Just in case you missed it, I’m going to be the last person to post video of Springsteen’s appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart this past week (following Pete at Blogness, Dave at Wings For Wheels,etc.)
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M – Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Bruce Springsteen – Interview | ||||
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It’s a really fun interview, if you haven’t seen it…
Later on Twitter, @springsteen pointed me towards video of Stewart on Conan 10 years ago, talking about his love for Bruce on the night that bandleader Max Weinberg was about to depart for a six month reunion tour with Springsteen and the freshly reunited E. Street Band.
And that brings us to the reason for this post. Backstreets alerted me to the fact that this week marks the 10 year anniversary of Bruce’s reunion with the E. Street Band. Springsteen and the band played their first rehearsal shows (of many that would follow later) at Asbury Park’s Convention Hall on March 18th and March 19th 1999.
From Backstreets:
“I’ve never played here,” Bruce told the crowd that first night — this before the numerous holiday shows and morning show broadcasts yet to come. “It’s nice to be able to play here tonight. This is a special night for us, because it’s kind of a rededication — it is, it’s a rededication of our band, and the job that we do, and our committment to serve. So it’s a big, big night.”
It remains big in our memory, too — a mere three days after Springsteen’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the stunning sight of the E Street Band back together for a full tour, the band’s first in a decade, Steve’s first in 18 years. The world premiere of “Land of Hope and Dreams” and an E Streetified “If I Should Fall Behind” signified that nostalgia would be taking a back seat, Bruce telling the crowd, “We’re going to leave you with something new, because it’s a night of rebirth.”
I bought tickets for both nights, November 14th and November 15th at Cleveland’s Gund Arena, a pair for each night at $67.50 a pop plus service fees.
“Good evening, good evening, Cleveland….thanks, glad to be back in town, Patti …. Patti sends her regards, she´s still at home with a perforated eardrum but, uh, tonight the boys are gonna do their best for you so…”
I went to the first night with my girlfriend Kelly, who remarked at the time that I bought the tickets “I don’t understand why you’re going to both nights,” thus securing her mandatory spot on the guest list for the first night. After the show, she turned to me as we were walking out and said “Now, I understand why you’re going both nights.”
The “perforated eardrum” comment has become a joke with my friend Tony “TNT” Tilford and I that will inevitably be said by one of us as we are walking into a Bruce show. “Perforated eardrum” and “Cleveland! Cleveland!” (a Bruce comment that came on the second night, are our two oft-used references when leaving voicemails for each other, talking Springsteen, or otherwise. This was the first Bruce show of many that I’ve attended with Tony.
These shows were also my first Bruce shows in any form, since the very first Bruce show I ever saw in August of 1992 at my beloved, dearly departed Richfield Coliseum.
On the first night at the Gund, there were some interesting songs in the soundcheck – A snippet of “Midnight Special,” and “Adam Raised A Cain.” Sadly, neither made it into the setlist that night. I would have freaked if they would have busted out “Adam.” We did get a set that was fairly heavy on Born In The USA material with “My Hometown,” “Working On The Highway,” “Bobby Jean” and the title track. “Spirit in the Night” was also in the set, and “Ramrod”” was a nice add-in on the tail end of the encores. Tony was really happy to hear “Ramrod.” No, I’m serious, he was REALLY happy. Who knew that he liked “Ramrod” that much? I learned exactly how much on that night, and I began to build a mental list of songs that would induce child-like levels of excitement with Tony.
“Cleveland !….Alagonia…Alagonia…..is anybody from Alagonia ?….Cleveland !….Cleveland !….Cleveland ! ….Cleveland !….but everywhere I´ve gone I´ve seen people lost in the wilderness….I´ve seen people lost in confusion….I´ve seen people lost in the Cleveland Browns memorabilia….I´ve seen people sticking pins in the (?) Modell voodoo doll….I´ve seen people lost in confusion, in faithlessness, in hopelessness but that´s alright ´cause tonight we´re here on a search-and-rescue mission, we´ve come thousands of miles and if you´re downhearted, if you´re disgusted, if you´re dispossessed, if you´re downsized, analyzed, stigmatised, retropsychedelicized, Pokemonized, Pikachu-ized and I know you are….if your heart´s on empty, if your soul bankrupt, if your spirit´s i got bad credit, I´m here tonight to re-educate, to resuscitate, to regenerate, to reconfiscate, to reindoctrinate, to reillustrate, to resexualate, to rededicate, to reliberate you with the power and the glory, with the power and the glory, with the power and the glory, with the power and the glory, with the majesty, with the mystery….with the mystery….with the ministry of rock and roll !….it´s alive….it´s alive…. and we´re doing it….that´s right….now, unlike my competitors, I shall not, I will not, I shall not, I cannot promise you life everlasting….but I can promise you life….right now !….and all you´ve got to do is raise your hand, raise your hand and say ´I´….”
