Finally had a chance to start this archive today and I'm a bit under halfway in and it's absolutely spectacular.
"It was a small town bank...it was a mess; I had a gun—you know the rest" is practically Hemingway in its conciseness and power. And with "Highway Patrolman," Springsteen proves that he was decades ahead of the ACAB movement.
Señora, is there anything I can do? Isn't this the most compassionate and romantic pick up line you have ever heard? It still melts me every single time...
I like how he sings "boombox" in Belfast and "tape deck" in Freehold, and I like that after intensely singing "stay hard, stay hungry..." by himself in Belfast, he hesitates in November, opening it up to the audience in a "why ain't you guys singin' along?" sort of way.
Oh yeah, Danny's on organ in Asbury Park. Love the amount of "yeah Danny!" shouts in this one. No hesitation for the famous line here, he knows they're gonna sing it.
Because of him presuming everything he's said over the show might have been lost in translation ("if anyone wants to translate") he is full on taken aback here in Nice when they join in. He did not expect that!
I'm now going to listen all four versions of "This Hard Land" we've got from this tour. Not with the intention of finding, but simply because it's nice to have the option 🙂
I did this with Dry Lightening yesterday. There are subtle nuances in how he perfomes. The one that's evident is how he finishes the last word in a verse, either going up a bit or streching it, or it stays completely flat.
The second difference is the amount of his non verbal sounds. Deep sighs, loud exhaling, swallowing....
This might be absolutely bogus, but I keep imagining that he was in high spirits on this night. You know... the impressions of Cote d'Azur end of May... The show seems somehow lighter, the songs are presented beautifully, but his voice seems more sparkling and uplifting to me. I'm not by any means saying that he's not giving the songs the attention and depth they require, it's just a feeling I have. Am I nuts?
@Scott Peterson Oh, this is interesting and it adds even more questions! 😄 Particularly in regards to Bruce lightening up as the tour progressed. It makes me wonder, will that have been down to him finding the answers and resolutions to the questions and stories he was singing about? Did someone, like Patti or Mr Landau say to him offstage that the show was too dark? Or did Bruce realise that himself? If not that, perhaps Freehold, Asbury Park or another gig made him remember the thrill of a joyous night and the enthusiasm of the crowd rubbed off on him. Yeah, he still needed silence for the songs that required it - maybe he still didn't have total confidence in his solo abilities to play with loud noise either - but he eventually concluded that these shows didn't need to be complete delves into despair, and a few laughs and fan favourite songs wouldn't detract too much from what he came into the city to say.
Is Andy Capp still a thing? I remember reading an old (even at the time, I think) Andy Capp comic collection when I was a kid with the cop writing down in his notebook what Andy had obviously just said, as they both stand over an unconscious guy: "I thought he was going to hit me so I hit him back first."
I wonder if Bruce didn't start out so extremely serious because he was doing something so very different and was anticipating audiences not prepared and perhaps even slightly hostile towards his goal?
It's also possible there were fewer people showing up, after a few dozen shows, expecting/hoping for "Born to Run" and "Rosalita," so maybe he realized he didn't have to be such a hardass?
@Scott Peterson Andy Capp. Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time 😂 Cancel culture would have a field day with that one, probably.
I think that's a really good point honestly. He couldn't be bothered dealing with shit so he put on one of those many masks, and then put on a different one when his audience realised what sort of show this was. Tremendous take!
I’ve had to take a break after HP. Finding it almost overwhelmingly intense. Previous Joads haven’t affected me to this extent. Darkness freaked me out somehow. Dunno what it’s down to - I’ll pick it up again tomorrow.
Great post, as usual! You got me really interested in the 'Highway Patrolman' performance, I'm curious to check those differences between this version and East Rutherford 1984.
@1651997 Thanks mate, I appreciate you checking it out. 🙂
Oh man, the version of the song from the Meadowlands is probably my favourite Archive song. Never been stopped in my tracks quite like when I heard this for the first time.
@Mario Brega The difference is noticeable, for sure. In his tone, in his phrasing... The Nice performance is by far more apathetic I would say, precisely until the 3:48 mark. From that point forward, he seems to be reliving the events, and the performance is gorgeous! Oh man, I love it. But as you said, the performance in East Rutherford 1984 is probably one of my favourite tracks from the entire Archive Series as well, it just hits me. Both are great in two very distinctive ways, that's the magic of the Series!
I just finished listening to the show outside at my campfire. My firepit is beneath a tree, in a hollow formed by the branches and leaves and it's easy, in the cold dark with the flames flickering and the wood crackling, to imagine I'm not just outside my door at all, but somewhere away down a road, which is always where my heart seems to want to be. This life I'm living, this just-on-the-edge-of stable life that is my job and my cats and my trailer...most nights it feels like just a very long roadside rest. Even thirty-five years after coming off the road, especially the last few years, there's still a bag that I keep packed and the feeling that one day I'll take it up again.
