stock market crash and I kept his first verse and I wrote a few other ones, two or three other ones, as we were about to go into New Orleans, uh….this is called ´How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?´´ ….I wrote this on the occasion of our President´s disasterous visit down there (chuckles) where he managed to gut the only agency that, uh, was there to assist citizens in times of national disasters through political cronyism….but that´s all in the day´s work these days…. but I think that they´re sending some money down there now so….for the city of New Orleans, alright….´´

Intro to “Jacob´s Ladder”
´´Alright, we are all climbing Jacob´s Ladder….step by step every day….little by little, Jacob was in the Bible, Jacob was, uh, I read a little bit up on him and he was somebody who was always sort of, uh, fucking up in God´s eyes, but God kept giving him another chance….I don´t know why….and he kept fucking up and fucking up again (chuckles) but God kept giving him another chance….and bit by bit, little by little….first crawling, then walking…. then running, then climbing….step by step….mile by mile….hand over hand, day by day, choice by righteous choice….we are all climbing Jacob´s Ladder….´´

Intro to “We Shall Overcome”
´´Yes it is!…there´s good news….yes there is!….oh yes!….oh yes!….that´s right!….step by step….inch by inch….we´re gonna get there….I can´t go by myself, I need you to go with me ….oh Lord…yes, yes….woo!….the next tour I´m gonna get me a big tent and that´s gonna be the whole damn thing (chuckles)…just a big tent (chuckles) play anywhere (chuckles) oh, this song is the song that sort of started us off on our whole adventure, ah….a friend called, got doing a tribute cut for, for, uh, Pete Seeger and uh (crowd cheers) yes, his ears are, his ears are ringing tonight….we´re close enough, I think (chuckles) and a friend of mine suggested this song, I said ´I don´t know how does anybody sing this song?´ you know, this song has been such a, uh, it´s such a major part of our culture and major part of American history and it´s meant so much to so many people and it´s done so much…..and, uh, I guess, like I say, it´s the most important political protest song of all-time but I hate to just put it in that box ´cause, I guess, it´s, basically it´s a spiritual, uh, written, it was originally a Baptist hymn and it was brought into the Labor Movement I think in the ´30s and then in Civil Rights Movement in the´50s but, uh…it´s one of those songs that get sung so much that people almost lose their ability to hear it but it´s such a big, powerful piece and, uh, so I figured ´Well,´ (?) basically, basically a prayer, I said ´Well, I think I know how to do that´ so I do this tonight, here´s ´We Shall Overcome´….´´

Intro to “Open All Night”
´´Thank you….Uncle Charlie gonna play the piano….(?) Gentlemen, I´ve got to, I must take the temperature of this audience….too cool, baby!….they´re not ready, boys….no….(?)….let+s give another shot….(band stops)(crowd cheers)….not ready! (?)….alright….we´re gonna give ´em one more chance, fellas, one more chance (?)….(crowd cheers)….they´re ready!….´´

Intro to “Bring ´Em Home”
´´Thank you so much, thank you…..thank you for a lovely evening….thank you, thank you, this is, uh….oh man….this is a great place, I´ve never been here, a beautiful building….a great place to play….how we doing out there on the lawn? (crowd cheers) sounds good…..save me a spot on one of them blankets, man (chuckles) oh, we´ve got some friends of ours, the Supplemental Food Providers Incorporated, a network of 61 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters, they operate solely through donations here in the ten county heartland of New York state, Supplemental Food Providers will be outside on the way out, please give them a hand ….they´re, uh….out there helping New York state´s struggling citizens….(says off-mike: ´Bring ´Em Home´)…this was, uh….I guess, Pete, Pete wrote this in ´65, if I´m correct….like I said about ´Mrs.McGrath,´ they had to write ´em then and they need to write ´em now….´´

Intro to “Buffalo Gals”
´´Alright, this is a song I remember my grandma singing to me when I was little…..so here´s for all the kids, there´s some kids out there….some nephews out there tonight, right (chuckles) and nieces, oh, nieces, and a mother-in-law?….I´ll do this for her too (chuckles) alright….´´

Intro to “When The Saints Go Marching In”
´´Oh, my apologies to the band on that last one (chuckles) I thought I had that voice….it just got away from me….(chuckles) oh yeah….oh, thank you all for coming out tonight, thank you so much….yeah!….hey everybody out on the lawn there!….oh yeah….I´m glad you got a nice night, yes….oh….I wanna thank you, uh, for coming out and taking a chance on our little adventure here, thank you very much….it´s, uh, the whole thing was a really happy accident and a lovely blessing, all these wonderful musicians came my way, I wanna thank them….
got Marty Rifkin on the steel guitar, played on ´The Ghost of Tom Joad´ and ´Devils&Dust´ ….Charlie Giordano on the keyboards out of New York City!….beautiful Cindy Mizelle…. Curtis King….lovely Lisa Lowell….the debonair Mr.Larry Eagle….the Silver Fox, Art Baron, the king of the tuba….Richie La Bamba Rosenberg….Mark ´Love Man´ Pender…Eddie ´Thin Man´ Manion….we got some blood up here, Frank Bruno on the guitar and vocals….Sam Bardfeld on the fiddle….Greg Liszt on the banjo….the fabulous Soozie Tyrell on vocals and fiddle….and Mr.Marc Antony Thompson on the vocals and the guitar….and Mr. Jeremy Chatzky on the bass….yes….I thank them and I thank you….this was a, uh, song we learned when we went into New Orleans, it´s kind of the theme song of the city….and it was one of those songs that you´ve heard since you were a kid and you´ve heard it sort of a thousand times and, and it sort of disappears on you and uh….but I was going through, there´s a Weavers´ version that sings these two extra verses that´s really terrific and I found these verses also on an old folkbook that I had, I was paging through and when I came across it, it sort of opened, opened the whole song up for me and, and, and gave me an understanding into, into it and, uh, it also explains kind of what we´re trying to do up here tonight and what we want the evening to be all about so, uh, I wanna send this one out, wishing you ´God bless´ many times over, good fortune and happy travels….along the way….and we´ll meet again….´´

