Los Angeles 26th April 2012 - show 17

The distance from San Jose to Los Angeles is 340 miles. So we are up to 7340 miles now.

"Heaven" - @IJasonAlexander

There are a couple of good reviews today and as usual I'll pull out my favourite bits.  The first from Variety has this great bit about Clarence and Jake :-

If there was a noticeable void on the side of the stage where legendary saxman Clarence Clemons once stood for thousands of you-had-to-be-there concerts Springsteen filled the space with a solid five-piece horn section...
But it was the addition of enthusiastic saxophonist Jake Clemons, who just so happens to be Clarence's nephew, which cemented the realization that the E Street Band remains an ever-changing musical organism. The young Clemons' showmanship and, clearly, his excitement of just being part of a legendary band, as well as his ability to hit all the right notes his uncle never missed, clearly felt good for the audience's soul.


I've condensed the final two paragraphs here but it says it all and confirms what everyone of us already knows. 

The E Street Band come into your town, give it their all while having the audacity to make each city feel special and unique, and ship out.
It's what they do. And as long as Springsteen can find the strength to strap on the Fender, there's little reason to expect the carnival to slow down anytime soon.

Then there are these couple of paragraphs from The Los Angeles Times

One of the things that makes Springsteen the greatest musical performer of our time is the deep love with which he ministers to his flock. The arena was filled with a rare vibe, a feeling of brotherly and sisterly (Springsteen danced with his younger sibling on “Dancing in the Dark”) love. When’s the last time the big Canadian strangers next to you bought you and your husband a beer during an arena show?

This was perhaps the most inspirational show I’ve witnessed in 30 years of attending thousands of concerts, including at least a dozen by Springsteen. There was maybe one better: When he played Jazz Fest in New Orleans after Katrina and turned the city of ruins into a city reborn. 


The set was shorter than has been the norm lately.  Tom Morello featured on Death To My Hometown, Jack Of All Trades and The Ghost Of Tom Joad.  Now I know he is a great guitarist but long guitar solos aren't for me. You've got to feel a bit sorry for Nils too. He is also considered to be pretty good on the guitar and rarely gets chance to shine. Presumably he doesn't mind though, otherwise he wouldn't be there !


As is often the case with Bruce's covers California Sun was a mystery to me. I had to go to YouTube to find the original version. And an extra clip tonight - Bruce's version. 


California Dreaming for night 2 maybe? California Girls?





So here's the list - not the best for me but you may disagree.  

	Atlanta 18/03/12 Time 8.10 to 10.44	Los Angeles 26/04/12 Time 8.22 to 11.08
1	We Take Care Of Our Own	Badlands (12)
2	Wrecking Ball	We Take Care Of Our Own (17)
3	Badlands	Wrecking Ball (17)
4	Death To My Hometown	The Ties That Bind (4)
5	My City Of Ruins	Death To My Hometown (17)
6	The E Street Shuffle	My City Of Ruins (17)
7	Jack Of All Trades	The E Street Shuffle (5)
8	Seeds	Jack Of All Trades (17)
9	Easy Money	Something In The Night (1)
10	Waitin' On A Sunny Day	Candy’s Room (3)
11	The Promised Land	She’s The One (6)
12	The Way You Do The Things You Do	Easy Money (12)
13	634 -5789	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (17)
14	Shackled And Drawn	The Promised Land (16)
15	Lonesome Day	The Way You Do The Things You Do (17)
16	The Rising	634 - 5789 (17)
17	We Are Alive	The Ghost Of Tom Joad (1)
18	Thunder Road	The Rising (17)
19	Rocky Ground	Lonesome Day (7)
20	Land Of Hope And Dreams	We Are Alive (17)
21	Born To Run	Land Of Hope And Dreams (12)
22	Dancing In The Dark	Rocky Ground (17)
23	American Land	California Sun (1)
24	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out	Born To Run (17)
25		Dancing In The Dark (17)
26		Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (17)
27
28