Anyway, I hadn't meant to ramble on, but the only way to describe how these songs in that setting affect me is to tell you how i feel at my core, because that's where they hit me. It's more than just specifics like the campfire light in The Ghost of Tom Joad or the guy failing to live his real life in Straight Time. There's a mood Bruce conjures and a broader narrative in the shows that, if I listen with the care that Springsteen hoped for, the same care he took in staging the Joad shows, affirms my lifelong feeling of being alone in a crowded world.
I'm sure I failed to express that with any clarity, but I understand Bruce's pleas for silence. Even in a crowded theater, even sitting elbow to elbow with strangers and friends, if you "shut the fuck up" and listen as Bruce sometimes unkindly suggested...everyone around you disappears and there's just one man with a guitar telling tales of the lost and the lonely. Listening by myself at my fire, the interstate hissing in the near distance, that feeling is ten-fold; the loneliness covers me like a shroud. And in it, I find a strange warmth.
And that's the stark difference between the Joad shows and all of the tours that came before, isn't it? Gone are the joy and hope, the redemption and the overwhelming sense of community and human connection, whittled down to just Bruce on a darkened stage, pretty much trying to perform as if you aren't there at all...and I love every fucking moment of it.
I saw more than a few ghosts in my campfire's light this evening; the ones Bruce sent around and the ones who are always near.
Finally had a chance to start this archive today and I'm a bit under halfway in and it's absolutely spectacular.
"It was a small town bank...it was a mess; I had a gun—you know the rest" is practically Hemingway in its conciseness and power. And with "Highway Patrolman," Springsteen proves that he was decades ahead of the ACAB movement.
Absolutely spectacular.
Señora, is there anything I can do? Isn't this the most compassionate and romantic pick up line you have ever heard? It still melts me every single time...
I used to think I was the only one who loved these Joad shows like I did. Seeing the love on display is moving. Just awesome.
I have noticed a couple of things though 😂
I like how he sings "boombox" in Belfast and "tape deck" in Freehold, and I like that after intensely singing "stay hard, stay hungry..." by himself in Belfast, he hesitates in November, opening it up to the audience in a "why ain't you guys singin' along?" sort of way.
Oh yeah, Danny's on organ in Asbury Park. Love the amount of "yeah Danny!" shouts in this one. No hesitation for the famous line here, he knows they're gonna sing it.
Because of him presuming everything he's said over the show might have been lost in translation ("if anyone wants to translate") he is full on taken aback here in Nice when they join in. He did not expect that!
I'm now going to listen all four versions of "This Hard Land" we've got from this tour. Not with the intention of finding, but simply because it's nice to have the option 🙂
This might be absolutely bogus, but I keep imagining that he was in high spirits on this night. You know... the impressions of Cote d'Azur end of May... The show seems somehow lighter, the songs are presented beautifully, but his voice seems more sparkling and uplifting to me. I'm not by any means saying that he's not giving the songs the attention and depth they require, it's just a feeling I have. Am I nuts?
I’ve had to take a break after HP. Finding it almost overwhelmingly intense. Previous Joads haven’t affected me to this extent. Darkness freaked me out somehow. Dunno what it’s down to - I’ll pick it up again tomorrow.
Last (by a few hours) but certainly not least. Here's the first review for Across The Border where I've written about "Across The Border" 🙂
I just finished listening to the show outside at my campfire. My firepit is beneath a tree, in a hollow formed by the branches and leaves and it's easy, in the cold dark with the flames flickering and the wood crackling, to imagine I'm not just outside my door at all, but somewhere away down a road, which is always where my heart seems to want to be. This life I'm living, this just-on-the-edge-of stable life that is my job and my cats and my trailer...most nights it feels like just a very long roadside rest. Even thirty-five years after coming off the road, especially the last few years, there's still a bag that I keep packed and the feeling that one day I'll take it up again.
Anyway, I hadn't meant to ramble on, but the only way to describe how these songs in that setting affect me is to tell you how i feel at my core, because that's where they hit me. It's more than just specifics like the campfire light in The Ghost of Tom Joad or the guy failing to live his real life in Straight Time. There's a mood Bruce conjures and a broader narrative in the shows that, if I listen with the care that Springsteen hoped for, the same care he took in staging the Joad shows, affirms my lifelong feeling of being alone in a crowded world.
I'm sure I failed to express that with any clarity, but I understand Bruce's pleas for silence. Even in a crowded theater, even sitting elbow to elbow with strangers and friends, if you "shut the fuck up" and listen as Bruce sometimes unkindly suggested...everyone around you disappears and there's just one man with a guitar telling tales of the lost and the lonely. Listening by myself at my fire, the interstate hissing in the near distance, that feeling is ten-fold; the loneliness covers me like a shroud. And in it, I find a strange warmth.
And that's the stark difference between the Joad shows and all of the tours that came before, isn't it? Gone are the joy and hope, the redemption and the overwhelming sense of community and human connection, whittled down to just Bruce on a darkened stage, pretty much trying to perform as if you aren't there at all...and I love every fucking moment of it.
I saw more than a few ghosts in my campfire's light this evening; the ones Bruce sent around and the ones who are always near.