Venue:
Coventry Ricoh
Date: 03/06/2016
The River tour finally hit that international metropolis of Coventry on Friday night. Around 50,000 sell out crowd were here to pay homage to the Boss as they do in every other city on this tour.This gig introduced 5 tour premieres. It started off in reflective mood, Bruce alone at the piano singing For You. as this song came to an end he had a broad smile for the crowd as he ushered on the E Street band for the start of the show proper. Early highlights were Sherry Darling and Out on the Street before he introduced a really obscure outtake from Darkness, Save your love – this was beautifully played and the high point of the first half of the set. Nils then proceeded to blast out a stunning solo on Youngstown. Next up was Murder Incorporated which is not my favourite Bruce song but he and Stevie played out a coda of a guitar duel that was sensational. Now the crowd were getting the best of the band – a trio of Working on the Highway, Darlington County and Waiting on a Sunny day really set the tone for my highlight of the night in Because the Night replete with Nil’s whirling dervish guitar solo. Encores included a rowdy Travelling Band and Seven Nights to Rock with Bruce resting his head on the keyboard as the reverend mimicked the notes on his head. Ending with an acoustic Thunder Road, Bruce in the spotlight, 50,000 people singing in harmony. Magical.
The audience:
Largely very good as far as stadium audiences go. Bruce seemed to feed off their energy as the set progressed. The sound was largely good although if I am honest when the played The River the backing vocals were not where they should be – couldn’t work out if Bruce was ahead of the beat or they were behind it but it didn’t sound as anthem as it should have done. A minor quibble in a near perfect set and this is about my 12th time of seeing him and possibly one of the best.
It made me think..
Live music should be defined by the performances of people like Bruce who always give their all for their fans. The fans repay that commitment by really involving themselves in the performance.
Also it is evident that the most integral part of the E Street Band live is the drumming of Max Weinberg. Beholds the groove together and on this night his performance was exceptional.
niallb says
Great review, Steve
H.P. Saucecraft says
Dead jel!
Leedsboy says
I was at Wembley last night. I was expecting it to be brilliant but it surpassed my expectations. I have never seen a band hit the ground running like they did last night. It was a breathless and thrilling hour before Bruce really said anything.
They have everything don’t they? The songs, the chops to play them (I agree entirely on Because The Night being the high point especially the Nils Lofgren solo), the stage to present it and above all, the sheer joy in giving everything they can to a performance.
Even the corniness is top quality – the picking out the school girl to sing Waiting For A Sunny Day, the dancing audience members on Dancing In The Dark and the whole shtick with the song title signs. All brilliant fun in the context of a Bruce show.
I’m still breathless from the whole thing.
H.P. Saucecraft says
What I don’t get is that if he leaves the audience breathless, how the hell does he manage to do this night after night, year after year? He’s been reducing vast crowds to sweaty, staggering fools for decades now. It’s not like Bob’s Neverending Tour, where he just gets by on the barest of minimums, Bruce gives everything, every single night.
Not only the Last Great Rock Star, but possibly the greatest of them all?
Johnny Concheroo says
I’ve never been much of a Bruce fan and confess to owning only the triple CD Essential compilation that appeared a few years ago. Oh, and the Seeger Sessions And the Live In Dublin version of the same thing.
Anyway, not really a Bruce fanboy is what I’m saying. But when he last came to Australia her indoors dragged me along and guess what? It was possibly the best live show I’ve ever seen, by anybody, bar none. It was simply fantastic. Four guitarists on stage (including Bruce) all of them great and the best audience interaction you’ll ever see. Bruce is a giant onstage and had the audience eating out of his hand.
But here’s the thing. Presumably in an attempt to forestall bootlegging, it was possible to order an official CD of the show at the venue which was mailed out later. When it arrived, it was such a disappointment. Without the visuals it sounded flat and uninteresting. I played it once and then filed it away, never to be heard again.
So for me, actually seeing Bruce was 50% of the excitement. Without that, it was just another show.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Poor Johnny. Weren’t you hip to him by the second album? It seems strange that you missed out then – such a massive underground buzz going round. Hearing TWTIATESS (er …) for the first time was like hearing every promise made by rock and roll come true.
