Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – O2 Arena London / Palais Omnisports De Bercy
Caught the Paris and London shows for Bruce Springsteen & The E Street bands 2007 Magic Tour.
I was a bit nervous about seeing the E Street band again – as I was worried all the players were getting older and it may start becoming something of a character of their previous selves.
Well any fears were quickly dismissed as the show is very hard rocking, the band working hard for most of the 2 ½ hours – with only a couple of slower songs for the band (and the crowd) to catch their breath.
The first show I saw was in Paris, and we were seated behind the stage. Our seats were super-close (only 5 rows from the stage) but it was an unusual way to watch a show. It was an interesting perspective to see the hundreds of faces in the pit all staring intently at Bruce and yelling every word to every song – it must be reasonably unnerving. Also we saw a great scene as the band walks on the stage at the start of the show – Bruce stands at the bottom of the ramp leading to the stage and greats everyone as the walk on, wishing them a good show. Seemed pretty cool.
For such large venues – Paris seemed slightly smaller than the O2 Arena which I think holds around 20,000 people – the sound was impressive. Clear and pretty loud, and glorious. The quisessential E Street sound. As my buddy Ross who came to the London show with me put it: “so distinctive, cacophonous and romantic, it sounds like one instrument to me”
While both shows had very similar setlists (the main different being “The River” not played in London, to be replaced with “Working On The Highway” and “Racing In The Street”) I still found them both incredible enjoyable. If anything London was probably the better of the two – as being face on to the stage (we initially had seats up in the rafters, but noticed a bank of empty seats right next to the floor area which we managed to make our way to by the fifth song) it was hard not to get caught up in the action and emotion of the show.
Highlight for me was ‘Because The Night’ each night featuring a blistering solo from Nils Lofgren. In fact I took away from the shows a new found respect for Nils as the quiet foundation of the band working hard, and seemingly constantly changing instruments (sometimes within the same song).
The show featured maybe two too many songs from the new album for my liking – in particular, while I really enjoy “Girls In Their Summer Clothes” on the record, I don’t think it makes a strong opener for the encore. On the other hand – “Radio Nowhere” is the perfect show opener, and the title track was played in a great sparse arrangement featuring Bruce on acoustic guitar and Soozie on fiddle.
The other great thing was how well songs from ‘The Rising’ blended in with the rest of the Springsteen back catalog. Having lived with the album for a few years – it’s clear songs like “Lonesome Day” and “The Rising” are modern-Springsteen classics.
These being December shows – both nights ended with a fun run-through “Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town”. And with new shows announced for May 2008 – as Springsteen said “see you in the summer”.
Full setlists:
The 02 Arena, London – 19 December 2007:
Radio Nowhere
No Surrender
Night
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason to Believe
Because the Night
She's the One
Livin' in the Future
The Promised Land
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
Working on the Highway
Racing in the Street
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands
encore:
Girls in Their Summer Clothes
Jungleland
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
American Land
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
Palais Omnisports De Bercy, Paris – 17 December 2007:
Radio Nowhere
No Surrender
Night
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason to Believe
Because the Night
She's the One
Livin' in the Future
The Promised Land
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
The River
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands
encore:
Girls in Their Summer Clothes
Jungleland
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark (with Elliott Murphy)
American Land
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
I was a bit nervous about seeing the E Street band again – as I was worried all the players were getting older and it may start becoming something of a character of their previous selves.
Well any fears were quickly dismissed as the show is very hard rocking, the band working hard for most of the 2 ½ hours – with only a couple of slower songs for the band (and the crowd) to catch their breath.
The first show I saw was in Paris, and we were seated behind the stage. Our seats were super-close (only 5 rows from the stage) but it was an unusual way to watch a show. It was an interesting perspective to see the hundreds of faces in the pit all staring intently at Bruce and yelling every word to every song – it must be reasonably unnerving. Also we saw a great scene as the band walks on the stage at the start of the show – Bruce stands at the bottom of the ramp leading to the stage and greats everyone as the walk on, wishing them a good show. Seemed pretty cool.
For such large venues – Paris seemed slightly smaller than the O2 Arena which I think holds around 20,000 people – the sound was impressive. Clear and pretty loud, and glorious. The quisessential E Street sound. As my buddy Ross who came to the London show with me put it: “so distinctive, cacophonous and romantic, it sounds like one instrument to me”
While both shows had very similar setlists (the main different being “The River” not played in London, to be replaced with “Working On The Highway” and “Racing In The Street”) I still found them both incredible enjoyable. If anything London was probably the better of the two – as being face on to the stage (we initially had seats up in the rafters, but noticed a bank of empty seats right next to the floor area which we managed to make our way to by the fifth song) it was hard not to get caught up in the action and emotion of the show.
Highlight for me was ‘Because The Night’ each night featuring a blistering solo from Nils Lofgren. In fact I took away from the shows a new found respect for Nils as the quiet foundation of the band working hard, and seemingly constantly changing instruments (sometimes within the same song).
The show featured maybe two too many songs from the new album for my liking – in particular, while I really enjoy “Girls In Their Summer Clothes” on the record, I don’t think it makes a strong opener for the encore. On the other hand – “Radio Nowhere” is the perfect show opener, and the title track was played in a great sparse arrangement featuring Bruce on acoustic guitar and Soozie on fiddle.
The other great thing was how well songs from ‘The Rising’ blended in with the rest of the Springsteen back catalog. Having lived with the album for a few years – it’s clear songs like “Lonesome Day” and “The Rising” are modern-Springsteen classics.
These being December shows – both nights ended with a fun run-through “Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town”. And with new shows announced for May 2008 – as Springsteen said “see you in the summer”.
Full setlists:
The 02 Arena, London – 19 December 2007:
Radio Nowhere
No Surrender
Night
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason to Believe
Because the Night
She's the One
Livin' in the Future
The Promised Land
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
Working on the Highway
Racing in the Street
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands
encore:
Girls in Their Summer Clothes
Jungleland
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
American Land
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
Palais Omnisports De Bercy, Paris – 17 December 2007:
Radio Nowhere
No Surrender
Night
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason to Believe
Because the Night
She's the One
Livin' in the Future
The Promised Land
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
The River
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands
encore:
Girls in Their Summer Clothes
Jungleland
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark (with Elliott Murphy)
American Land
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
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