Bruce in the land of Romeo and Juliet
The October 5th Verona show had a few tour debuts in store. “Samson & Delilah” (which I was familiar with from the Dead’s version), “Fire”, and “Valerie” (from wife Patti Scialfa’s first album and sung by Patti). Verona… “Romeo and Juliet, Samson and Delilah”. Get it? Got it? Good!
Here’s a couple of those, as well as Oct. 4th’s “Growin’ Up”.
The Italian crowds are a very spirited bunch, and believe in full crowd participation, as you’ll hear….
Bruce Springsteen & the Seeger Sessions Band:
Samson & Delilah(mp3) – October 5th, Verona
Fire(mp3) – October 5th, Verona
Growin’ Up(mp3) – October 4th, UdineThis Little Light of Mine, Live from Torino
With the new European tour under way, the Seeger Sessions Band has thrown another classic traditional tune into the mix: the gospel standard “This Little Light of Mine”. Perfect choice, in my opinion. The show as a whole has a spiritual revival quality to it, and the addition of this song only enhances the experience. It’s hard not to be moved when you have almost 20 musicians on stage playing this great music.
While a lot of Bruce fans ache for another E Street album and tour, I’m hoping Bruce takes his Seeger Sessions show through the U.S. just one more time. I want to experience it again, and I want my almost 3-year old to experience it this time. Such pure, unbridled M-U-S-I-C.
Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band: This Little Light of Mine (mp3) – live from Torino, Italy, Oct 2, 2006 – pick up We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions – American Land Edition
Here’s another great version of the song, with Sam Cooke tweaking it with a little soul / R&B flavor…
Sam Cooke: This Little Light of Mine (mp3) – from Sam Cooke at the Copa
Thursday Variety Hour
WordPress, the blogging software behind this blog, has a cool feature that snatches comment spam and tucks it away so I can delete it. I have a question. Who are the people that spend their days creating this stuff?? What low-life wastes of space get up in the morning and look forward to a day of carpet bombing the internet with this trash?
What the hell is hentaipowerpuff?? On second thought, I don’t wanna know. It just mystifies me that there are people that do this. Obviously $$$ is the driving force, but holy cow, what a way to make it.
Thank you. I guess I needed to get that off my chest.
So before I post another Springsteen tour update, I thought I’d spice it up a little. These songs have absolutely nothing to do with eachother. Or do they? I guess, like the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, that it wouldn’t take too many steps to connect them up. Hmm, Til Tuesday, Billy Bragg & Wilco, and Boogie Down Productions. Maybe they all played the same festival in Finland one year. Entirely possible.
Boogie Down Productions:
Criminal Minded(mp3) – from Live Hardcore Worldwide.Til Tuesday:
Coming Up Close(mp3) – from Welcome Home.Billy Bragg & Wilco:
Walt Whitman’s Niece(mp3) – from Mermaid Avenue.Oh, and here’s a YouTube link to a 4 year old banging away on the drums like a pro.
Drivin’ All Night: Heart and Soul, Part Three
There’s a reason this concert’s nickname is Heart and Soul. “Heart and Soul” is an important component of “Drive All Night”, probably my favorite Bruce ballad of all time. “HEEEAAAAARRRRT and SOUUUL / HEAAAAAARRRRT and SOUUUL”. It’s an intimate, heartfelt, and very powerful tune, and that’s just the studio version. Just wait til you hear this live version. Once you’re catching your breath after hearing “Drive All Night”, they’re diving right iinto a breathtaking “Backstreets”. No mercy, I tell ya.
Enjoy the final part of the show. Who out there agrees with me on ‘Drive All Night”? Is this not the best version you’ve ever heard? What’d y’all think of the show?
Bruce Springsteen & the E. Street Band
November 5th, 1980
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZPart 3 of 3: “Heart & Soul”
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
Drive All Night
Backstreets*
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)*
I’m a Rocker
Jungleland
Detroit MedleyBonus Tracks: (from The River Tour)
On Top of Old Smokey
The Price You Pay* short cut-outs during these 2 tracks (one on each)
And finally, one last time, if you don’t own The River, you really should…buy this album!
Now, look ahead to October 1st, Boss fans… Bruce and the Seeger Sessions Band are ready to take Europe by storm. It might behoof you to subscribe to my Bruce posts if you haven’t already. I’m ready to rev it up….
Heart and Soul, Part Two
Happy Monday, folks. This should start the week off right. It’s part two of Heart & Soul, with the Boss and band ripping into mostly material from The River. My favorite parts in this section are “Here She Comes” into an amazing version of “I Wanna Marry You”. I’ve always loved this song, and to hear Bruce’s intensity and passion in the vocals here makes the song so much better. And for someone who is partial to sides 3 and 4 of The River, you don’t get better than great live versions of “Wreck on the Highway”, “Stolen Car”, “Point Blank”, “Crush on You” and “Ramrod.”
