Mary's Place on this release is great. It reminds me of how much I liked it when I first heard it on The Rising. And part of the reason I did was because of what the song represented... this wasn't just a song Bruce had written that was suitable for a rock band to play, which by default for him was the E Street Band. This was clearly specifically written as a performance piece for the E Street Band itself, in the spirit of Rosie or Thundercrack from the early days. This song truly was the rededication of the E Street Band he originally referred to in regard to the Reunion tour.
I'm wondering why have some of the Magic songs never been played since that tour. I'm thinking about Gypsy Biker in particular. It is a great song, and can't see any logical explanation.
Absolutely, Gypsy Biker would be a welcome addition as a rotating rarer song. He could play BITUSA and Gypsy Biker back to back, two tragic sides to the same coin.
Long Walk Home is another... that has never stopped being relevant, today perhaps more than ever. That should be an every night staple like Badlands.
@Bosstralian For as much as I love "The Ghost of Tom Joad", I remember being quite gutted when I read he'd taken "Long Walk Home" out of the Broadway show for it.
I liked the idea of a more 'casual' (and diehard) audience hearing "Long Walk Home" on a daily basis again.
I wonder if we will get a proper December release this year. I see that the two Winterland shows were part of a plan last year. To be honest, I am not looking forward in anyway. Which basically means I am happy at the moment with what is there. This show is workman like, and delivers in every possible way. Latter day Springsteen shows give off that feeling. Any night between say August 2002 until Summer 2013 can be anything he wants them to be. A great show, an average one, or a barn burner. The band is just that good. It always feels less meaningful the older you get, but in truth the older you get the more it means. Everyone here knows how much I love Darkness as a song. The one here, and on other Magic shows just plain cooks. I listened to Boston '07 last night and just enjoyed it so much. This tour was such a tender spot. I remember the darkness songs seeming to fit in well with those Magic songs. The idea of a people under seige makes sense to me. Like @Louisa says you can smell the rotten flesh in all of it. The seige is underway, bodies hangin in the trees. It sounds alot like the world of darkness. Something in the night fits and so does Adam Raised a Cain, or Racing. We live in a mad fucking world controlled by maleficence. We hit our heads on the control bars before us. We stretch to live, finding small pleasures amidst the darkness and the disease.
OMG I just wrote that, what I wanted to say, as I often do what a gift this music is.
We live in a mad fucking world controlled by maleficence. We hit our heads on the control bars before us. We stretch to live, finding small pleasures amidst the darkness and the disease.
This one is from one of Bruce's radio shows. I play it often when I'm feeling down...
I don't know if I'm actually getting Archive fatigue... I hope not, infact I'd be disgusted with myself if so. Maybe it's just the absolute A level game of some of the other releases, but this one has left me a bit flat. Not a bad show by any means, but nothing that has really hit me in the heart or gut and no individual songs where I'd consider these versions to be better than others out there.
This will end up in my secondary, occasional listens pile... which is not a bad thing. Sometimes those shows which I put aside and listen to rarely have a way of unveiling their greatness (or at least their hidden gems) when I go back to visit after overdosing on the NYE 80, Passiac 78, LA 85, Stockholm 88, LA 99, Helsinki 2012 type shows.
@Louisa I think we've all had it in some way at some point. As you say it subsides soon enough. Normally by the time the build for the next release begins.
@Bosstralian absolutely understand your feelings, I’ve had them before - I’m actually loving this show because I’m a big reunion era fan, but I’ll admit to neglecting the vast majority of shows I’ve bought.
Not a huge deal - like all music, you find most shows come back around sooner or later right when you need them :)
I'm a huge Reunion era fan myself. Every Bruce show I've seen in person has been a Reunion era show. Adelaide 1 and 2 in 2014 are collectively, outside marriages and births, two of the greatest nights of my life. Actually, given only 9 songs were common across the two nights, it was a 48 hour single session of amazement.
Two of my favourite Archive shows are LA 99 and Leeds 2013. Helsinki 2012 has performances (Frankie, Where the Bands, BTN off the top of my head) that equal anything elsewhere.
I don't know why, the Magic tour shows so far released in general leave me flat. The intensity of those shows that everyone who saw them raves about hasn't translated in the audio only format for me. Boston 07 is my fave so far, largely on the back of that incredible Reason To Believe. St Louis 08 still perplexes me to this day... something was clearly alive in the house that night which does not at all inform the audio recording.