San Jose Tuesday 24th April 2012 - show 16

It's a long way from Cleveland to San Jose - 2493 miles. That makes the total around 7000 miles.  It would seem a flight would be the only option here and that will take nearly 4 hours !  Makes you realise what a huge country America is.

from mercury News

Well San Jose then.  No premiers tonight.  I think this might be the first night this tour.  The set list would still suit me though. Any night including Backstreets is good for me and there is nothing in there that I really don't care for. A review from mercurynews.com points out that although much has changed on E Street many things stay the same :-


"We are here on the same mission we've pursued night after night, year after year," Springsteen said near the start of his band's show Tuesday in San Jose. "We are here to manifest the joyous power of rock 'n' roll music and shoot it straight into your heart.
"We want you to wake up tomorrow morning and say, `What the (expletive) happened to me? I feel different.'"
What had happened to the approximately 15,000 fans who filled the HP Pavilion to capacity was nothing less than the full-throttle E Street Band experience. It was three hours of purely intoxicating rock 'n' roll, which likely did leave some people feeling a bit hung over the next morning -- but in a very good way.

Writing a blog during a tour involves almost obsessive examinations of set lists. Oddities jump out at me as I'm compiling the stats - do I need to get a life do you think?  Anyway, one of the things that has struck me so far, The Promised Land has been played every night except in Washington DC when The Promise was played instead. Not much of a deviation in the title. Maybe they pulled up the wrong song on the Autocue or Bruce got his titles mixed up? (just kidding of course). Was it an audible perhaps? Does anyone know? Whatever the reason Washington certainly got a treat.

A review from Stan Goldstein at the time says:-

There were three tour premieres including a full band "The Promise". It's only the third time "The Promise,"...  has been played with the full band. The other times were on May 23, 1978 in Buffalo for the first show of the Darkness tour and on Dec. 7, 2010 at the filming at the Carousel House in Asbury Park.

So to the San Jose set list

I've added a column so we can keep track of the number of songs played each night.

A review I read in the last couple of days said that the Atlanta show was dubbed an 'E Sessions Band Show'.  It is the only time American Land has been played this tour and perhaps that gave the show more of a Sessions feel.  It does seem like the band has morphed from a Sessions Band to an E Street Band (with add ons) as the tour has progressed.

	Atlanta 18/03/12 Time 8.10 to 10.44	San Jose 24/04/12 Time 8.21 to 11.30
1	We Take Care Of Our Own	We Take Care Of Our Own (16)
2	Wrecking Ball	Wrecking Ball (16)
3	Badlands	Badlands (16)
4	Death To My Hometown	Death To My Hometown (16)
5	My City Of Ruins	My City Of Ruins (16)
6	The E Street Shuffle	Thundercrack (4)
7	Jack Of All Trades	Jack Of All Trades (16)
8	Seeds	Murder Inc (3)
9	Easy Money	Johnny 99 (3)
10	Waitin' On A Sunny Day	My Love Will Not You Down (2)
11	The Promised Land	Shackled And Drawn (7)
12	The Way You Do The Things You Do	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (16)
13	634 -5789	The Promised Land (15)
14	Shackled And Drawn	Backstreets (3)
15	Lonesome Day	American Skin (9)
16	The Rising	The Way You Do The Things You Do (16)
17	We Are Alive	634 - 5789 (16)
18	Thunder Road	The Rising (16)
19	Rocky Ground	Lonesome Day (6)
20	Land Of Hope And Dreams	We Are Alive (16)
21	Born To Run	Thunder Road (14)
22	Dancing In The Dark	Rocky Ground (16)
23	American Land	Out In The Street (8)
24	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out	Born To Run (16)
25		Dancing In The Dark (16)
26		Rosalita (3)
27		Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (16)
28

I'm sorry but it had just had to be done at some point during the tour!  Despite my reservations I think this is OK.

By the way only 18 days until the first show this side of the pond.

Set list watching in real time.