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Scheduled: 19:30 Local Start Time ??:?? / End Time ??:??World premiere of "American Land". "Bring 'Em Home" is in a new solo acoustic guitar and harmonica arrangement. Art Baron's mother comes on stage to pull him off during "Pay Me My Money Down"! Horn section is Baron-Manion-Pender-Ramm-Rosenberg-Gayton.
- On Stage
- Setlist
- Performances
- Appearances
- Cancelled
- Gallery
- Media
- Recording
- Storyteller
- Eyewitness
- News/Memorabilia
incl. Rehearsals.
- 2023-04-01 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2022-10-01 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2019-11-04 Hulu Theater At Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2018-11-05 Hulu Theater At Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2018-07-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2017-09-15 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2016-11-01 Theater At Madison Square Garden (The), New York City, NY
- 2016-03-28 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2016-01-27 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2015-11-10 Theater At Madison Square Garden (The), New York City, NY
- 2015-07-31 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2014-11-05 Theater At Madison Square Garden (The), New York City, NY
- 2013-11-06 Theater At Madison Square Garden (The), New York City, NY
- 2012-12-12 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2012-04-09 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2012-04-06 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2011-12-01 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-11-08 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-11-07 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-10-30 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-10-29 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2009-05-03 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2007-10-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2007-10-17 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2006-06-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2003-02-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2002-08-12 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-07-01 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-29 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-27 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-26 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-20 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-17 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-15 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 2000-06-12 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1997-02-26 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1993-06-26 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-08-24 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-19 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1988-05-16 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1987-12-13 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1983-08-02 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1980-12-19 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1980-12-18 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1980-11-28 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1980-11-27 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1979-09-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1979-09-21 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1978-08-23 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1978-08-22 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1978-08-21 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1973-06-15 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
- 1973-06-14 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
incl. Interviews and Recording-sessions.
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© All credits to the original photographer. We do not monetize a photo in any way, but if you want your photo to be removed, let us know, and we will remove it.
Audio was released as a bonus track on the We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions - American Land Edition album in 2006. A music video for the same performance was also included on the DVD accompanying the album.
As part of '18 Nights Of Bruce', video of "Johnny 99" from this show was presented on AOL's website.
Audience tape and two-camera mix DVD (NYCBC). Audio recording of "American Land" is available on CD 'American Land' (Godfather).
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Intro to "American Land"
´´Welcome, friends….alright, hello, New York….go ahead, Larry….alright, we got a, uh, immigrant song for New York City….
(….) For all you travellers out there….´´
Intro to "Old Dan Tucker"
