'Sunrise come, I climb the ladder. The new day breaks and I'm working on a dream'
So the Magic tour is over. I loved every minute of it.
The first, and possibly the only, time we wore Santa hats to a Bruce show. ’Santa’ was great although not entirely unexpected and unless we get to another December show we may never hear this live again.
The first tour when we took some Bruce virgins with us and although Trevor (Mike’s brother) wasn’t converted we did have a small victory the other day when he reported that he had heard a Springsteen song on the radio that he liked - ‘Girls In Their Summer Clothes‘ - there might be hope for him yet.
The first tour we went abroad - to Paris. I know this wasn’t necessarily the best choice - the crowds in Spain and Italy are more enthusiastic but we had a great time. The French audience were so quiet during ‘For You’. I am not sure that a rowdier crowd would have been as respectful. Paris is easy to get to on Eurostar so it was an obvious first choice. We would go again.
At the risk of repeating myself ‘Magic’ is my favourite of the recent albums. At the time I was a bit disappointed with the live versions of some of the songs but I have listened to the boots again and they really aren’t so bad. Someone else at the time suggested one or two tracks were in a higher key than Bruce’s voice is comfortable with. I think there might be something in this. Listening to, for example, the first verse of ‘Girls‘ and ’Long Walk Home’ - before the band kicks in - his voice doesn’t seem to be that strong.
I wonder if Bruce was aware that, live, some of the songs weren’t working so well. He barley played ’Your Own Worst Enemy’ and ’You’ll Be Coming Down’ - one of my favourite tracks - was only done once.
So different from The Rising which was really powerful live. Bruce has kept tracks from this in the set list - to the point that it might just be getting towards boring. Do we really need another ’Sunny Day’? and didn’t ‘Mary’s Place’ begin to grate a little? I wonder if he will do the same with ‘Magic’.
With gig withdrawal symptoms setting in we decided to go and see Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes who were playing a few miles down the road at The Picturedrome in Holmfirth (the town where Last of the Summer Wine is filmed). We had seen him at the same venue the previous year and he is brilliant.
The Picturedrome is an interesting place. You might say it is full of character or you might say it’s a bit run down. Southside must like it though, as he comes every year. This was our third Jukes gig so it was becoming at bit more familiar - I knew when to throw my arms in the air and where to sing along etc. - always better as there is less chance of making a fool of myself.
We took some new acquaintances with us who we had met through a PT Cruiser owners club. They lived in Holmfirth and we were staying with them overnight. We haven’t seen them since - not sure if it was us or Johnny who put them off!!
By this time we knew we would have the halftime gig at The Superbowl to watch. Even this sent me into a panic trying to find out whether TV in the UK actually show the half time entertainment or spend the time replaying and discussing what went on in the first half. Luckily we have friends who are NFL fans and they assured us we would see Bruce.
More excitement at Halloween with the release of ‘A Night With The Jersey Devil’. Great song and I love the video - his own swimming pool apparently. I can’t embed this video but go on click the link you know you must! A Night With The Jersey Devil
And if that wasn’t enough we get the announcement in November of a new album. ‘Working On A Dream’ would be released on 26 January 2009 (in the UK) a few days before the Superbowl.
Before then we took a more than passing interest in Barrack Obama’s presidential campaign. Mike and I are interested in American politics mainly because we were avid watchers of The West Wing. Actually I should say are avid watchers as we have the DVDs and still get them out regularly. This campaign had an added attraction as did John Kerry’s four years before. We got a lot more coverage in the UK this time though.
We also got a sneak preview of ‘Working On A Dream’ complete with out of tune whistling at the Cleveland Rally. I wasn’t sure about it then and I am still not sure but more of this in a future week.
Sadly in 2008 we lost Danny and on a personal note my father in law - Graham died only a few days earlier. We miss Graham every day. He was a quiet gentle funny man.
Danny we still miss your music.
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