Published on Apr 27, 2005
By the late 1990s, fans of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street
Band had to be wondering if they’d ever get to see their heroes
perform live together again.
In the ’70s and ’80s Springsteen had taken his legendary backing
unit from the bars of the Jersey shore to the stadiums of Manila
and Dublin, only to decide in 1989 that it was time to make some
changes. He parted ways with his longtime partners in crime and
recorded a pair of new electric albums with session musicians, then
toured with an almost entirely new band behind him. A tantalizingly
brief reunion to record new material for 1995’s
Greatest Hits didn’t develop into anything more, as
Springsteen immediately reversed course to release the solo disc
The Ghost Of Tom Joad and embark on his first-ever solo
acoustic tour.
The trigger for the band’s true reformation turned out to be
Springsteen’s 1999 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A
month after reuniting for the induction ceremony, Springsteen and
the E Street Band — including both original guitarist Steve Van
Zandt and replacement Nils Lofgren — launched a massive two-year
reunion tour, hitting arenas and stadiums across the globe as they
had done in their 1978-1988 heyday.
There was always the chance that a live album chronicling this
particular tour could have been a disastrous idea. The band was ten
years older, didn’t have a new album to tour on, and had already
been captured live as well as anyone could ever hope on 1986’s
exhaustive five-LP, three-CD box set
Live 1975-85. What was left to say or hear or get excited
about?
A lot, judging by the contents of
Live In New York City.
Springsteen has never been one to rest on his laurels — why
else would he ever have parted ways with the E Streeters in the
first place? — and his drive to keep it fresh shows up all over
these two discs. There are a whole host of songs here never before
captured live on an official release. “Lost In The Flood” (from
Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ) goes from footnote to
highlight here, its hammering choruses igniting; “Mansion on A
Hill” (from
Nebraska) turns into a very pretty country-gospel duet with
harmony vocalist/spouse Patti Scialfa; “Atlantic City” (also from
Nebraska) becomes a ringing, thundering full-band anthem;
“Youngstown” (from
Tom Joad) is made over into a harrowing electric nightmare;
and “Murder Incorporated” (from
Greatest Hits) and “My Love Will Not Let You Down” and
“Don’t Look Back” (from
Tracks) make their live debuts with powerhouse
performances.
There are also two entirely new songs, the somber, powerful
“American Skin (41 Shots)” and the soaring, fervent “Land Of Hope
And Dreams.” I wouldn’t rank either with his best work, but they’re
both solidly-crafted tunes that show Springsteen still has plenty
left to say. “Land” especially captures the sense of redemption
that the shows on this tour were all about — the renewal of an old
idea that listeners can achieve both hope and salvation through
rock and roll.
Several songs previously captured live receive new
interpretations here. “The River” is transformed by Clarence
Clemons’ long, jazzy sax intro and a new arrangement focused on Roy
Bittan’s electric piano and Danny Federici’s accordion. “If I
Should Fall Behind” — a love song off of 1992’s neglected gem
Lucky Town — morphs into a touching friendship anthem
featuring Lofgren, Clemons, Scialfa, Van Zandt and Springsteen all
taking turns on vocals. And old standard “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”
is made over as a vamping r&b revue, providing Springsteen with
the musical backdrop for both band intros and a long, funny,
rousing sermon on the power and the glory of rock and roll.
Some things never, change, though — and you don’t want them
too. “Badlands” is still one of the most potent songs any band has
ever played live anywhere, anytime. The wordless sing-along near
the close soars with the power of a gospel chorus 20,000 strong,
personifying in pure sound the sense of community and union
achieved at Springsteen shows. “Jungleland” is still a thrilling,
dynamic mini-rock opera, my personal highlight from this tour. And
“Born To Run” — which was snuck on here at the last minute and
doesn’t even show up on the track listing — is simply a
three-guitar blowout, played with all the passion and fervor it
demands.
My vote for best individual performance on this album, though,
has to go to the man behind the drum kit, mighty Max Weinberg.
Listening to his early 1975-78 studio work, you hear a talented kid
still finding his way. Listening to him on this album, he sounds
like what he has become — one of the great drummers in rock and
roll. The precision thunder of the backbeat he pounds into tracks
like “My Love Will Not Let You Down,” “Ramrod” and “Born To Run” is
a thing of joy to behold, and his rhythm-section partnership with
bassist Garry W. Tallent has never found a deeper pocket.
If there’s a flaw to this album, it’s in the sequencing and
packaging. The track listing is meant to track the shorter DVD of
the same name that was released at the same time. Thus you get the
edited 13-song concert presented on the DVD sequenced first,
followed by “six additional performances” plucked from different
parts of the original set. This is a disappointing cut-and-paste
job for those of us who caught several shows on this tour and
appreciated the thought Springsteen puts into pacing and sequencing
his live shows. Of course, in the age of CD burners and online set
lists, it isn’t a hard problem to fix…
Minor quibbles aside,
Live In New York City effectively captures the second coming
of one of the great musical units in rock and roll history, and is
both a worthy effort and a worthy purchase.