´´Yes, yes….let´s hear it for the mighty horn section….Ed Manion…Mark Pender….La Bamba Rosenberg….Art Baron….his mama´s in the house tonight….alright, alright, I feel good now ….yes, yes, I do, hold on….alright, we gotta test, I´ve been telling the band about the blood-thirsty New Yorkers in Madison Square Garden (crowd cheers) better be good tonight, better be good (chuckles) we´re gonna test those blood-thirsty vocal chords, alright….how many New Yorkers we got out there tonight? (huge cheers) I gotta ask it: any New Jerseyans? (huge cheers) oh my God, oh my Lord….I´m gonna have to say alright, New York, you go first, alright….Get out the way, old Dan Tucker, come on, New York (crowd sings the chorus) once more (crowd keeps singing) go ahead (crowd sings) alright, New Jersey, let´s hear you (crowd sings)(chuckles)…it´s close, let´s hear New York again (crowd sings) New York (crowd sings) New Jersey (crowd sings) in the interest of peace and brotherhood, everybody at once, come on (crowd sings)….´´
Intro to "Eyes On The Prize"
´´Here´s a beautiful song, uh, originally a gospel hymn….and, uh, a gospel hymn called ´Hands on the plow´….was, uh, rewritten in the mid-50s by Civil Rights activist Alice Wine …a beautiful freedom song….it´s called ´Eyes On The Prize´….´´
Intro to "Jesse James"
´´Alright, this is a, uh, historical ballad originated in the immediate aftermath of the murder of Jesse James by a friend for 25 dollars….written by minstrel Billy Gashade, rewritten by Woody Guthrie in ´39 but this version is derived from the original, uh, holds to the maxim of when a legend becomes a fact, you write the legend, so….´´
Intro to "Erie Canal"
´´Yes, yes….thank you…..here´s a beautiful work song….through the whole….songbook of canal ballads, this song´s about the Erie Canal….the Eighth Wonder of the world, changed the way life and commerce went about its business in the mid-1800s….this was written by a guy named Thomas Allan….alright, gonna need a little help, here we go…yes, and one of the most significant, uh, songs in the genre of mule appreciation….it´s a lost, it´s a lost subject now, one of those things that, it´s a shame….there´s quite a few good ones out there (chuckles) mule songs, that is (chuckles)….alright, give me a little hand with the chant here, here we go….(crowd chants) oh yeah….you´re prepared (chuckles)….sounds good….´´
Intro to "My Oklahoma Home"
´´Good singing out there, well done…..this is a beautiful song, written, uh, about the Oklahoma Dustbowl by Bill and Agnes Cunningham, members of the Almanac Singers…. founder editors of Broadside Magazine, this song´s only been recorded a couple of times, it´s hard to believe, such a beautiful song with so much great detail and, and, uh….a lot of humour (chuckles) but, uh….as a kid, you know, you read in the history books and heard of things like the Dustbowl, thousands of people getting pulled up out of their homes and sent out across the country with not much more than they could carry, those were always the kinds of events that….that seemed to happen in somebody else´s lifetime until now, so this is ´Where is my Oklahoma home? It´s blown away´….(off-mike: ´Like we did last night, fellas) ….´´
##030390|Intro to "If I Should Fall Behind´´ (following ´My Oklahoma Home´)
´´Yes, yes….let´s hear it for the horn section….Art Baron - his mama´s here tonight….(?)…. yes, yes, yes, oh darling, let´s go…. ´´
Intro to "Mrs.McGrath"
´´Yes….Miss Patti Scialfa….on the guitar and vocals….she´s been drug out of semi-retirement (chuckles) for New York City (chuckles) alright (chuckles)….this is a song written in 1815, was originally published as a Dublin Broadside, they had to write these then and, uh….still gotta write ´em now, unfortunately….´´
##030390|Intro to "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?´
´´Thank you, thank you…..the lovely Soozie Tyrell on the fiddle….and Sam Barfeld….(?) our first, uh, our first actual, actual job was in New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival….and I´ve been telling the folks every night it´s hard to explain what New Orleans is like because, uh, you can´t really get it from the television or the newspapers, the drive through a half-emptied out American city, miles upon miles of a hundred thousand homes destroyed….and half the population gone is, uh, I´ve never seen anything quite like it but, uh….if you´re a musician, of course New Orleans is, uh, sacred ground, it´s the heart and soul of so much of the music we´re playing up here tonight….all that stuff got mixed up down there and came out as rhythm and blues and jazz and rock´n´roll and folk music….uh, this was a song by a fellow named Blind Alfred Reed….and uh….he wrote this, uh, I guess a month after the Great Depression, uh, on our way down there and it´s a, uh, it´s gonna (?) it needs, it demands, it deserves so much national attention, it´s a city that´s given so many beautiful things and beautiful people to American life….I ask you to be, ask you to be vigilant….but, uh, I kept Mr.Reed´s first verse and then I wrote three other ones, uh, uh, in honor of our President´s unfortunate early visit down there where he managed to gut the only agency there to help American citizens in times of disaster through political cronyism….but that´s all in a day´s work….we got some money going down there now….so, uh….a tip of the hat to Mr.Reed and also (?) region we owe a debt to….this is ´How can a poor man stand such times and live?´ ….´´
