Springsteen’s current tour continues to amaze the rock critic/fan in me. The E St. Band’s combination of majesty, soulfulness and power seemingly grows with each tour – defying the laws of getting old. Bruce’s performances this trek rivals the sustained energy of the Darkeness on the Edge of Town tours of 1978 and the sometimes overlooked fireworks during the subsequent tour from 1980-81, supporting The River album.
Factor in his age (62), the loss of his musical soulmate Clarence Clemons, and that he continues play six cuts off a new record, the consistant excellence of the shows (YouTube is awesome) and the palpable passion that Springsteen invests makes the Rolling Stones at the same age look a bit mellow (though Mick was/still seemingly taking his own age-defying, dance moves-inducing supplement.)
After a run of At a huge (85,000+) festival in Denmark, Bruce invited The Roots, his friends from the Jimmy Fallon late night show, on stage to honor their incredible, best-ever-TV-studio performance of the same song from earlier in 2012. In front of many thousands, with a band swelled to nearly 25 members for this song, they blow it out again. Dig the Sly Stone refrain in the middle, and the crunchy rock and roll mixed with Santana-esque rhythms. A joy to watch…
(More pics from the show from brucebase.wikispaces.com)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn5ZRgJEGd8]