CONCERT REVIEW: Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band, Jan 27 2017 (Perth Arena)
I'm pretty certain that this is the only review I've ever posted that's been hotly anticipated. Granted, there's only one person hotly anticipating it, but when that person is Daniel Brand - easily the biggest Boss fan I know and the reason I went to the concert at all, one person is enough. Here's hoping I get his tick of approval.
I've been a Springsteen fan for about twenty years, but never a card-carrying disciple. I own most of his albums, and know enough to say with confidence that he's arguably the best song-based storyteller the world has ever seen. I've watched him clips of him perform on youtube and dvd, read many stories and articles about him, and liked all of what I've seen and read. There is very little to dislike about Springsteen.
In fact, one of the few things to dislike about him actually rests on a misunderstanding of who he is. In some quarters, the image of Springsteen as a flag-waving, fist-pumping (and thus low-thinking) American patriot simply refuses to die. This can be traced back to the song, Born in the USA, which, despite its title and strident music, is actually a staunch criticism of the mistreatment experienced by veterans of the war in Vietnam. I suppose it should come as no surprise - especially in this day and age - that a mistruth can slowly harden into something solid enough for many not to question it, but it still irritates like a bad rash.
In many ways, the extraordinary performance I was lucky enough to see was a masterclass in how one deals with the decay of sociocultural discourse and the rise of incendiary, reality-adjacent populism. The solution? By getting on with things, and doing so with passion, conviction, and speaking through one's actions.
Springsteen seems to possess the same will to defy the ageing process as Roger Federer, and is making a similarly bonkers-good fist of it. I mean, you can't easily do a track-by-track review of a Springsteen concert, because he played a staggering 27 of them in a tick over three hours. And throughout the concert, he barely broke stride. He didn't speak between songs, because there was no semblance of pause between songs. They just flowed into each other, hammer-blow after hammer-blow. He didn't even stop singing when he was crowd surfing. Yes, crowd-surfing. He's 67 years old! I guess they don't call him The Boss for nothing.
Truth be told, anyone can play a long gig. All it requires is lots of playing. But a great gig - especially when long - takes something else entirely. It takes a lot of passion, a lot of energy, and in particular, a super-tight band and a big clutch of songs that are worth hearing, and worth playing. Springsteen and his band are drowning in riches. I've always loved the E-Street band drummer, Max Weinberg. He looks, for all the world, like a congenial accountant, who's somehow wound up on a stage behind a drum kit, and who's been instructed to drum like his life depended on it, which he then proceeds to do, sticks failing, face contorted in determination and alarm.
At some point, guitarist, Steven 'Little Stevie' Van Zandt morphed into an elderly gypsy woman, with a set of teeth only the dark arts can provide. Is he a great guitar player? Probably not, really, but he helps Springsteen be great, and that's more than enough. Garry Tallent and Roy Brittan, on the other hand; they ARE great. On bass and keys respectively, they give Springsteen the freedom to play whatever song his heart desires, and the confidence to hurl himself into his performances with the same bravado and abandon he summons to hurl himself into (and atop of) the crowd. There's no two ways about it; they are one the greatest (if not the greatest) live bands in the world.
The songs. Springsteen speaks through his songs. That's just what he does. And look at the ones he picked: Land of Hope and Dreams, Radio Nowhere, It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City, The River, Youngstown. This is man who is clearly not happy with what's happening in his country right now, but rather than rave or sulk, he's opted for something far more remarkable; defiant, emotionally-resonant passion. Springsteen is a performer who seeks to overwhelm his audience with the power and passion of his performance. He succeeds because the songs are so good, the performances so tight and the feeling so genuine. Springsteen doesn't push himself this hard because he has to; he does it because it's simply who he is. You can't fake it, and you'd be a fool to try.
My first experience of Springsteen in concert was a life-lesson; the sort you'd expect to get if you combined the sagacity of Leonard Cohen with the animal heart of Midnight Oil. Fight with your heart, your mind and your soul. Fight to be who you are. Fight to be real, to feel, and to feel fully alive. In concert, Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band are a boiling, life-affirming torrent. It's one hell of a thing.
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