Intro to "Jacob´s Ladder"
´´Yes, yes, yes, we are all climbing Jacob´s Ladder….Jacob was in the Bible, he was always fucking up in God´s eyes and God kept giving him, giving him another chance….´cause He don´t like quitters….He kept giving him another chance….so you got to work your way there step by step….´cause there ain´t no free ticket….there ain´t no car pool lane….there ain´t no backstage pass….ain´t free pizza or beer….you got to work every inch of the way, you´ve got to pick yourself up….you´ve got to step right up, step by step, inch by inch, mile by mile, choice by righteous choice…..rung by rung, you´ve got to climb that ladder….come on, boys, one, two, three….´´
Intro to "We Shall Overcome"
´´Alright….Cindy Mizelle on the vocal, Lisa Lowell on the vocals, come down, darling, Curtis King singing….yes, yes….yes, yes….yes, yes, woo….this is kind of the song that, uh, this is the song that kicked off our whole little adventure up here….and it´s all sort of happened by accident ´cause it wasn´t exactly the kind of thing you would sit down and think up (chuckles) and so, uh….I guess this is, you know, one of the most important political protest songs of all-time though that sort of puts it….in a box that it´s too big to….there´s so much more to it, it asks very fundamental….very fundamental questions that have not, have not yet been answered….and uh….it´s a beautiful song, it´s been sung so much sometimes you, you lose your ability to hear it and you forget its tremendous importance, wherever people are struggling, this song´s always been sung and the issues that this song has raised, coming right up from the Labor Movement in the ´30s through the Civil Rights Movement in the ´50s, remain unaddressed, remain unaddressed for so many people, so….this is our little prayer tonight….´´
Intro to "Bring ´Em Home"
´´I´m gonna sing this one by myself tonight, I´m gonna need your help on it, though, and, uh ….this was a song written by Pete Seeger, I believe in 1965 and, uh, they re-recorded it recently with, uh, Steve Earle and some other folks so I´m gonna send this one out to, uh, Steve tonight…..´´
Intro to "Ramrod"
´´Yes, yes….alright now….let me see, the accordion went to Texas as polka music, went across the border, came back as….mariachi and ´cajunto´….some Caribbean influence in this thing somewhere (chuckles)….and somebody dyed their hair and it turned into English ska music (chuckles)….a little help….´´
Intro to "When The Saints Go Marching In"
´´Thank you, thank you so much….I wanna thank everybody for coming out….thanks for coming out and taking a chance on our fine old adventure here, we appreciate that, appreciate that very much…..had a great night, it´s great to bring this to Madison Square Garden….yeah….a lot of, uh, a lot of good nights here, add this one to the bunch….oh, man, I wanna also thank all these wonderful musicians that came my way by (crowd cheers) by…. we got old friends and new friends and some blood up here tonight….great Marty Rifkin on the steel guitar….played on ´The Ghost of Tom Joad,´ ´Devils&Dust´ ….Charlie Giordano on the accordion and keyboards….beautiful Cindy Mizelle on vocals….the handsome Curtis King on vocals….the lovely Lisa Lowell on vocals….the charismatic Mr.Larry Eagle on drums….Art Baron and his mama here tonight, that´s fabulous….(?) alright, alright, alright, alright, Mr. Clarke Gayton on the trombone…..Richie La Bamba Rosenberg….Mark ´Love Man´ Pender…Curt Ramm on the trumpet….Eddie Manion, ´Thin Man´ Manion on the saxophone….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….Jeremy Chatzky on the bass….Mr.Marc Antony Thompson on guitar and vocals….and the lovely Miss Patti Scialfa ….on guitar and vocals tonight….thank you, thank you….I thank them, this was a, uh, song we learned as we went into New Orleans and I guess it´s kind of the theme song of the city, it´s one of those songs (?)(chuckles) I found a couple of verses that actually the Weavers sing this, this very song on their, on their version and I also came across it in an old folkbook that I had, uh, these two extra verses kind of opened up the song for me and also sort of explain what our, our whole little project tonight here is about so, uh, we send this one out to you, thanks a lot….´´
| Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi. |
| Bob Bernhardt | Oh Boy … everything youve read is true … this show is just SO much fun … The banjo … the accordian … the pedal steel … all great … but the horns will blow you away … and you havent lived till you've heard the reworking of the Bruce originals. Ramrod as a Jole Blon style cajun rocker. But the centerpiece for me was Open All Night. I'm not sure ive had as much fun as i did with this Glenn Miller/Andrew Sisters/Hot Rod Lincln version of Open All Night since the first time i saw Detroit Medley … I'm counting the days till this shows up on DVD …. Jealous of you PNC people … you are in for a treat !!!!! |
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© All credits to the original photographer. We do not monetize a photo in any way, but if you want your photo to be removed, let us know, and we will remove it.
