Bruce Springsteen - Live Archive Releases

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Chris S., Aug 24, 2015.

  1. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    Yup.

    He abandoned it after BITUSA, and I think just doing one straight, long set with an encore was one of the ways he broke from patterns on TOL, and just decided to continue that way on future tours.

    So, I play a lot of long gigs...in Nashville we usually play 3 1/2 hours at a time, straight, and sometimes pull double shifts, jumping to a bar down the street, setting up, and playing another 3 1/2 hour gig right afterwards. I've done other gigs in casinos, hotels, etc, where you get a break, or in the casinos, play a few 45-60 minute sets with breaks in between. And honestly? It's easier for me just to power through and do 3 1/2 hours...as long as you don't stop, you can keep going with adrenaline and sheer force of will. As soon as you stop and relax for a minute, it's so much harder to get back into that mode again, mentally but especially physically. It's a little different for jam bands, they're pretty chill to begin with, and also can take as much time as they need to ease into a second (or third) set...Bruce rarely eases into anything. :laugh:

    Obviously others most assuredly feel differently, and have no problem going right back to gig mode after a set break, but personally, I can see why Bruce ditched the 2-set format and never went back as he got older.
     
  2. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    I thought that too, but I'm looking through 92/93 setlists and not seeing any indications of a set break. What songs typically bookended the sets?

    NM: I just realized it's after "Roll Of The Dice" on the '92 and '93 archive releases. How random.
     
  3. Dr. Zoom

    Dr. Zoom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Monmouth County NJ
    Really? OK, my bad. My memories of that tour are...um...foggy.
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2019
  4. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    The 3 "TOL" shows I saw all had intermissions.

    And as noted, so did the 1992 shows!

    You, sir, are FAKE NEWS! :laugh:
     
  5. Harry Hood

    Harry Hood Forum Resident

    Location:
    England
    There was a 20 minute set break in the Reunion Tour shows. It was called Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.
     
  6. Dr. Zoom

    Dr. Zoom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Monmouth County NJ
    I do too, and it's hard (esp for a drummer). My band often does 3 hrs straight. It's why I have always marveled at Max's stamina. Sometimes when he's doing those crazy fills during one of their marathon song endings, I think its a form of sadistic torture on Bruce's part.

    The last gig I saw (Met Life 8/30/16) was a bit over 4 hours...with no break. Insane. It did remind me of the marathon shows of long ago, when he would exorcise all his demons on stage and just exhaust himself.

    PS I was down in Nashville last spring. Crazy scene down there on Main Street. Musicians hopping from bar to bar. Saw some absolutely killer players.
     
  7. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Ouch!

    Not as bad as the long break in 2002-03: "Mary's Place"!
     
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  8. Dr. Zoom

    Dr. Zoom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Monmouth County NJ
    I always thought the intermissions worked really well, particularly on The River and BITUSA Tours. Gave everyone a chance to catch their breath.
     
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  9. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    I stand corrected. Whoever submitted Bruce setlists to setlist.fm didn't bother delineating sets for those tours, even though they did for earlier gigs.
     
  10. posnera

    posnera Forum Resident

    Roll of the Dice had an awful pantomime at the front of the stage. Bruce and one of the backup singers (male African American) pretended to roll dice. It was like an elementary school version of Guys and Dolls. They needed to leave the stage after that.
     
  11. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    You obviously didn't pop into whatever bar I was playing at. :laugh: But yeah, I've done basically 8 hours in a row pretty often, and I know guys who'll do 3 shifts (12 hours) in a day. It's insane. And it's pretty mentally taxing, since there's typically no setlists, just someone calling out songs for 3 hours at a time, and you have to be able to remember random songs really quickly.
     
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  12. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    I actually really like that song, it's harmless fun, but no version of it needs to run over 5 minutes.
     
  13. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Yeah, I poked around to see if I could confirm my memory that 1992 has an intermission and the setlist listings didn't show a split. They just listed the songs without connotation of intermission or encore.

    I was pretty sure from memory, though. When I saw Bruce in NJ in 1992, I really wanted to hear "Prove It All Night" and I was so jazzed when he came out for the second set and opened with it.

    Had the strong memory of it opening that set, not just being in the middle of the show!
     
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  14. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Oh, and one memory remains emblazoned in my brain that relates to the 1988 intermission.

    1st of 3 shows I saw was in Philly, and during the break, people brought out beach balls and batted them around the Spectrum.

    When Bruce came back out after the intermission, people continued to knock the beach balls around the place.

    After a song, Bruce mutters something like "gimme a f--king break with the beach balls" and that was that! :D
     
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  15. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    I apologize for my earlier statements. Apparently not everything on the internet is true. Who knew?

    Now I'm a little more curious why he switched from the reunion tour onward, although I much prefer it that way.
     
  16. dee

    dee Senior Member

    Location:
    ft. lauderdale, fl
    lol :);)
     
  17. kmk pdx

    kmk pdx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland OR
    Every US TOL show had the intermission. Also just about every Bruce show I'd seen up to that point as well (except for his opening gig for Chicago in '73).
     
  18. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    I threw out my theory! :shrug:
     
  19. JAuz

    JAuz Forum Resident

    Location:
    US
    During the Reunion Tour he was asked about this, and the answer was something along the lines of them getting on in age and that it's easier on their bodies just to keep on playing. In essence, they might get cold (like an athlete) during the intermission.
     
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  20. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    He's not wrong.
     
  21. PrineHootieWho2000

    PrineHootieWho2000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    If anyone's a James Taylor fan HE takes Intermission. Also U2 now does in Arenas.
    I don't see why Bruce couldn't bring that back as he hits his upper years.
     
  22. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    I prefer with intermission because it allowed Springsteen to structure two sets differently. I've noticed that, without the intermission, Bruce has tended to avoid playing slow, quiet songs and instead has favored uptempo material. Unfortunately, I consider his slower quieter material to be most of his best material. For me, the post-reunion concerts have lacked the dynamics of his earlier tours.
     
  23. graveyardboots

    graveyardboots Resident Patient

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA, USA
    And, sadly, the slow songs (particularly when coupled together) infuriatingly function as the intermission for many concert attendees. I stabbed my own eyeballs out multiple times during The Rising tour when witnessing the mass exodus and endless independent conversations occurring during the nightly coupling of Empty Sky (performed acoustically as a duet with Patti) and You're Missing (easily one of the top tracks on that album).
     
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  24. Dr. Zoom

    Dr. Zoom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Monmouth County NJ
    I remember during The River tour, during the Point Blank--Stolen Car--Wreck On The Highway suite, virtually nobody left their seats. American concertgoers contracted ADHD since then I guess.
     
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  25. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    The urban legend was that during the cassette years, Bruce's people started telling local security to watch for people not looking at the stage at the 45 minute and 90 minute mark starting at the River tour. (to "discourage taping") Supposedly, there would always be music playing (well, duh)
    But the sheer number of tapes that surfaced tells me either arena security didn't care or too many people were taping.

    I did see a pile of confiscated recorders and tapes at the Spectrum once and a friend saw a recorder 'accidently' broken by security in NJ
     
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