The Boss came back to the Point Dublin on Friday night for an electrifying hard working performance from one of the most influential entertainers on the scene exclusively dedicating an entire show to some of the most significant old folk, gospel and blues songs from the past inspired by his portal to the same tunes through the music of Pete Seeger.
This was my first time to see Bruce Springsteen perform since witnessing his memorable shows in Slane and the RDS in 1988, which defined him as a Superstar and one of the very best live Rock Acts in the world.Another reason is that its become a lottery trying to get a ticket for a Bruce Springsteen show in Ireland such is the huge demand and the enduring loyalty of his fans and by all reports the shows on this current European tour sold out in less than ten minutes.
During his two hours on stage Bruce with his 17 members of the Seeger Sessions Band including his wife Patti Scialfa on guitar and vocals, turned The Point packed like a sardine can into a good old fashioned Barn Dance revitalizing classic tunes that go back to the Wild West day’s like Jesse James and Buffalo Gals and gave all an insight of the mass movement rally’s with sacred anthem spirit raising numbers such as We Shall Overcome creating an atmosphere of joyful celebration.
Since receiving a present of Bruce’s new compilation of traditional songs, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, which he had himself come across on old Pete Seeger LP’s from my good friend and Americana music collector Sean Finn I have been eagerly awaiting this opportunity to see these wonderful tunes performed live on stage and seldom has the wait exceeded all expectations and more.
These songs in years gone by, pointed people in the right direction in times of struggle, protest, disaster and now in the hands of a master communicator like Bruce Springsteen, experience a well deserved new lease of life on the international soundtrack of our lives, a well deserved revival and acknowledgement, providing hope and inspiration for the troubled communities of America as the modern generations experience the mistakes and disasters of the past being revisited in disbelief like the displaced populations of New Orleans and the neighbouring States and the divisiveness of the Iraq War.
As the musicians all filed on to the stage and Bruce directed them into “O Mary Don’t You Weep” followed by “John Henry” with super lap steel solo from Marty Rifkin one of the many assembled musicians on this tour who Bruce has played with before, but this is the first time they have combined their talents and played together for this jubilant jamboree on tour.
The stage looked like a Wild West tavern with pink and purple Grapes of Wrath backdrop and similar coloured chandeliers hanging overhead and when Bruce launched into the sweat dripping “Old Dan Tucker”, I half expected Trampas and the Virginian to ride on stage.Bruce Springsteen has always used his talent and popularity to represent an independent political voice an alternative source of information, a moral compass for his audience and never more has the sincerity of that voice been heard so passionately as in the dramatic interpretations of songs like “Keep Your Eyes On The Prize” and “We Shall Overcome” and pity the fool that tries to distract him from that mission such as his remark to a noisy member of the audience, “There’s a little man talking to me down there trying to keep me from fucking up.” Any premature clappers are advised to keep their hands in their pockets, The Boss sets the pace and he is deadly serious about the message contained within his performance.
Down through the years Bruce Springsteen has earned unquestionable respect and regard for his stance on civil rights, economic justice and a sane foreign US policy and when he performs the pain and protest sentiments contained in his Dixieland version of “My Oklahoma Home” its currency is as valuable as ever as millions and millions of residents of New Orleans found their homes and possessions washed away leaving them with nothing but the mortgage as the music of America’s shared past in the dust bowl and depression era is as real today as it was back in the 30’s and 40’s in helping people put it all into focus.
Before his own inimitable version of the nineteenth centaury Irish Ballad “Mrs Mc Grath” Bruce humorously informs the audience of a phone call from a well known Irish Musician and friend who admonished him over his pronunciation of the aforementioned Mrs McGrath as follows,” Bruce, you dumb bastard its Mrs McGrath not Mrs McGrate”. In fact the phonetic difference works perfectly as Bruce aligns the chorus to suit and its fun and its Bruce in top form.
“No, I wasn’t drunk and I wasn’t blind
When I left my two fine legs behind
A big cannon ball on the fifth of May
Tore my two fine legs from the knees away”
Bruce Springsteen is a mighty performer on stage in full control and steel driven in his conviction as each song is given his trademark key changing dynamic, the multiple climax. Bruce takes each song to an exhausting finale and then takes the audience willingly through several more bouts of foreplay building the song up for multiple climaxes with his awe-diance firmly in the grasp of his hand.
Jacobs Ladder he describes as a song abut this enormous “Fuck Up” who went on to find himself in God’s good books and it gets the aforementioned Springsteen signature treatment to perfection as well as the key changing sea chantey “Pay Me My Money Down” with that familiar voice booming powerfully around the Point leaving not a disappointed fan on this first date of the European Tour.
For me the real buzz here is the huge contribution, credibility and new doorway this opens for a whole new audience to traditional folk blues and gospel. The irony is that throughout Ireland there are thousands of musicians playing these songs with passion, week in week out and now hopefully this international attention will help fuel an energising enthusiasm and new audience interest.
Bruce Springsteen has been heralded as many things over the years from the new Dylan, to rock’s great white hope and the future of rock and roll and he has taken it all in his stride uncompromisingly following the voice in his head.
He is a charismatic performer beyond compare, who has always played by his own rules, making sturdy rhythmic harrowing bluesy folk arrangements of the modern world, of homeless, jobless, displaced, frustrated and confused people and creating morality pieces of art that mirror the world around him in the same way as Woody Guthrie, Lightning Hopkins, Bob Dylan and Hark Williams. His songs are consistently about hard people making hard choices some of their own making and some as a result of bad government or corporate greed and neglect.
I recall my own introduction to some of these tunes watching Frazzle’s Pat Mc Sweeney putting down his Strat and strapping on his Banjo, downstairs in Toners back in the late 70’s for a version Jesse James, sandwiched between Cocaine and Smoke On The Water and it was always a roof raising crowd pleaser and favourite of mine. Then their was PJ Curtis’s radio programs which I would tape and make up compilations of preferences from, which laid the groundwork for an amazing journey back through previous decades to join up the extraordinary music of previous generations and put it into context and its been an inexhaustible pleasure ever since.
As the encores of “Buffalo Girls” and “When The Saints Go Marching In” sends everyone out of The Point, The Boss’s reputation for being a superb live act is confirmed in a gutsy performance of deep inspiration, demonstrating the potency of a reputation that stands for thoughtfulness, integrity and conscience whose musical endeavours leaves an indelible fingerprint on the imagination of this generation.
Bruce Springsteen deserves great credit from all lovers of our musical heritage for taking such a wonderful collection of songs off the sidelines and giving them another chance to play. The music needs you Mr Blues Springsteen.
Now there’s tears on the pillow
darling where we slept
and you took my heart when you left
without your sweet kiss
my soul is lost, my friend
Now tell me how do I begin again?My city’s in ruins
My city’s in ruinsNow with these hands
I pray Lord
with these hands
for the strength Lord
with these hands
for the faith Lord
with these hands
I pray Lord
with these hands
for the strength Lord
with these hands
for the faith Lord
with these handsCome on rise up!
Come on rise up!
Rise up