Johnny Concheroo says
I wasn’t aware of him at all until the 1975 Hammersmith Odeon show(s) and the “Finally London is ready for Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band” hype.
His music really just passed me by. Except for the obvious big songs I didn’t like him much (although never actually disliked him) and certainly couldn’t stand to hear that bloody squawking saxophone.
I like him fine now and was really impressed by the Seeger Sessions albums (including Live In Dublin).
Physically he seems to be improving with age and looks better now than he did at his commercial peak (1983/84?). I can see exactly why he’s so big and as I said the concert I saw here was phenomenal.
dai says
The live series of downloads (or CD-Rs) have been going on for a few years. I have little interest in the recent ones unless I was there, but some of the archive ones are astonishing. What he does now is still brilliant, but just cannot compare to the 1975-88 peak. They are also all around 3-4 hrs long so you can’t really listen to them casually.
Johnny Concheroo says
Yes, sorry, it was a download, not a mail-out. I need to get with the times.
Bingo Little says
“I need to get with the times.”
Afterword T-shirt.
ianess says
You’re a cruel bastard, bingo little.
Bingo Little says
Also an Afterword T-shirt.
JustB says
I was there last night too. I *like* Springsteen rather than loving him, but I’ve never seen anything like last night. It was all great, but the massive ramp up through Badlands and Jungleland and that genuinely almost tearjerkingly lovely moment with the little girl up on stage with her “I’ve got school tomorrow but tonight I’m waiting on a sunny day” placard, Bruce giving her the mic to sing to 80,000 people all roaring encouragement to her -utterly remarkable. Then on through Because The Night (Nils!) and Dancing In The Dark complete with face-crackingly grin-inducing audience dancing on stage, then an impossibly euphoric Born To Run and then Shout. I think every single person in that stadium was grinning harder than we had in months.
Amazing stuff. There’s nobody who can do what Bruce can do.
Skirky says
Checking the set lists from Glasgow, Coventry (my gig) and Wembley and I’d say that what this Springsteen lad is missing is a bit of consistency. I was talking about it over the weekend with a friend who similarly had a passing interest at best and so went to see him live a few years ago, and he got misty-eyed over the experience all over again.
Possibly my favourite crowd moment from The Ricoh was during ‘Darlington County’ when at the exact point Bruce delivered the lines;
Hey little girl standing on the corner
Today’s your lucky day for sure all right
Me and my buddy we’re from New York City
We got two hundred dollars we want to rock all night
A woman at the barrier down the front pulled out a wad of (presumably fake) notes from her top and handed them over without missing a beat.
Bingo Little says
Great thread – always nice to hear about people buzzing off a live gig.
Haven’t seen Springsteen in a few years now, but all of the above fits my description. Went along the first time as more of a fan of Nebraska and his more downbeat moments, secretly wishing for a low key gig, just Bruce, a stool and an acoustic. Left the venue levitating about a foot off the ground at the sheer bombastic majesty of what I’d just witnessed.
Nobody does showmanship like the Boss. That’s why he’s the Boss.
Archie Valparaiso says
It’s the longevity of his energy that astonishes me. Even with that break they had in the ’90s, the core of the band – Bruce, Steve, Max W, Garry T, Roy Bittan – have been playing variations of the same core set night after night for 40 years, yet they still leave people open-mouthed with the excitement of the moment, not just with good-old-days nostalgia. As HP says, who else can say that? Certainly not Dylan and absolutely utterly totally and completely certainly not the Stones.
Bingo Little says
Totally agree with this. They somehow manage to continually convey the impression that they’ve only recently formed the band and are still ablaze with the endless possibility of it all.
God knows what it takes behind the scenes to keep the whole thing running as it does. Most acts of their vintage make it quite clear that getting onstage every night and pretending to still be the same person you were 30-40 years ago is the shittest thing in the world, which I’m quite sure it is.
