So there we were on a cold wet day in Manchester sitting in Costa Coffee watching the world go by.
This probably gives you quite a good insight into us - sat in a coffee shop rather than a pub - not that we are tee total - but as a couple we usually go to Starbucks rather than The Rose and Crown.
I really don’t understand people who get plastered before a gig - what’s that all about? Have a drink or two if that’s your thing but why go to see Bruce when you are so legless you don’t know what is going on and you have to go to the loo every five minutes because you are so full of beer?
I was approaching this concert with some trepidation. Although every other Springsteen concert I had been to had been amazing, fabulous, inspiring and any other superlative you can think of this was a new direction and I couldn’t be sure I was going to enjoy this as much.
I find going to more than one concert helps as after the first one I relax a bit because I know it’s going to be OK - well it’s as good a reason as any for going to multiple shows!!
We didn’t have good seats - right at the back in the top corner.
Our mentor who copied us those first two cassettes (see earlier blog) was due at this show. His seat was in the lower tier and we only had a quick chance to chat beforehand as he arrived late. He was wearing a rather distinctive hat - I thought it was because of the rain - but more about the hat in a later week.
I get really excited before a show - like a kid at Christmas.
A pattern has definitely emerged over the years. We sit down and predictably I make a comment about how near or far we are from the stage. We watch the roadies setting stuff up and the people filing in to the standing area behind the pit. The pit of course is already full by this time. I point out some one waving madly. I don’t know them but I wave back anyway just to confuse them.
The lighting guys start to climb up the rigging which keeps us entertained for a while. We get excited when we see the set list being taped to the stage. I turn to Mike and say ‘set list’ even though he knows. I make a remark about the huge amount of still empty seats at 8.00pm or 8.15pm or 8.30pm…
… and when Bruce finally walks on stage all the anticipation turns into a great wave of emotion and I want to laugh, cry, cheer, jump up and down - a great feeling. He always manages to get on stage just before I’m thinking he might, just might have kept me waiting that little bit too long.
This was only the second show of the tour. There was some talk at the time about it being a bit rough around the edges but I didn’t notice.
Bruce chatted a bit about the origin of some of the songs. I think as the tour went on he stopped this probably assuming many of the audience had heard it all before.
The set list was no surprise - being early in in the tour Bruce wasn’t ringing the changes much - many of the Seeger songs along with a few of Bruce’s own songs reworked. I still wasn’t really familiar with a lot of the early stuff. I barley recognised ‘Cadillac Ranch’ and singing it as a medley with ‘Mystery Train’ (a song I hardly know) just made it all the more confusing. I felt like I did at that first show when I didn’t know what was going on but happily I wasn’t the only one. Bruce cajoled the fans to join in but even the pit seemed a bit bewildered and he pronounced their efforts as ‘miserable’. I couldn’t find anything from that show but see if you think this lot do any better a few days later.
He seemed happy enough though and everyone redeemed themselves with the ‘blowed aways’ during ‘Oklahoma Home’.
We still weren’t sure how many set list changes would be made night on night so I was chuffed to bits to get ‘How Can a Poor Man‘. That steel guitar thingy sends shivers up my spine.
‘Pay Me My Money Down’ was great and at this early stage in the tour, the band walking off the stage leaving just the tuba player (Art Baron) behind was a surprise. Thought it was funny but maybe it wore a bit thin after more than two or three shows. Still as the tour went on and the crowd got the hang of it they took the opportunity to sing and sing and sing and ...well you get the picture.
I wonder what the lesser known musicians felt about these big concerts. Presumably it wasn’t something they were used to and it must have been both wonderful and daunting to be the subject of such adulation.
It was a brilliant show - like a big party really. Now the drive back over the M62 and a quick sleep before setting off on the train for Hammersmith.
Set List
John Henry
Oh Mary Don't You Weep
Johnny 99
Old Dan Tucker
Eyes On The Prize
Jesse James
Cadillac Ranch
Erie Canal
My Oklahoma Home
How Can I Keep From Singing
Mrs McGrath
How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?
Jacob's Ladder
We Shall Overcome
Open All Night
Pay Me My Money Down
My City Of Ruins
Buffalo Gals
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
When The Saints Go Marching In
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