The Dogg was awash with anticipation for this show. Nothing makes the Dogg howl like a good old fashioned "Rock-n-Roll Extravaganza". For those of you that have never been wittness to a Bruce show, he and the ever capable E-Street Band will never disappoint. You can count on a 3 hour show, without an intermission. No pyro, no lasers, no special effects. Just the tightest band on the planet. With most of the band at 60+ years old, you must put them on your "bucket list" before they fade away.
The Dogg, BLT and 16 of our friends had a "penthouse suite" for the night. Way up high with excellent sightlines. This is the way to go! 8-10 different food selections, 4-5 types of beer, Jack Daniels and Jaegger Bombs for all. Figure $100.00per couple for food/drink + $ 95.00 per person ticket makes for a $280.00 evening for two. Not too bad in this inflated economy.
A perfect autumn night weather wise, for a concert. 60 degrees and cloudless when we pulled into the parking lot around 6:30. Almost nice enough to be at Pine Knob. This sets the stage for what was to be an epic evening!
Michigan is one of the bands favorite stops every tour. Bruce has played here at least once every year since 2002. Imagine, then, Bruce coming onstage and greeting the crowd with a salute to Ohio! And then sticking Ohio in to the lyrics of "Wrecking Ball" — of course, a Michigan audience tends not to object too much to lines such as, "tonight Ohio is going down in flames." Finally, Bruce put Ohio into the rap for "Working on a Dream." This last actually managed to get a few boos, and prompted Stevie to inform Bruce that they were, in fact, in Michigan. Bruce took it well, and periodically shouted out, "Where am I?" throughout the evening after that to get a rousing Detroit answer. At that point, Bruce through as many "Detroit's" as possible into his banter.
Fortunately, while Bruce was forgetting where he was, he wasn't forgetting how to put on a magnificent show. By the conclusion of Nils's indendiary twirling solo at the end of the evening's second song, "Prove It All Night," it was already clear that Bruce and the band were intent on taking no prisoners.
Several notable things have changed on this latest tour, as compared to prior tours: Bruce using a rear riser and crowd surfing during "Hungry Heart"; the set including a full album, usually "Born to Run," early in the setlist; audience members bringing signs, with some signs being accepted as song requests; the de-emphasizing of the current album. All of these changes had the effect, tonight, of drawing the audience more in to the show. The use of the rear riser and the crowd surfing literally puts Bruce face to face — or closer — with several hundred fans. To see Bruce crowd surf at 60+ years of age, is a testiment to his passion for performing.
Not that all of the changes are necessarily for the better. I'd have preferred to hear more content from Working on a Dream than just the title song, for example. That said, the crowd responded well to the show, and was as loud as any crowd I have ever heard at The Palace.
The performance of the "Born to Run" album was spot on. The songs were crisp, impassioned, and uniformly attacked, hard — even "Meeting Across the River," which was enhanced by trumpeter Curt Ramm's playing.
The accepted requests had a distinctive Michigan flavor, first with Bob Seger's "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" (played one time previously on tour, also at the Palace, back on August 18, 1992), and then with the "Detroit Medley" of Mitch Ryder's biggest hits. Bruce started "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" by playing the distinctive opening keyboard riff on guitar, and with that started a three-pack dance party right in the middle of the set, with Bruce playing guitar slinger throughout. By the end of his blistering solo in "Because the Night" — during which Bruce proved he could blow a snot rocket and play a guitar solo at the same time — my voice was gone, my hearing was shot, and my legs were jell-o. He's a freaking force of nature, is all I can say... and that band is pretty damn good these days.
Show highlights including a roaring version of "Johnny 99" early on (perhaps a bit of a reference to the state of the auto industry), and also a thundering performance of "Born in the U.S.A." During "Rosalita," Bruce handed the mic to Steve at the beginning of the second verse and Steve survived it, as Bruce went to check something side stage (maybe the woman who stole the spotlight during "Dancing in the Dark" by jumping on stage from the pit and dancing much too wildly). Finally, the closer, "Higher and Higher," which finally allowed Cindy Mizelle to get a bit of the spotlight, closed the show on a high.
Setlist:
Wrecking Ball (with Curt Ramm)
Prove It All Night
Johnny 99
Hungry Heart
Working on a Dream
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out (with Curt Ramm)
Night
Backstreets
Born to Run
She's the One
Meeting Across the River (with Curt Ramm)
Jungleland
Working on the Highway
Raise Your Hand
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Detroit Medley
Because the Night
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Badlands
Hard Times
Born in the U.S.A.
American Land (with Curt Ramm)
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita (with Curt Ramm)
Higher and Higher (with Curt Ramm)
Atmosphere A++
Crowd A++
Sound A
Staging A
Effects D
Weather A++
Lighting A
Video A
Overall A+ and the best show of 2009!!
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