Enjoy part two of this great show. Part three is coming up in a couple of days.
Bruce Springsteen & the E. Street Band
November 5th, 1980
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZPart 2 of 3: “Heart & Soul”
Thunder Road
No Money Down+
Cadillac Ranch
Hungry Heart
Fire
Candy’s Room
Sherry Darling
Here She Comes
I Wanna Marry You
The Ties That Bind
Stolen Car
Wreck on the Highway
Point Blank+
Crush on You
RamrodDownload all of part 2in a RAR file.+ A few annoying snaps and crackles on these two tracks. Sorry for the imperfections, but hey still worth postin’!
CD ARTWORK :: Reader Paul in the UK created some artwork for the CD covers. Get the front and back.
Buy This Album!
Happy Birthday Boss: Heart and Soul, Part One
Ickmusic sends out a happy 57th birthday to the Boss today. We have a week to go until the Seeger Sessions tour resumes in Italy for a nice little European tour (lucky bastards). So to mark the occasion, let’s celebrate by going back to 1980, and listening to a great show from the River tour as they descended upon ASU.
This is a 3 parter (and 3 discs), so stay tuned this week for parts two and three. Part 3 , by the way, has THE best version of “Drive All Night” I have ever heard.
Enjoy!
Bruce Springsteen & the E. Street Band
November 5th, 1980
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZPart 1 of 3: “Heart & Soul”
Born to Run
Prove it All Night
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Independence Day
Factory
Jackson Cage
Two Hearts
The Promised Land(sorry, cuts out for about 2 seconds part way thru. bad, i know.)
Out in the Street
Racing in the Street
The River
BadlandsDownload all of part 1in a RAR file.Buy This Album!
Completely Unrelated: Check out Willie Nelson’s stash.
Joe Ely with the Boss in Dublin
This would make a great St. Patrick’s day post, but it’s only September, and I’m way too impatient to sit on this show for too long. The date is St. Patty’s Day 1996. The location is Dublin, Ireland. Joe Ely and Bruce Springsteen both find themselves overseas on their latest tours (Joe for Letter to Laredo, Bruce for The Ghost of Tom Joad).
It was the last night of Joe’s tour, playing in front of a raucous Dublin crowd. And lo and behold, who’s in the house but his friend Bruce, who comes on stage to join Joe for a handful of the last few songs of the evening. I’d call this a pretty decent way to celebrate a St. Patty’s Day…
By the way, I’m curious, does any Bruce / Ely aficionado out there know how far back Springsteen and Ely go, where / how they met, etc.?
Joe Ely
March 17, 1996
Dublin, Ireland
w/ special guest Bruce SpringsteenGallo Del Cielo
Ranches & Rivers
Spanish Love Scene
Rode Goes On Forever
Boxcars
Saint Valentine
I Saw It In You
Run Preciosa(fades out)
Bluebird
Letter To Laredo
Gangster Of Love(Sung by lead guitarist Jesse Taylor, RIP 1950-2006)
Me & Billy The Kid
Road Hog
BBQ & Foam
All Just To Get To You*
Oh Boy*
Settle For Love*
1000 Miles From Home
My Eyes Got Lucky
Fingernails Medley*
Blowin’ Down The Road** with Bruce Springsteen
Seeger Sessions: American Land Edition
The latest Springsteen / Seeger Sessions news is an October 3rd re-issue of ‘We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions”. It’s called the “American Land Edition”, and will include – you guessed it – “American Land”, which I guess we can finally confirm is a Springsteen original.
Also featured are studio versions of Blind Alfred Reed’s “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live” and Pete Seeger’s “Bring ‘Em Home” with modified lyrics by Springsteen, as well as “Buffalo Gals” and “How Can I Keep From Singing,” which were previously included only on the DVD side of the original DualDisc edition. – – from this Yahoo article
Hmm, is this a calculated ploy to get more money from the Springsteen faithful? Or is it a semi-spontaneous, good-will gesture of getting these songs “officially” released? To be fair, the extra songs will be available as individual downloads on iTunes, but like many Boss freaks, I need to hold it in my hands. So, I’ll be shelling out a few more bucks for this edition. *sigh*
Here’s “American Land” from the US tour finale…
Bruce Springsteen & the Seeger Sessions Band:
American Land(mp3) – live, June 25, 2006 in Holmdel, NJLyrics can be found at this previous post.
The Boss: AmsterDAM!