Archie Valparaiso says
Right. Unsurprisingly If you do a side-by-side comparison with performances on this tour with the Tempe set from 1980 – when he was 31, not 66 (recommended: Steve van Zandt says that tour was Peak E Street, and that show suggest he’s right) – the difference in intensity is quite evident, but that’s not the point. Is Bruce Springsteen still more hard-working and fully committed to giving you the best possible night out than any other act you could choose to go and see? Undoubtedly, yes, he is. Still streets ahead.
Bingo Little says
That’s the secret, isn’t it? Bruce doesn’t give a shit about being cool, and seemingly never has. Which always gives an artist the edge in the live department, because it frees them up to do the necessary to actually provide the audience with a bona fide Good Time. It’s not about intensity, or virtuosity; it’s just about going out there and giving the people what they’ve come to see, without resentment or posturing.
Archie Valparaiso says
Before anyone says, “he’s played more than 200 different songs on this tour”, which may be nearly true, what I mean is that since 1978 it’s been a rare event for a Springsteen set not to contain all or most of “Born to Run”, “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”, “Thunder Road”, “Jungleland”, “She’s the One”, “Badlands”, “Prove It All Night”, “The Promised Land” and “Rosalita”. They’re the pegs that everything else is hung upon … no doubt because they still work a treat.
dai says
Jungleland is actually relatively rare. I have seen him 28 times and heard it 3 times I think. He has also had long periods of not playing Rosalita, She’s the One and Prove It All Night. Despite the praise up above the dreaded Waiting on a Sunny Day is now one of his most played songs.
H.P. Saucecraft says
He’s played more than 200 different songs on this tour.
SteveT says
Funny thing though Dai, reading the review of the Coventry gig on Backstreets although they were generally highly praising of the show they were dismissive of the Working on the Highway, Darlington County, Waiting on a sunny day segment which I thought really pushed the show up a couple of gears and got the crowd going. On record they are not my favourite songs but live they are perfect. On record my favourite would be Racing in the Street, live Candy’s Room and Trapped (not his song but an E street band staple).
At least they no longer play Adam Raised a Cain – what a clunker of a song.
Personally I would start with either Radio Nowhere or Glory Days and do away with Death to my Hometown which would be okay in a Seeger Sessions gig but not an E Street Band performance. OOAA.
Kid Dynamite says
What you forget is that Backstreets are a miserable bunch of whining bastards who wouldn’t be happy unless Bruce played a set culled entirely from Tracks. And then they’d moan that some of it was overplayed.
I’ve seen him four times now, and the last (Cardiff 2013) was very possibly the best gig I’ve ever seen, for all the reasons outlined above. There’s no one else out there with his energy, passion, commitment and just plain fun.
dai says
There are a few trolls there who complain about everything.
dai says
They do play Adam (a personal favourite of mine) now and again. Stadium shows by necessity need stuff to get the crowd going. I think on “The River tour” he should be doing a few more than 6 of that record though. Darlington County is a bathroom break song for me. As for openers, he really has mixed it up in UK/Ireland, 6 diffeernt openers …
Atlantic City
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Incident on 57th St
Waiting on a Sunny Day
For You
Does this bus Stop at 82nd St
dai says
Sorry about typos
Tiggerlion says
Don’t apologise, dai. Your commitment to a band is awe inspiring. 28 times for Bruce. God knows how many for The Stones. I go to see Earth, Wind & Fire every opportunity I get but I’m never going to get anywhere near thse figures!
dai says
Same for The Stones coincidentally. Cheers, my ex and my bank manager do not agree…
Archie Valparaiso says
Serious question, dai. Having repeatedly gone to see Bruce Springsteen live, why did you continue to repeatedly go to see the Stones? What did you get out of it, knowing – because of your Springteen experiences – what the Stones live shows could have been but clearly aren’t.
dai says
Well, I have only seen 2 Stones shows in the last 10 years or so and for one of them I got an amazing lucky dip ticket where I was inside the tongue shaped stage.