Folk Revival as Only Springsteen Can Do It |
Every so often during his concert with his Seeger Sessions Band at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, Bruce Springsteen footnoted his songs like the authenticity-obsessed characters who made the folk revival so easy to ridicule.
Before he sang "Jesse James," he credited the originator, Billy Gashade, and mentioned Woody Guthrie's rewrite; he said he'd be following the original. With a smile, he added, "It holds to the maxim, 'When the legend becomes fact, write the legend.' " And then he led his band in a version like a tall tale.
It started with banjo picking, picked up a hoedown beat, tossed in a Tex-Mex accordion and a western-swing fiddle, and wound up with some razzing Dixieland-style horns. It was tough-minded and fun; it was also about as authentic as a covered wagon with chrome wheels.
The Seeger Sessions Band is Mr. Springsteen's uninhibited take on the folk revival, spearheaded by Pete Seeger and others, that peaked in the 1950's and 60's. They wanted to let America and the world hear the music made by ordinary people in out-of-the-way places. In hindsight, they were about half right. The folkies understood that the old songs were a trove of melody, history, poetry and anonymous genius; they were also, for a few decades, good tools for organizing the labor movement and the civil rights movement. But the folkies' garbled notions of authenticity — rewriting lyrics as agitprop was fine, but using an electric guitar was not — led the folk revival to self-parody and obsolescence when rock started taking itself just as seriously.
Mr. Springsteen's album "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" (Columbia), revisits songs that Mr. Seeger recorded. Mr. Springsteen chose them, as Mr. Seeger had, for their visions of working Americans ("John Henry," "Pay Me My Money Down") and hard times ("My Oklahoma Home"), for a spirit of resistance ("We Shall Overcome" and "Eyes on the Prize," an old song rewritten for the civil rights movement) and for antiwar conviction (the 19th-century Irish song, "Mrs. McGrath," which says, "All foreign wars I do proclaim/Live on blood and a mother's pain.")
The album doesn't include any of Mr. Seeger's own topical songs. But the concert did, when Mr. Springsteen performed "Bring 'Em Home," which Mr. Seeger wrote during the Vietnam War. (It's available free on www.brucespringsteen.net.)
Mr. Springsteen's band grew to 19 members during the concert, including a 6-member horn section. Nearly all the instruments were acoustic. The band didn't simply strum and pick in the hootenanny style of folk-revival acts like the New Christy Minstrels (although a 1960's group, the Village Stompers, had some similar string-band-to-Dixieland arrangements). The Seeger Sessions Band played a boisterous kaleidoscope of styles, never sticking to just one a song: Appalachian music, gospel, jump-blues, Irish reels, New Orleans R & B, mariachi, Cajun music, even some acoustic funk for a version of Mr. Springsteen's own "Johnny 99." Credit the lasting impact of the folk revival for letting Mr. Springsteen find musicians in New York who are adept in so many regional styles.
Mr. Springsteen, as always, had serious intentions. He sang the version of Blind Alfred Reed's "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live" that he rewrote with New Orleans in mind, as well as his hymnlike version of "When the Saints Go Marching In." He introduced "We Shall Overcome" as a song about issues that have still not been resolved, and played it in a slow-building version that moved deliberately from solitude to camaraderie.
But the concert never bogged down in self-righteousness. There was always another turn in the arrangements, another startlingly timely old lyric, another happy anachronism. "What can a poor boy do, 'cept play in a ragtime band?" Mr. Springsteen rasped as the band played "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)," with a zydeco rubboard ratcheting away.
