Springsteen performs Magic
2007-10-03 15:08
Hartford - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band kicked off their latest US tour on Tuesday and rocked their way through several cuts from the newly released Magic, a collection of songs that mix an up-tempo pop-rock sound with stinging social criticism.
Fans at the sold-out Hartford Civic Centre were sent into a frenzy as the band took the stage and launched into Radio Nowhere, a hard-driving cut from the new album officially released earlier in the day, the first album for Springsteen and his long-time backing band since 2002's The Rising.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer hit the road as a solo act in 2005 behind his sombre Devils and Dust album, and last year the New Jersey native released We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, a fiddle- and banjo-infused collection of American folk songs. The latter won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album.
But rock and roll was front and centre this evening as the 58-year-old and his band mates, some band mates since he was a teenager, ripped through several anthems from the Springsteen catalogue including Badlands, Born to Run and The Promised Land.
Introducing the new song Living In the Future, Springsteen told the crowd that in addition to cheeseburgers, French fries and motorcycles, the United States was now known for voter suppression, illegal wiretapping and attacks on the Constitution.
"These are all the things that are happening here that shouldn't be happening here," he said.
The refrain fromLast to Die, also from the new album, left little doubt about Springsteen's opinion of the US-led war in Iraq. "Who'll be the last to die for a mistake, whose blood will spill, whose heart will break, who'll be the last to die?" he sang.
Touring US and Europe
One of the new songs not from Magic was Town Called Heartbreak, a cut from band member and Springsteen spouse Patti Scialfa's latest solo album, released last month.
The band included Clarence Clemons on saxophone and percussion; Roy Bittan and Danny Federici on keyboards; Nils Lofgren on guitars; Garry Tallent on bass; Max Weinberg on drums; and guitarist Steven Van Zandt, who gained additional fame on HBO's The Sopranos. Also on stage was violin player and backup vocalist Soozie Tyrell.
Springsteen and the E Street Band will wind their way across the US through mid-November before starting a month-long tour of Europe in Madrid on November 26.
While no further dates have been announced, fans and industry watchers expect the announcement of more tour legs that will keep the band on the road well into 2008.