In 2002-2003 I saw 15 or 16 shows, because I travelled all over the place (Holland, Sweden, UK, US etc) to see them in club shows, I also saw plenty of arena and stadium shows that were concurrent gigs in the same city. The small shows were generally amazing and they shook up the setlist quite a bit e.g. in Boston 2002 at the the relatively tiny Orpheum (hottest I have ever been at a concert) they did obscurities like Heart of Stone, Parachute Woman, Love train, Rock Me Baby, Can’t You Hear me Knockin’ and Factory Girl.
However still one of the greatest shows I have seen was in Twickenham in 2003 with a much more regular setlist. They differ from the E Street Band in being much more inconsistent, but when they are really on and click they are untouchable (at least up until about 2005). Even then the incredibly overplayed songs like Jumpin’ jack Flash or Street Fighting Man become thrilling and memorable. In comparison Born to Run or Badlands while fun to hear are a pale shadow of how they sounded in 1978-80.
Archie Valparaiso says
You know why they’re a pale shadow? Because there’s just too much going on. Five guitars for Badlands (even if two of them are acoustics)? It’s just unnecessary. He’s probably too nice an employer, unable to bring himself to fire people once they’re surplus to requirements. There was no real need to keep Nils Lofgren on – excellent player though he is – when Steve van Zandt returned to the fold, and when Patti Scialfa is on stage rather than on home-with-the-kids duty, does her stand-in really have to be there too? (And that violin? Just no.)
The result is a wall of sound that diminishes the grandeur of those songs rather than adding anything to it.
Look at this Freeze-Out from 1980 and count the guitars: er… one, Steve van Zandt, and you can hear him throughout and his playing is wonderful. The horn section on the record is reduced to Clarence’s sax and Danny Federici’s organ. And the result is the best live performance of that song I’ve ever seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R35bw9N0vI
The Pizza Kid says
Good review Steve. I was at Coventry. It’s only the third time I’ve seen Springsteen. I don’t generally like stadiums but it was a great gig. The kid singing “Waiting On A Sunny Day” and the handing over of his harmonica at the end of “The River” to someone celebrating their 40th birthday brought a tear to my cynical eye!
ernietothecentreoftheearth says
The Fall, obviously
Jackthebiscuit says
FWIIW (yet again).
This current tour is the first I have missed in getting on for 15 years. I thought I could let it pass me by with little more than idle curiosity, indifference even.
Big mistake. The reviews I have read, both here, facebook & elsewhere all suggest that he & the band are on fire & the shows are amongst the finest he has ever done. As a slight aside, WRT he & the ES band giving there all at each & every concert, I am sure I have read/heard somewhere that he is determined that anyone who ever pays to see him can say without hesitation that they saw him at his best, & they go into a group hug before the start & all vow to give the finest show they will ever give, then they go out & do it.
I am kicking myself & I dont think I will ever make this mistake again.
One last thing. A while back, maybe here, maybe at one of our other homes, we had a thread about “that” moment in a song, to me it is the intro to Born to run. Once it starts, I never want it to end. Completely & utterly magnificent,
Blue Boy says
Agree with all of this, as I said in my Manchester review he is the greatest live performer I’ve ever seen, and it is indeed that ability to seem so fresh even after all these years that is incredible.
I also loved the Darlington County, Working on a Highway and Sunny Day section – Highway in particular is a song I’ve never been bothered about but here it sounded brilliant.
Like everyone else here I was buzzing for days after this concert, and I can’t remember the last time that happened.
Carl says
A friend was at Wembley yesterday and he and many others thought the sound was appalling. Lots of people left early.
The Evening Standard gives the show a cracking review, but scroll down to the comments and thre are displeased people voicing their disappointment due to the poor sound quality.
http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/bruce-springsteen-tour-review-springsteen-shows-wembley-who-s-boss-a3264501.html
JustB says
I think it depended where you were standing. The sound was bad right at the back of the pitch, fine further towards the front. Apparently very good in the top tier of seats but don’t know about the lower ones.
goldblackman says
Love this thread, took in the Manchester, Coventry and Wembley shows and agree – unbelievable!!