And if the spirit of the folk revival was in its singalongs, then Mr. Springsteen was definitely carrying it on. His fans have long filled arenas with verse-and-chorus singalongs on his songs, and they had already learned the material on the new album. Now they were raising their voices to sing old songs revived one more time.
| By Jon Pareles via The New York Times. |
The Boss Lets Freedom Ring, With Banjo |
THIS is what you would do. Close the bedroom door to the quiet indignities of childhood. Unclasp a small but hefty box to reveal a now forgotten device called a portable record player. Plug it in.
Make a selection from the albums your parents bought when they used to listen to music. No, not Mitch Miller and his Gang. No, not Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Where's the skinny guy with the reedy voice, always singing about freedom? Here. Pete Seeger.
Place the needle down on a disc now spinning in promise, catch the groove, and allow old words and ancient melodies to seep in until they could never be removed. The skips and hisses on the scratched records are as ingrained as the choruses in memory.
You did not listen to be cool; in this age of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, you were unlikely to impress a girl by singing the opening lines to "Erie Canal" ("I've got a mule and her name is Sal …"). Not that you ever summoned the nerve to speak to girls, much less sing to them.
No, you listened because you found something affirming in songs that honored hard work, struggle and standing up for what you believe. You felt connected to your immigrant roots, to your African-American neighbors and to your country, of which you sang with innocent pride. You felt connected to your father, to your mother.
In the era of King and Kennedys shot, you would sit beside the record player and sing, "Oh Mary don't you weep don't you moan, oh Mary don't you weep don't you moan. Pharaoh's army got drowneded, oh Mary don't you weep." And feel the consolation.
In the era of Vietnam and civil rights battles, you would sing, "We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome someday." And believe it.
Then you grew up. Vietnam ended like an unfinished sentence, and King and the Kennedys settled into the abstraction of history. Your mother died and your father stopped singing. The albums went to storage.
Nearly 2,800 people died a couple of miles from where you worked; for weeks the smell of the pyre wafted through your Midtown office window. Your country went to war. Hurricane Katrina crushed one part of the South, and Hurricane Rita crushed another.
You sensed the unimpeded march of Pharaoh's army.
The other night you went to a Bruce Springsteen concert at Madison Square Garden. Some celebrities sat a few rows behind you, and a group of older women, including the singer's mother, sat beside you. You feared your own presence constituted a security breach, but the lights dimmed, no one tapped you on the shoulder, and so you stayed.
In the stage shadows you could see the silhouette of Mr. Springsteen shaking hands and slapping the backs of musicians, 17 or so, as they stepped up and took their places in what is being called the Seeger Sessions. One held a banjo, another an accordion, another a tuba. This was not the E Street Band.
Then music exploded from the stage: rock and bluegrass, jig and reel, spiritual and swing, honky-tonk and acoustic blues, working separately and in concert to coax from dormancy all those old songs that once meant something to you.
Think of it. In this era of post-post-post irony, there sounded in Midtown Manhattan the lyrics to "Erie Canal," with that mule named Sal. In this era of Operation What-Was-It-Again, there rang out a song nearly 200 years old, "Mrs. McGrath," whose soldier son's legs were swept away by a cannonball on the fifth of May.
In this era of Paris Hilton idealization, of pleasure found in a tycoon snarling "You're fired," tens of thousands of people sang of climbing Jacob's ladder; of keeping your eyes on the prize; of overcoming.
Mr. Springsteen occasionally slowed the celebration to a contemplative pace. His "My City of Ruins," written for Asbury Park, then applied to post-9/11 New York, now ached for New Orleans. His version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" became a prayer.
More often, though, he raised his audience up with old songs and spirituals that he had infused with rocking urgency, then toyed with so that brass and guitar could harmonize, an accordionist could jam with the Boss, and a tuba player could know rock-concert adulation.
People danced, those celebrities swayed, the mother beside you raised her hands in joy. And you sang again:
Brothers and sisters don't you cry
There'll be good times by and by
Pharaoh's army got drowneded
Oh Mary don't you weep.
| By Dan Barry via The New York Times. |
Links:
- The Boss Lets Freedom Ring, With Banjo (NewYorkTimes)
- Folk Revival as Only Springsteen Can Do It (NewYorkTimes)
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