^{Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi.}

Ben

The show started out with a rousing John Henry, an old traditional with a wailing banjo. Then he and the band did an amazing version of MARY DONT YOU WEEP, a great song about satan attempting to taking souls and other biblical references and that another empire's army went down as well. What an amazing song!@ This woman was in shackles but the singer was saying not to weep because all armies fall. This song was an africian spiritual. And bruce rocked it up to be an uplifting redemption song. Then one Bruce's darkest songs in his catologue, Johnny 99. He changed the music to reflect the mood of the concert. It is about a person that couldn't take all the crap that society threw at him. From banks taking his house and piling up in debts and the police and the courts harassening him. He changed the song to make it sound like it was an old traditional song as well. It fit in perfectly. Then the comic relief of the album came up, which was old dan tucker. Even in that song with all the humour dan gets redeemed by going in the arms of the girl that he loves best. Next was an amazing song about the civil rights struggle, people despite being in jail, kept their eyes on that freedom as human beings that they deserved. Bruce for that song, brought the music down so the words can be focused on. Before each song Bruce put each song in a historical context, to frame what the topic was and who wrote the song. And even that song, ends with a redeeming bit about how the streets of heaven are paved with gold. It was amazing to hear a band that never played together before to be conducted by bruce and sound that good. Bruce wasn't really the bruce we know with the east street band for this show. The next song bruce talked about what people think is the legend of jesse james, and what is the actual true story. Jesse James seemed to be like a robin hood, It was cool to see bruce dispelling the myth of jesse. Next bruce took a great rock and roll song about the famous biblical parable into a song that the words were altered and the music scaled down for this show. ADAM RAISED A CAIN. He made this version focus on the part of his father struggling as a working class person in this country. Probably done to affect the present times of many americans right now. That is why it was done a lot more somberly. Then Erie Canal was altered as well to make it more of a cheerful singalong. And how nature can bring a lot of people together. Next he did a song about the dust bowl storms of the 30s blew away his home. Similar to the storms of katrina. They took the place they love and called home away without any aid or assistance at all. The song is OKLAHOMA SONG. Then an altered version of his rock and roll song FURTHER ON THE ROAD. This was altered to more an unknown quality with sliding towards probably not. It was very strangly down, many people around me wasn't sure if that was even a bruce song or not. Next the irish version of Mrs. MCGRATH. A great song with a very pretty sing along part, this song bruce stopped at the beginning and mocked the fact how people always love to clap along, and he said "dont u listen to the words? this isnt the type of song to clap your hands to." This is a song about someone losing their legs in a war with a cannon ball. "All foreign wars I do proclaim Live on blood an a mothers pain I'd rather have my son as he used to be Than the King of America and his whole Navy", that verse bruce added to the song, to bring it up to date, that was an amazing thing that bruce did to many of these songs like pete seeger did as well. Then bruce did a long rap about how the government didn't do anything for the people of new orleans except give chaney more halliburton handouts. He talked about this government of financial cronism, and until this stops, this madness wont cease. He then changed the words to reflect the poorus condition in new orleans. CALLED HOW CAN A POOR MAN STAND SUCH TIMES AND LIVE? The next song the band sounded like the BAND doing JACOB'S LADDER. it is a universial song about everyone working together to get to heaven together. What a gorgeous sentiment! Then probably the best moment of the night. Bruce talked about all americans getting off their asses for this song. And how the need for political protest songs are vital in these times, and sang WE SHALL OVERCOME, that version brought chills to me, it was done so amazingly. Bruce changed some of the words to that as well. Next a scat version of OPEN ALL NIGHT came on, it wasn't noticed but it was a nice relief from that the seriousness of the last couple of songs. So it was done in a rock a billy style. Then PAY ME YOUR MONEY DOWN. A rousing number of people wanting to get paid from the wealthy or else they go to jail. Bruce turned that into a sing a long and a long jam as well. For the first song, bruce did an incredible version of the Pete seeger's song IF U LOVE YOUR UNCLE SAM, BRING 'EM HOME. Bruce got most of the crowd to sing along for that song. BUFFALO GIRLS, was sung next, a song everyone as a child knows, and he did a very pretty version of that song. a fun uplifting song. Then an altered version of YOU CAN LOOK BUT BETTER NOT TOUCH. It appeared that the song showed an the llusion of the media it seemed to reflect. After the song bruce talked about how the media are becoming mirrors for illusion in these times. Very powerful stuff. And then the show ended in a real surprise. He closed with the real version of WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN. That version has the last two verses of universal peace, it was done in a gorgeous way with out the horn fanfare that everyones knows that song to have. His gospel backup singers handled that really great. I personally would've liked him to have done REASON TO BELIEVE, but u cant complain at all. the Music was great and very danceable. It also appears that bruce did this album as a statement against this adminstration. He is very outraged at the direction that this country is going and felt that the old protest songs were the way to speak this message to the public. I also felt that bruce was upset how Bush and corporate america is giving this rosy colour view of what america was and they are whitewashing a lot of the truth, and bruce felt that the old songs would give the story of america the best and educate the audience of americas history musical and with the events the songs were about. Right on Bruce! It takes courage to do what bruce is doing in these times, but it is very nice to hear and see with the great results that bruce did it with.

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