After a closer listening, this is a VERY good show. Very. The band is superb and I really think that vocals were much better for this show than anything on LINYC. Adam is a keeper indeed. And Murder rocks as hell. The mix is wonderful. I was not expecting anything special for this show, but along with Belfast 96, this is a my greatest surprise in these series. Not widespread shows that are great. By the way, Clarence also botches his solo in Murder big time. J
All this talk about the Janey "train wreck" makes me remember the Charleston 2008 show. It was my first time making the pit and I was right at the stage on the Clarence/Nils side. There was a Janey audible that really slowed the momentum down. I remember thinking the tempo seemed to be about 75% of what the studio version was. I still blame that tepid performance and audience reaction for the later audible out of the setlisted Drive All Night into Hungry Heart. Awesome show overall though, as pretty much all of those late 2008 shows were. The only Reunion Era version I really like is this 2012 acoustic version from Albany. Really great vocals.
Clemons was a pretty lousy musican from 99 until the end. Sad to say but that's was the truth. I don't know what happened?
Your recollections of this was the same as mine. It's been ages since I've listened to the boot, but just downloaded the show and about to listen. Bruce definitely just laughed it all off.
Clarence started to have a lot of health problems, and I suspect those impacted his ability to play. I mean, the guy was so bad off that they had to install that "throne" on stage so he could get a break during the shows. And when the rest of the band would leave the stage for the encore break, Big Man would stay on stage but lurk in the shadows. Most of that had to do with bad knees, IIRC, but I think other health issues hit his musicianship...
I would not agree that Clarence was a "lousy musician". In his heyday, he was a very good (if stylistically limited) sax player. He also provided great background vocals and percussion. Unfortunately, health problems (many, apparently, self-inflicted) really limited him in later years.
Where can I buy the official Archive 'the Roxy'set ? Amazon.com and Amazon UK don't seem to offer them. Help appreciated
They are available at live.brucespringsteen.net. The shows are not sold on Amazon or other 3rd party sites as far as I'm aware. See the mobile link below. Live Bruce Springsteen Mobile
thanks for the swift reply, Apesbrain and Bdbrown...ordered my cd set right now. Is the Passaic 78 set also recommended?
I think the Passaic 78 set is the best release overall in the entire archive series. The only thing so far that rivals it is the Tempe 80 complete show but that hasn't been released in full by the archive series. Only the 10 songs but when added to the rip from the Blu-Ray make that the best live release Bruce has put out to date in my opinion.
