Concert flashback: Bruce Springsteen in Washington, DC 4.1.12

Concert flashback: Bruce Springsteen in Washington, DC 4.1.12, It’s no secret that the ticket sales for Bruce Springsteen’s tours are most always hijacked by ticket resellers. It’s a big news story every tour. The majority of those attending the shows on the “Wrecking Ball” tour in 2012 were forced to pay anywhere from $300 to $3000 for a single ticket, even in the upper loges of arenas all across the United States.

Things like this are things that artists can’t control or avoid. Bruce Springsteen has done his best to lead the charge in stopping ticket scalping. Nobody has found a way to stop the pre-sale hackers and ticket resellers, but Springsteen did introduce the paperless ticketing system that stops the on-site scalpers.

The ticket buyer presents the credit card used to buy the tickets at the gate, the system cross-references the credit card with the ticket purchase, and the gate attendant gives you a receipt which tell you where you seat is located. It works, but it takes away the romanticism of having that ticket stub that says Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. It’s like buying a digital album from iTunes. It’s cool, but it isn’t like having an LP. How is one supposed to break their drugs up on a digital mp3? You need a record for that!

There is no way an artist can stop ticket resellers 100%, but what they can do is give that audience who have paid as much as rent on a one-bedroom apartment just to see an act for one night a show they won’t soon forget. This is exactly what Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band did at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC on April 1st, 2012.

It just so happened to be “8-dollar beer night” at the Verizon Center, and I got lucky in a last-minute ticket drop by Live Nation which landed me a seat 4 rows up from immediate stage right in section 119. Needless to say, nothing can prepare one for the energy and emotion that Bruce Springsteen brings to the stage. The sold out arena, which had numerous chants of “Bruuuuuuce” many times before the lights went down, erupted in elation when the E Street Band took the stage and opened with the first single from their latest album entitled “Wrecking Ball” called “We Take Care of Our Own.”

The “Wrecking Ball” favored set list contained a flurry of new songs, along with notable tracks from previous records such as “The Rising” and “Born to Run” along with some rarities and covers. With more than a 30-plus-year-old catalog and counting, Springsteen has plenty of songs to choose from when creating a set list for a concert.

The first truly great moment of audience interaction came 5 songs into the set with “My City of Ruins.” It’s a slower-tempo song that gives a message of hope in a moment of despair, which is something that many working class Americans can relate (which just so happens to be this band’s target audience). The crowd participation in the song’s climaxes such as “Rise up! C’mon rise up” and “With these hands” were incredibly moving. Even the coldest-hearted person in the audience could have had at least one chill bump somewhere.

The set continued with rarities such as “Seaside Bar Song” and “Adam Raised a Cain.” As the band continued into “Waiting On a Sunny Day,” a rather amusing anecdote. A random kid, maybe 10-years-old, ended up on the stage from the general admission floor. Bruce handed the kid the microphone, and surprisingly he knew the gist of the lyrics and sang the song. Maybe he is the next Bruce? Or possibly he was an actor who does it at every show. Nonetheless, it was a nice touch by The Boss.

Springsteen pushed himself physically during a concert and gives the audience 110% every single night. It never fails. From a slide on his knees across the stage to a crowd surf all the way to the middle of the Verizon Center and back, it’s as if he is throwing up a middle finger to the whole aging thing.

Sometimes the final push of a band’s first set before the encore is what makes or breaks the concert as being memorable. The E Street Band are professional, and they know how it’s done. A final 5 song push that included a tribute to Smokey Robinson with a cover of “The Way You Do the Things You Do” along with “American Skin,” “Because the Night,” “The Rising,” & and of course “Thunder Road” to close the main set saw roars of cheers from the sold-out arena. That’s how an artist can keep an audience cheering and staying in their seats for an encore.

There is no sound in the world like the sound of drummer Max Weinberg bringing Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band into the opening chord of “Born to Run.” They’ve done it hundreds, if not thousands, of times. However, one thing is certain. There has never been one audience that didn’t enjoy it, or hasn’t sung along to the iconic lines “tramps like us, baby we were born to run!” That’s game over if anyone is trying to compete.

Although the E Street Band is using a full horn section now to replace the late Clarence Clemons, Clarence’s own nephew Jake did a brilliant job of filling his Uncle’s shoes. Along with Steven, Nils, Max, Roy and a flurry of upward of 15 musicians, once could easily call this the E Street Orchestra rather than the E Street Band. Though it would have been nice to hear “Devils & Dust” or “Atlantic City” or “Hungry Heart” or “Growin’ Up” or “Living in the Future,” the set list was as follows:
We Take Care of Our Own
Wrecking Ball
Night
Death to My Hometown
My City of Ruins
Seaside Bar Song
Does This Bus Stop at 82nd St?
Jack of All Trades
Trapped (Jimmy Cliff cover)
Adam Raised a Cain (tour premiere)
Easy Money
She’s the One
Waiting On a Sunny Day
The Promise (tour premiere)
The Way You Do the Things You Do
American Skin
Because the Night
The Rising
We Are Alive
Thunder Road
Encore:
Rocky Ground
Out In the Street (tour premiere)
Born to Run
Dancing In the Dark
Land of Hopes and Dreams
10th Ave Freeze Out

Springsteen effectively brought the house down in Washington, DC. He is an artist that absolutely gives it his all to make every single person in the crowd appreciate and remember why they are all there. Springsteen has become a symbol of the triumph of the American spirit. Always keep fighting for what’s right and coming back. From “Born to Run” to “Born in the USA” to “We Take Care of Our Own,” this artist continues to inspire others and represent the hard-working people of America and hold the ideals of what is right and what is wrong with it through music. It’s truly a special moment to see this artist perform first-hand. Those who are lucky enough to see Springsteen perform in the future can expect nothing less than heart, soul, and perfection from one of America’s greatest artists.

Concert flashback: Bruce Springsteen in Washington, DC 4.1.12 2013-05-22T11:53:00-07:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: My Videos Tube