On the second night at the Gund, I took my good friend Joe to the show, “Computer Joe” as we called him, to distinguish when conversing about him and the other friends that I had named Joe. Joe’s nickname came from our working relationship of building websites together. Somewhere around the time that I purchased the tickets, I mentioned it to him, and found out that he was a huge fan, and my companion for night #2 was locked in.
The second night was exhibit A on the short list of reasons why a Springsteen fan would want to attend multiple nights in the same city. A total of 12 songs played during the second show that were not played on the first night, which was a record for the reunion tour. The “country-western” pedal steel version of “No Surrender” made its debut, with other highlights including “Trapped” (!!!,) “Point Blank,” “Independence Day,” “Hungry Heart,” and another treat in the encores with “Blinded By The Light” coming after “Land of Hope And Dreams.”
As a fan, you can imagine how thrilled I was when high quality bootlegs popped up for both nights. I thought it would be appropriate to mark the 10 year anniversary of the “rededication” by posting the audio of the second night. I had/have a DVD of this somewhere featuring video shot by a fan in the crowd, synched with the high quality audio. I recall the video being a bit hard to watch, because of the shaky camera work.
You won’t have that problem with the audio below, but you are guaranteed to have a good time listening to this one.
Bruce and the band will officially launch their road work in promotion of Working On A Dream with sold-out rehearsal shows on Monday and Tuesday at Convention Hall. I know that it’s officially tour time, because I’m watching setlists and rehearsal reports, while eagerly anticipating the moment when I’ll catch my first Bruce show of the tour.
At the moment, it looks like the first show for me will be Bruce’s performance at Bonnaroo, but if I can get to a show before that date, I’ll be there!
Enjoy the audio memories below from a special night in Cleveland…
Thanks to BruceBase for the ticket stub scans and Bruce quotes!
Thanks to Tony for always understanding my need to see at least 3 shows per tour….and for being willing to attend them with me. I know it’s hard. Ha.
Bruce Springsteen & The E. Street Band
Gund Arena
Cleveland, OH
11/15/99
soundboard
Setlist: Intro/Don’t Look Back/Prove It All Night/Two Hearts/Trapped/Darlington County/Independence Day/Point Blank/Youngstown/Murder Inc./Badlands/Out in the Street/Tenth Avenue Freeze-out/You Can Look/Because the Night/No Surrender/Backstreets/Light of Day
First Encore: Growin’ Up/Hungry Heart/Born to Run
Second Encore: Thunder Road/If I Should Fall Behind/Land of Hope and Dreams/Blinded By the Light
Bonus Tracks: Take ‘Em As They Come, Rendezvous, Roll Of The Dice, Racing In The Street, Stand On It, Gloria
IGOTTHROWNOUTTAWORKONTHEKOKOMO!
I don’t read as many Springsteen blogs as you do, but I always love it when you blog about Bruce. Like you, I am a passionate fan, and your posts always make me remember things that I might have otherwise forgotten. The only show I saw on the reunion tour was in Dallas, Texas. I lived in Lubbock at the time. My son was just nine months old and still breastfeeding. I found a babysitter in Dallas, my friend Kathy from Columbus, Ohio flew to Lubbock to meet me (!) and we drove to Dallas together. It was a frantic trip. The show was, of course, amazing. I hadn’t seen Bruce during the the break-up years at all. Seeing him live again was like a revelation.
Another great post.
Ann,
Thanks much. So many good times, and people connected to the Bruce shows that I’ve seen. The Kelly story regarding “I don’t know understand why you’re going both nights” is a story that I tell often – a good moment and memory.
When I saw the Backstreets thing pop up, I realized it would be the perfect opportunity to reminisce a bit about the 99 shows.
And I knew that I actually knew where my copies of the two shows were, which has been a rarity in recent years, as much as I’ve moved around, ha.
I ended up seeing one more show on this tour, in Pittsburgh. Tony and I took a bus trip with radio station listeners to see the show.
Bus trips with listeners can be really hellish, but this one was a lot of fun! You can’t go wrong with Bruce fans!
oh my goodness I’m so glad! you’re going to love love love it.
That interview on the Daily Show was hilarious! The bit about being with your high school friends everyday is classic. We all dream of that when we’re in high school. I guess when you’re touring around the world making millions, it’s an ok life.
no doubt on that one Louie!!!!