Bruce's latest disc is out. This time it’s the concert he played in London’s Hyde Park last summer. It’s standard live Bruce, which is to say it’s mighty fine, almost 3 hours of songs with the E Street Band.
Still, there are some caveats. Well, not caveats, just call them comments. His last three live discs (I’m talking video, not audio) have come from concerts in Europe, where he is still a top draw (not that he isn’t a superstar in the States, but we do have a bit more of a what have you done for me lately feel). The best of those remains the Barcelona concert, which is, I think, the best live Bruce you can get from official/legal channels … the Spanish audience is bonkers from start to finish, and the band was in top form. The band at Hyde Park is a model of professionalism, taking everything Bruce asks of them. And it’s amazing that after all these years they seem engaged by the material. Steve Van Zandt in particular is having a great time throughout, and while Bruce jokes at one point about being 60 years old, he spends most of the time ignoring his advancing years.
Still, the setlist is very safe. He opens with “London Calling,” but then come three songs from the 70s. Most of the show is of the greatest hits variety; he only plays a few of his newer songs, while tossing in a couple of oldies, the treat for fans being “Good Lovin’.” Among the last seven songs are “Born to Run,” “Rosalita,” “Jungleland,” “Glory Days,” and “Dancing in the Dark,” and those are some great songs and the performances are on target. But at some point, I found myself asking myself what made this any different from the kind of oldies-reunion concert you might get from, say, the Beach Boys. Basically, there is nothing new here. The quality of what we get is excellent, no complaints, but it seems possible that Bruce has finally reached the point in his career where he’ll be spending more time summing up than in creating something new. Never count him out, though.
I should mention the cameo appearance by Brian Fallon of the Gaslight Anthem, who joins in on “No Surrender.” He is notable mainly for the googly joy he has while singing with Springsteen … he adds a freshness that is different from the overall feeling of nostalgia in the concert.
The Blu-ray picture is beyond excellent … it’s remarkable, as is the sound. The editing could be better, though … they don’t always focus on the person who is soloing, and like most modern concert videos, there are too many cuts. But the crystal clear quality of the picture makes up for any qualms. You can see everything really, really well, which is actually a detriment during “Racing in the Street,” where it’s too obvious that Bruce is using the teleprompter (he always uses it, we know he uses it, but it only becomes disconcerting when he’s singing classic lyrics and looking down before every line … again, we know he does it, but in “Racing,” we see him doing it).
If I was getting official live Bruce videos, I’d go first with Barcelona, then with New York City. Dublin if you’re not one of those morons who turned their back on the Seeger Sessions concerts, then Hyde Park and XXPlugged (the 1975 DVD that came with the remastered Born to Run is great for what it is, but the technical problems aren’t totally overcome). Meanwhile, we await the re-release of Darkness, with a hoped-for concert DVD from the 1978 tour.
Here’s “Jungleland” from YouTube … I don’t know how it’s available, but as far as I can tell it’s the exact video from the disc, except not authorized:
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