Scott Peterson

Ah! Doesn't seem to be available in the US. Since I believe the Bryn Mawr show, at least, is public domain in Europe, maybe they figured, what the heck, why not?

On his official channel? Because I'm not seeing 'em there.

...damn. That's a lot. That's 48 or 30 more than we ever would have believed possible 10 years ago. And while I really, really, really hope they don't stop any time soon, that really is one hell of a surfeit of riches already.

I find it notable how much more interesting Bruce himself seems to be in these "special" shows. I like 'em, too, but would prefer more "regular" concerts, with the special ones as neat little sideroads.

http://live.brucespringsteen.net/live-music/0,23319/bruce-springsteen-paramount-theatre-asbury-park-nj-11-24-1996-mp3-flac-hd.html Asbury Park '96 November 24, 1996 Making his first full concert appearance in Asbury Park since the ’70s, Springsteen brings the Joad tour to where it all began. Accordingly, Bruce unfurls a Shore-centric set that opens with a three-song blast from Greetings: “Blinded By The Light,” “Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street” and “Growin’ Up.” With sympathetic support from Danny Federici, Patti Scialfa and Soozie Tyrell, Bruce moves through apropos surprises (“Wild Billy’s Circus Story,” “Rosalita” and “Sandy”), moving rarities (“When You’re Alone” and “Shut Out The Light”) and wonderful takes of “Racing In The Street” and “Independence Day” among many highlights.

Same here, but you once agin, you and I don't get our first choices. But I'm still happy.

Asbury Park 1996—I'll take it.

A friend and I were just discussing how crushing the line "I traded you for this song" is. Utterly devastating.

It really is extraordinary. I'm pretty sure all of us here know he's a great writer. But even knowing that, you look at that collection of lyrics, which covers such a wide swath of tone and subject across much of his career—and there are dozens and dozens of other equally great examples of his prowess—and it hits you all over again just how great he really is.

It's in reply to the question:

You just hush yer daggum mouth!

So I just listened to Western Stars for the first time in a few weeks. Imagine you're Bruce Springsteen. Just for a moment, imagine that. You've written "New York City Serenade." You've written "Jungleland." You’ve written "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and "Wreck on the Highway" and "Reason to Believe" and "My Hometown" and "Valentine’s Day." You’ve written "My Beautiful Reward" and you’ve written "My City of Ruins." You’ve written "Matamoros Banks" and "Devil's Arcade." You've written some of the greatest album closers in the history of rock and roll. And not just because you're one of the greatest writers in the history of rock and roll—although you are—but because you not only understand the importance of sequencing, but are also a master of it. And yet somehow, after all those—or perhaps because of them—years later you are still capable of writing "Moonlight Motel." And then…you sit on it for five years. You just leave it in the can. Because you're Bruce Springsteen. If you're any other artist, you rush the thing out. Maybe you don't even wait for the rest of the album. You shove the song in the world's face and you scream, "Lookit! Lookit! Look what I can do! Look what I did!" But you're Bruce Springsteen. So you don't do that. You just...wait. Until you've done a bunch of other stuff and you feel like the time is right to finish up this project and you do and it's a damn masterpiece. And not of course it is. It's not a given. There are a lot of truly great artists—absolute titans—who peaked and never again came close to being that great again. In fact, perhaps only Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash have ever come close to doing what Bruce Springsteen has done this century, which is to continue to write and record and release albums which can stand shoulder to shoulder with their very finest work—their very finest work being fine indeed: masterpieces, in fact. The [mainly younger] guy who once wrote things like: My father's house shines hard and bright It stands like a beacon calling me in the night Calling and calling, so cold and alone Shining 'cross this dark highway where our sins lie unatoned and You've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above and Like a river that don’t know where it’s flowing I took a wrong turn and I just kept going and It was a small town bank It was a mess Well, I had a gun You know the rest and They prosecuted some poor sucker in these United States For teaching that man descended from the apes They coulda settled that case without a fuss or fight If they’d seen me chasin’ you, sugar, through the jungle last night and They died to get here a hundred years ago, they’re dyin’ now The hands that built this country we’re always trying to keep down and If pa’s eyes were windows into a world so deadly and true Ma, you couldn’t stop me from looking but you kept me from crawlin’ through and 41 shots—and we’ll take that ride Across this bloody river to the other side 41 shots—my boots caked in mud We’re baptized in these waters and in each other’s blood and You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much Until you spend half your life just covering up and As I lift my groceries into my car I turn back for a moment and catch a smile That blows this whole fucking place apart and Remember all the movies, Terry, we'd go see Trying to learn to walk like the heroes we thought we had to be And after all this time, to find we're just like all the rest can still–can now—write a verse like this: Now the pool's filled with empty, eight-foot deep Got dandelions growin' up through the cracks in the concrete Chain-link fence half-rusted away Got a sign, says, "Children, be careful how you play" Your lipstick taste and your whispered secret promised I'd never tell A half-drunk beer and your breath in my ear At the Moonlight Motel And the only thing that could be even better than all this? Is that he says he's going into the studio with the E Street Band soon for a new album

[whispers] My God, I was sure I was the only one.

There was also some speculation that he may have been on painkillers for his back. But either way, it was one of the only bad performances of the past 45+ years.

Dammit. That should read "the FINAL line each takes on "If I Should Fall Behind."