As I'm writing this Bruce and the band are gearing up for the last show of the tour, in Buffalo, NY. It is also by Bruce's own words the last show with the E Street Band "in a while". Some think it will be the last show with the E Street Band ever.
Whatever the case, tonight feels like the end of an era that started 10 years ago with the Reunion Tour. Even if the E Street Band does return - and both Bruce and Jon Landau have indicated that it could very well happen - chances arethere will be some changes in the lineup that will seriously alter the face of the band. Max Weinberg could be forced to stay with the Tonight Show, and Clarence... what about Clarence? While his playing has been better than on the last couple of tours, he looks fragile and in pain. So could tonight be his last show? And without him, can you still call it The E Street Band?
Well, in order to predict the future, it's always a good idea to look back at what has gone before. The tour started only eight months ago, but if you look at the show as it looks today compared to back then, you would hardly even guess they were part of the same tour. Only half a dozen songs from the beginning of the tour have remained stables in the same positions as where they started out. The Working on a Dream album, while never very prominent in the show, has been completely abandoned. "Outlaw Pete" finally saw his own demise in October (except for a short one-off revival in DC) leaving only the title track to represent the album that gave the tour its name.
Instead the tour was taken over by performances of full albums with the Born to Run album being all-dominating. This may be the first time of his career that Bruce has been being glaringly nostalgic. And not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that at this point of his career, but just imagine how that would have been received in 1999 or 2002. Back then he was on a mission to prove that the band was still vital and moving forward. Playing full albums would have made critics and fans write him off as a has-been. Today, 10 years on, Bruce has proven just about all there is to prove and has cleared the road for himself to do and sing whatever he damn well pleases - and broken all his own rules in the process.
That's why even ending the tour tonight in Buffalo with the album that started it all, Greetings From Asbury Park, could be seen as a last, solemn farewell to the band, but could also just be another impulse by Bruce that we shouldn't attach too much importance to. If it's the last E Street Band show ever, we probably won't know it anytime soon, and if it's just the closing of another chapter in the band's history, well, then that shouldn't be a surprise. A lot of things that seemed impossible 10 years ago have happened. Why not another couple of tours further on up the road?
See you then. |