As many have already pointed out, each show is so unique, you could see them all and never get tired.
Over the three shows two solo less well known song piano starters and one with the band. Thunder Road all three nights, one with the band mid-set, two solo as the last song (haunting, a lady on her own in front of me was in tears during the version at Wembley, started me welling up to).
For one night only of the three you got Glory Days, Born in the USA, Jungleland, She’s the One, Backstreets etc. Loved the more samey middle section of the concert and all the traditional crowd participation bits – each night, while the same, they were still unique and there was no-one in the stadium not smiling.
Loads of crowd requests, standards, hits and obscure tracks to – plus Santa Claus is coming to town – in Manchester, in May, in the never ending rain.
3.15, 3.15, 3.30 hours respectively. Particularly liked at Wembley he was on stage at 6.20pm!! – you know you need to get in, no fannying around, get a drink, get your place and we are off!! No crummy support band followed by two hours of the roadcrew going 1-2, 1-2 and tuning the same guitar, then coming back 15 minutes later and retuning it again. On at 6.20pm for 3.5 hours and still off by 9.50pm – ideal when you have a 120 mile drive back to the Midlands and work the next day (most bands only just thinking about dragging themselves on stage, when Bruce has already delivered 3+ hours – and he’s 66 you know).
Great use of the screens too, side ones focus on Bruce with the back one on the partying crowd or the rest of the band – same approach every year, no other gimmicks.
So many other ‘nostalgia’ bands could learn from the whole approach – don’t laugh but saw U2 at six stadium shows on the Zoo TV tour and I don’t think they changed a thing on any of them.
Always feel a bit sad/down/odd when a round of Bruce concerts are over, always reminds me of a lazy summer, hopefully back in 2017?
If my lottery numbers come up this week, I can’t think of a better way of spending my well deserved winnings than travelling round Europe for the remaining shows.
Might start a thread on why Bruce Springsteen reminds me of my dog.
Ah, well Adam and the Ants tomorrow.
dai says
But how was the sound?
goldblackman says
No worse or no better than any outdoor cavernous 90,000 seater stadium open to the elements – which I presume can be dodgy if you are in the very top tier. His voice is much rawer/shouty than it used to be, which suits some songs more than others, but the crowd singalongs carried the show – not much of a sound aficienado myself, look more for the atmosphere at these sort of large shows, and most were bouncing around throughout, right to the back.
A stadium show with a sit down and listen crowd – could be I guess disappointing if the sound is poor, but for a 70,000 mad for it party and sing-a-long crowd (as this was) – a dip in sound quality isn’t as key (to most I would guess)
Some of the rhythm/guitar bass and drum sounds that built up through tracks such as Seeds was fantastic.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Looking at the Ricoh YouTube clips, I’m astonished at how Clarence Clemons’ hair has grown! Anyone else notice this?
Johnny Concheroo says
Good to see the bloke from the IT Crowd has found another job
http://i.imgur.com/jIMuLQP.jpg
dai says
Of course being dead I don’t think your hair grows.
chiz says
A friend of mine – a single woman in her 40s – came back from the Wembley show in such a tizzy that we had to waft her gently with moist towels. Apparently the 66-year-old Bruce with his bulging arms, thrusting Tele and prove-it-all-night physicality had an effect that she hasn’t encountered “since John Taylor left Duran Duran”.
dai says
Saw them about 3 months after this in Philadelphia (not a River gig), was an incredible 3hr 45 min show (opened with NYC Serenade). In the current times if that turns out to be the last time I see them live it was a great way to go out, although there are rumours of a 2022 tour. 6 years older I doubt it would live up to 2016 though.
Jaygee says
Fingers crossed you’re right, D.
As the last show i caught (Friday night at Croke Park on the River tour) suffered from
awful sound for some stretches, would love to see Bruce and the boys one last time. The Manchester Apollo show i saw almost35 years to the dat earlier remains one of
the three best gigs I’ve ever been lucky enough to see.
dai says
Looks like 2022 summer in Europe is happening, Omicron permitting