| Bruce Springsteen raises Cain at sold-out Garden show |
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| Boston Herald, 2009-04-22 |
| By: Jed Gottlieb |
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Maybe those super fans clamoring ?Springsteen for president? are on to something.
During the first hundred days of the Boss? 2009, he?s endured presidential-level scrutiny: mixed reviews for his new album ?Working on a Dream,? lumps over a cartoonish Super Bowl show, criticism for his exclusive Wal-Mart release and whole lot of nasty headlines about an alleged affair.
But what?s Bruce do? Well, last night at a sold-out TD Banknorth Garden, he put his head down and plowed through a top-notch live spectacle - he plays to another 17,000-seat sell-out at the arena tonight.
While wife Patti Scialfa was missing - Springsteen explained that she had taken a fall from her horse and will return in a couple of weeks - the Boss showed the love.
Like a kid playing the boardwalk bars, he ripped through treasured classics ?Tenth Avenue Freeze Out,? ?Born To Run,? joyous closer ?Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),? and newer classics ?Lonesome Day,? ?The Rising? and barn-burner ?American Land.?
Across a half dozen songs - including an epic ?Adam Raised a Cain? -Springsteen slashed his pick across those bent Telecaster chords on sweaty, furious solos. And his E Streeters answered back. Nils Lofgren exploded in a flurry of notes on ?The Ghost of Tom Joad? and Little Steven laid down some heavy blues on ?Johnny 99.?
Halfway in, the maestro began picking fans? signs out of the audience to add to the set. The band ripped out a sick version of ZZ Top?s ?I?m Bad, I?m Nationwide? five minutes after Springsteen told the audience: ?The band doesn?t know this song. I said, ?The band doesn?t know this song.? ?
Bruce Springsteen builds a house of music, spirit and noise in Boston.
Then came the night?s best one-two punch: a rough-and-tumble ?I?m Going Down? and the 35-year-old-and-still-puckish ?Growin? Up.?
Not everything was magic. As good as the man is, he can?t pump life into the flat ?Working on a Dream,? and ?Outlaw Pete,? with its KISS ?I Was Made for Lovin? You? riff and KISS fog machine blasts, was just silly.
But with James Brown gone, Bruce wants to be crowned the hardest-working man in show business. The calluses on his throat, bruises on his knees and his sweat-drenched front row prove he?s leading contender for the title. Maybe not president, but rock ?n? roll?s Mr. Dynamite for sure.
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