Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Parkbuhne Wulheide, Berlin (May 29, 1999)
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Bruce Springsteen
Parkbuhne Wulheide, Berlin
May 29, 1999 |
Of course, Springsteen and his newly resurrected E Street Band gave the crowd ample inspiration for revelry. Through the both nights' three-hour sets, the singer played highlights of his 25-year career, paying closest attention to his two 1970s masterpieces Born To Run and Darkness On The Edge Of Town and re-asserting himself as one of rock history's finest live performers.
But as Bruce stormed tirelessly through his hardest-hitting classics, including outstanding renditions of "Murder Incorporated," "Light of Day," and "Prove it All Night," the crowd never let up for a moment and only begged to be pushed higher and higher.
At first, it seemed as though the crowd's high demands might not be met. The E Street Band looked pitifully old as they walked on to stage. Drummer Max Weinberg appeared a spitting image of my 10th grade trig teacher. And organ player Daniel Federici looked so frighteningly pale, he might as well have been a long-lost descendant of Vlad the Impaler.
Despite their looks, though, the band members met and surpassed all hyped expectations, even before the close of the third song. Tireless and charismatic as ever, Springsteen led the brigade, tearing through the blitzkrieg 24-song sets without a pause in the emotional outpour. During songs like "Light Of Day," the group's leader transported himself back to the frenzied glory of past E Street Band tours, as he burned up the night's energy with a crazed devotion to some sort of musical spirituality. He promised the crowd, not life everlasting, but simply "life, right now!"
Amen, brother!
Springsteen's most profound talent (as cliche as it might sound), is his ability to make a connection to his audience, no matter the nationality. His foreign fans sang along with each song like their English-speaking counterparts. The themes of the singer's lyrics - namely love, work, confusion and redemption -- seemed to resonate easily in the surprisingly amiable crowd's ears.
"Youngstown" proved to be a particularly poignant example. Recorded for Springsteen's acoustic album Ghost Of Tom Joad and now re-invigorated by the full-band backing, the song tells the story of a small American town, whose steel mills provided the "tanks and bombs that won this country's wars." At one point, the song's protagonist recalls his father proudly proclaiming, "These big boys did what Hitler couldn't do."
But the line failed to offend the German listeners, as Springsteen's character continued on and recounted America's failed future battles in Asia, as well as the government's subsequent disregard of the Youngstown workers who helped preserve the nation's capitalistic ways.
"When I die, I don't want no part of Heaven," he sang. "I pray the devil comes to take me away to stand at the fiery furnaces of Hell."
Just as Springsteen finished screaming the last line in utter despair, he turned his rage into a terrifying guitar solo that spoke legions about his character's torn soul. Like many of Springsteen's heroes, the "Youngstown" worker is a forgotten man -- a damned soul condemned to his broken dreams -- and the Berlin crowd responded naturally to his pain.
It seemed as though Springsteen (a relic of pure Americana) could not have chosen a more appropriate setting for a display of his thought-provoking words and music. As the Berlin natives in the crowd come to the end of a dirty century -- a 100 years darkened with the blood of millions murdered and divided -- they must be able to identify with Springsteen's disenchanted character paradigm.
But the singer (with the help of his bandmates) offered the listeners more than just soulful tales of life gone wrong. And not with just the thrill built into "Born To Run," or the fun laughs of "10th Avenue Freezout."
During the encores, he gave the brotherhood sentimentality of "If I Should Fall Behind," a beautiful song re-worked from his solo albums, and the crescendo-structured rock triumph "Thunder Road."
Lastly, he provided redemption in the form of "Land Of Hope and Dreams." It's a new song -- albeit a rather typical Bruce song, populated both with the "darkness," "streets" and all the faded-Christian imagery one might expect -- but a good song nonetheless. At its close, he allows the entire audience, even "the whores and gamblers," to climb aboard a train with him and restore whatever faith had been taken.
The shows ended at just under three hours, a possible slight to die hard fans who remember the four-hour workouts of the 70s and 80s. But this critic saw no signs of dissapointment in the crowd's chants for more music, which lasted long after the house lights lit the stadium.
BEN FRENCH | Ben founded NATN in the winter of 1998-1999 with fellow IU alums Troy Carpenter and Jonathan Cohen. During the day time, he's working for Nielsen Business Media, publisher of Billboard. Ben's favorite acts include Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys.