Magic trick. You enjoying the show was just an illusion. Please, read five posts on GL about how static and dialled in the show is (posts from folks who haven't even seen a show work best) and have a lie down. You'll feel better and less hypocritical in the morning.

Errr, there seems to have been plenty of fun before and after the show. Well, I assume there was a show... how did that part go for everyone???

The None But The Brave podcast had an interview with Warren Zanes a few episodes ago, well worth a listen...

This is an insane 20 minutes...

If that's the case with the audibles, then the lack of them makes some sense. Suddenly having 3 or 4 songs each night without specific lighting would probably alter the look / feel of the whole show. Plus the old (already much discussed) dollar factor comes into play presumably. Why pay extra for production effects you don't then use? I'd assume they've decided to invest more in that side of things this time around because Bruce himself is no longer the physically dynamic focal point that he used to be. If audience engaging set pieces like the crowd surf, multiple forays to the riser at the back of the pit, standing on the piano, people joining him on stage etc etc are a thing of the past, perhaps they figured adding to the 'production' side of the show would compensate somewhat.

@Mario Brega 's youthful enthusiasm so much reminds me of me discovering Bruce via BITUSA in the mid 80's, and then losing my mind over Thunder Rd on the 75-85 boxset. I only ever finally saw the man live in 2003, when I finally had the resources to travel 800 km to Melbourne for a single live show. But that was a big almost 20 years, living off nothing but studio albums, live releases and video clips. Hell, I was blown away just by the fact that this guy I'd idolised for his music was actually a real person once I saw him.

Given I started this, not checking back in for a week was a disgrace. But absolutely well worth the wait. Fantastic review. Spontaneous unexplainable emotional meltdowns at a Bruce show can, from experience, indeed be unexplainable. One thing that does intrigue me is that several times you specifically mention how effective the lighting is in supporting the specific song. Elsewhere on Bruce fan boards, people are praising how much better the lighting is this tour but also whining about the static setlist. From what you described with lighting effects during Prove It and (maybe) She's The One, it sounds like there may be a degree of higher tech automation or similar in the lighting scheme. Perhaps that's another reason for a more static setlist... the whole production is at a higher level, and while professional long time musicians maybe could pull a sign list request out of their backsides at short notice, a tech intensive lighting set up could not adapt as quickly.

I really need to check in here more than once a week, I missed this and it's now past tense. So I hope you had a great time at the show.

Agree on Brilliant and Atlantic. Another one I'd throw into the conversation is Darkness... no way would I say 92/93 was better than the intense 78-81 period versions, but I really liked the added background vocals as something different. And that Open All Night from the New Jersey 92 archive show is insanely good. As for the HT / LT material, I largely agree with you also. Local Hero with the horns from Leeds 2013 I've always loved, especially given it had an official video too. But I'll admit that now listening to that on the 92/93 releases and comparing it to Leeds, it's not necessarily that much better. Maybe some of the E Street Roll Of The Dice performances surpass the 92/93 ones, but then again that song was probably the most blatantly E Street style song across both those albums. I will admit that I may be the only Bruce fan anywhere who has never been the biggest fan of the actual song Human Touch. I don't dislike it, but it's never done much for me. But that changed when I saw it live here in 2014. That was phenomenal, and I finally got it. So for me, E Street now trumps 92/93 for that song.

That even made the news here in Australia, tremendous stuff.

The Nugs releases from 92 / 93 have been amazing in my opinion. I've never been a huge bootleg collector, so I only knew the pre-tour radio broadcast and Unplugged for a long time from this tour. Sometime in the late 2000's, a mate of mine visited the UK and brought me back the 'Lost TV Show' DVD which featured pro shot stuff with pseudo ok audio from a couple of European 1993 shows. But that was it. So, I was always a victim of the general fanbase idea that this was a lesser and 'Bruce lite' period of his career. The Nugs shows so far for me suggest this sells that period quite short. This tour was much more guitar heavy for a start, and featured backing vocals in a way that hadn't ever been used before. The only criticism for me is he should've pushed it further with both those elements, which may have removed some of the 'poor persons E Street' type commentary. As for MTV Unplugged... that was done in 1992, before the four song acoustic opening segment that featured in 1993 became the norm. I'll meet your Satan's Jewel Crown opener, and imagine he followed with the 1993 acoustic versions of Adam, Seeds and This Hard Land. With I Ain't Got No Home and Many Rivers To Cross featured in arrangements similar to those in the Archive shows later in the performance. Die hards would've lost their minds with that, much less with whatever else he may have come up with from the back catalogue in that scenario. A truly lost opportunity.

Yawn. I've seen this movie before, and there is not enough nuance to make it worth watching again.

I've heard a lot about Jason Isbell, both here and on other Bruce sites. He's clearly someone who's music seems to have a big cross over into the Bruce fanbase. I'm ashamed to say I'm completely ignorant to his music, aside from his BITUSA cover on Dead Man's Town. Where should a newbie start if I were to want to explore the catalogue?

Fuck me, going out of my way to avoid all news articles on this. And, indeed, any coverage (which shouldn't be hard, it's somewhere around stupid o'clock in the middle of the night here). The Repulic referendum in Oz was screwed up back in the late 90's, so here we still are. I'm not sure if a referendum on the Republic will occur again in my lifetime... but I've pleaded with my two kids that, please, if they do nothing else for their old man once he's gone, please vote for this country that gave my Estonian grandparents a home to finally stand on it's own, and not an adjunct of this obsolete shitshow.

As a citizen of a British colony that still recognises the monarch, I agree. In horse racing parlance, 'correct weight and all clear'.

Interesting and good point. Unfortunately, I think we can guess at the answer... a telecast of an actual Bruce show on that tour probably would've required Bruce Inc to shoulder some cost and some risk. MTV Unplugged I suspect was a payment to Bruce from MTV, plus all production costs covered... indeed, Bruce was able to negotiate the whole band appearing. Arrogance definitely, cashing in some of the numerous chips he still held at the time also a factor. 'Lack of confidence'.... that's more interesting. I dismissed it on face value when I first read it in your post, ready to argue the brilliance of the Christic shows as proof Bruce had no reason to lack confidence in a solo performance. But solo in a theatre in front of a friendly crowd v solo in a TV studio in front of contest winners, in an environment that works against creativity.... you may be right. Perhaps he felt safer with the band. After he'd spent 18 months or so playing solo shows between 1995 and 1997, he clearly felt much more ready to deliver a solo TV performance when he agreed to do Storytellers in 2005.

Well tonight we're gonna take that ride.... 'cross the river, to the Jersey side Or so I've heard.

Well played. The only thing missing is 'and in lieu of an Australian tour, Bruce will play 20 shows at a residency in Adelaide, South Australia.'

One of my favourite covers they've done (and I say they, as it's a full band muscular workout at it's best). Interesting, because unless it's just discarded and forgotten, it should mean a shake up in the encore order down the track if played as it works better half way through rather than opening the encore (which is the only variable slot currently).

I do like the top slot of the encore opening up as a random...