As Bruce and his Seeger Sessions Band recharge their batteries for another barnstorming fall tour of Europe, it’s time to revisit a couple of the Boss’s finer moments from the last couple of years.
Courtesy of Jefitoblog, we get ‘Love, Tears, & Mystery’, a compilation of tunes from Bruce’s solo Devils & Dust Tour (every song performed, apparently). The first volume is posted now, and keep an eye on Jeff’s site for the follow-ups. Everybody say “Thank you Jeff.” Thank – you – Jeff! Very good.
So it makes sense that I complement his post with some Seeger Sessions sounds – Amsterdam style. After the Seeger Sessions debut at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 30th, it was time to cross the Atlantic for a few weeks. On May 16th, the traveling troupe hit Amsterdam. I’m very curious to know how the logistics of this tour worked out behind the scenes. Over the course of the European and U.S. Tour, the Seeger Sessions Band consisted of, on average, about 17 people. Seventeen! The amount of coordination and planning involved is staggering to even think about. Planes, buses, hotels, food, equipment, road crew… I know they have this down to a science these days, but to an outsider like me, it’s pretty damn impressive.
Here are the scheduled tour dates for the next European leg, kicking off October 1st in Bologna, Italy, and wrapping up in Belfast on November 21st (right after a 3 night stand in Dublin). Ah, the luck of the Irish!
By the way, if anyone in Bruce’s camp wants to hire a music blogger to document this upcoming European tour, I’m available! Forget ’18 Nights of AOL’, I’ll give the world 2 months of ‘Ickmusic: The Seeger Sessions Tour’! I only ask for a decent wage, luxury accomodations, a bowl of peanut M&M’s refreshed bi-hourly (with the green ones removed), and an ample supply of Guiness stout. Is that too much to ask? Oh, and a 22 year old Swedish nanny for my two girls.
What changes await us? Will the band have some new or replaced members? What other songs will be given that Seeger Sessions twist? How many new Bruce fans will emerge? I can’t count the number of emails I’ve received from people who had never seen Bruce until this tour, and came out having witnessed one of the best musical experiences of their lives. The show is a remarkable and pure American musical journey, and I’m glad to see it’s not over yet.
So enjoy this flashback to May. Part one is coming at you tonight. Stay tuned for part two.
Bruce Springsteen & the Seeger Sessions Band
Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam
May 16th, 2006Part One
Intro
O Mary Don’t You Weep
John Henry
Johnny 99
Old Dan Tucker
Eyes On The Prize
Jesse James
Cadillac Ranch (w Mystery Train)
Long Black Veil
Erie Canal
My Oklahoma Home
Mrs. McGrathBruce wraps it up with the greatest of Ease
Well, Sunday night wrapped up the Seeger Sessions U.S. tour with a rousing performance at Holmdel, NJ’s PNC Bank Arts Center (wrapping up a two night stand there). A highlight of the show was the closer, “The Man on the Flying Trapeze”, which was played only once prior at one of the Asbury Park rehearsal shows. So the tour ends, but worry not, folkmeisters, the tour is rumored to be resuming in the fall over across the pond.
Bruce Springsteen & the Seeger Sessions Band:
The Man on the Flying Trapeze(mp3) – Live, June 25, 2006 at the PNC Arts Center in Holmdel, New JerseyAN ICKMUSIC GIVEAWAY! To celebrate these last few weeks of Bruce and the band barnstorming across Europe and the U.S., I’d like to offer three Boss fans (or future Boss fans) the full final show on CD (actually, three CD’s). At the end of the day Thursday, I’ll pick 3 winners from the Comments section. Make sure you leave your email address when you leave a comment. As it says next to the Email Address field, it’s not published, so no worries.
The set list from Sunday night was: American Land/John Henry/O Mary Don’t You Weep/Old Dan Tucker/Atlantic City/Long Black Veil/Jesse James/Long Time Comin’/Erie Canal/My Oklahoma Home/If I Should Fall Behind/Mrs. McGrath/Devils & Dust/How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?/Jacob’s Ladder/We Shall Overcome/Open All Night/Pay Me My Money Down
Encore: My City of Ruins/Ramrod/You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)/When the Saints Go Marching In/The Man on the Flying Trapeze
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June 29 UPDATE – THE WINNERS!: Well, after reading all the great comments, I decided to choose 5 winners instead of the 3 I mentioned. Indeed, “I wish I was Mr. Gates”, so I could treat you all to the show, but I am most definitely not Mr. Gates. Good news for everybody though: all 26 folks who left comments will be getting a downloadable treat or two in their Inbox very soon.So the winners are: Eric, Kay in the U.K., Joe (fellow music blogger), “No Luck” Chuck (now known as Lucky Chuck), and Steven. Congrats you five!