The visual of Bruce and band intensly attacking both musically and emotionally that last standard Magic five song sequence must've contributed a lot to how well its regarded. The recordings haven't quite captured it for me, certainly not in the same way that other classic sequences I never saw live like Promised Land to Jungleland 78 or Spare Parts thru to BITUSA 88 have buzzed me out on their related recordings.
I love Magic songs, not for what they might have implied politically at the time, I just love as they bang musically, and I love the lyrical detour into the apocalyptic fiction. I think these songs are somewhat unique in Springsteen's catalogue because they lack the usual sense of communal redemption.
Magic songs don't get played often, which is a shame. Gypsy Biker is a tremendous song, Livin' In The Future is educational, Last To Die into Long Walk Home with the violin intro.... Bliss... They sound much better live as they do on the album, so I'm always thrilled when this tour pops up.
I love all the dead bodies. I can smell them if I'm in the right mood.
Mary's Place on this release is great. It reminds me of how much I liked it when I first heard it on The Rising. And part of the reason I did was because of what the song represented... this wasn't just a song Bruce had written that was suitable for a rock band to play, which by default for him was the E Street Band. This was clearly specifically written as a performance piece for the E Street Band itself, in the spirit of Rosie or Thundercrack from the early days. This song truly was the rededication of the E Street Band he originally referred to in regard to the Reunion tour.
I'm wondering why have some of the Magic songs never been played since that tour. I'm thinking about Gypsy Biker in particular. It is a great song, and can't see any logical explanation.
Having one of those weeks where a new release is making me love that particular tour, and is subsequently growing my love for additional releases.
So today I'm loving the St. Louis 2008 show a little bit more.
I wonder if we will get a proper December release this year. I see that the two Winterland shows were part of a plan last year. To be honest, I am not looking forward in anyway. Which basically means I am happy at the moment with what is there. This show is workman like, and delivers in every possible way. Latter day Springsteen shows give off that feeling. Any night between say August 2002 until Summer 2013 can be anything he wants them to be. A great show, an average one, or a barn burner. The band is just that good. It always feels less meaningful the older you get, but in truth the older you get the more it means. Everyone here knows how much I love Darkness as a song. The one here, and on other Magic shows just plain cooks. I listened to Boston '07 last night and just enjoyed it so much. This tour was such a tender spot. I remember the darkness songs seeming to fit in well with those Magic songs. The idea of a people under seige makes sense to me. Like @Louisa says you can smell the rotten flesh in all of it. The seige is underway, bodies hangin in the trees. It sounds alot like the world of darkness. Something in the night fits and so does Adam Raised a Cain, or Racing. We live in a mad fucking world controlled by maleficence. We hit our heads on the control bars before us. We stretch to live, finding small pleasures amidst the darkness and the disease.
OMG I just wrote that, what I wanted to say, as I often do what a gift this music is.
I don't know if I'm actually getting Archive fatigue... I hope not, infact I'd be disgusted with myself if so. Maybe it's just the absolute A level game of some of the other releases, but this one has left me a bit flat. Not a bad show by any means, but nothing that has really hit me in the heart or gut and no individual songs where I'd consider these versions to be better than others out there.
This will end up in my secondary, occasional listens pile... which is not a bad thing. Sometimes those shows which I put aside and listen to rarely have a way of unveiling their greatness (or at least their hidden gems) when I go back to visit after overdosing on the NYE 80, Passiac 78, LA 85, Stockholm 88, LA 99, Helsinki 2012 type shows.
I love it as well. This tour was soooooo good. Devils/Rising/Last2Die/LongWalk/Badlands.
Jesus
I love Magic songs, not for what they might have implied politically at the time, I just love as they bang musically, and I love the lyrical detour into the apocalyptic fiction. I think these songs are somewhat unique in Springsteen's catalogue because they lack the usual sense of communal redemption.
Magic songs don't get played often, which is a shame. Gypsy Biker is a tremendous song, Livin' In The Future is educational, Last To Die into Long Walk Home with the violin intro.... Bliss... They sound much better live as they do on the album, so I'm always thrilled when this tour pops up.
I love all the dead bodies. I can smell them if I'm in the right mood.
'Roulette' and 'Don't Look Back' are such a great opening pack. What a rock and roll punch of energy.