The OtherArena

[Fong]

Some sad news out of the Bruce camp today. An offical press release confirming the longstanding rumors about Phantom Dan...

Danny Federici, an original member of the E Street Band, is taking a leave of absence from the current Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band tour to pursue treatment for melanoma. Charles Giordano, who played with Bruce as a member of the Sessions Band, will temporarily fill in for Danny until he is able to return. Federici has been playing keyboards with Springsteen since the late Sixties. Said Springsteen, "Danny is one of the pillars of our sound and has played beside me as a great friend for more than 40 years. We all eagerly await his healthy and speedy return."

Federici has been actively supporting the Melanoma Research Foundation and its Wings of Hope Gala, honoring Dr. Paul Chapman.

This might explain why Bruce has chosen to highlight so many songs featuring Danny's accordion and organ playing on this tour. Hopefully Dan recovers soon and is healthy enough to rejoin the band for the summertime stadium jaunt...

-HJF

[jdw]

:..(

[Fong]

Magic Tour started back up again last night in Hartford, CT. Listening to the show right now, getting ready for next week in Rochester and deciding whether to head to Buffalo the night after. The setlist largely stays the same, but the major changes are pretty surprising. It took almost a year for the Rising Tour setlists to feature some of the Tracks gems that the fanboys wait for with baited breath (present company included). Didn't take long this time.

Setlist:

1. SO YOUNG AND IN LOVE (Clarence didn't totally butcher the intro either)
2. Radio Nowhere
3. Lonesome Day
4. Gypsy Biker
5. Magic
6. Reason To Believe
7. LOOSE ENDS (how this didn't make The River is beyond me)
8. She's The One
9. Livin' In The Future
10. The Promised Land
11. Waiting On A Sunny Day
12. JANEY DON'T YOU LOSE HEART (Nils sings the second verse)
13. The River
14. Devil's Arcade
15. The Rising
16. Last To Die
17. Long Walk Home
18. Badlands

*********

19. Girls In Their Summer Clothes (aww, fuck! ;) )
20. Backstreets
21. KITTY'S BACK
22. Born To Run
23. American Land

Charlie Giordano is still on the organ, but Bruce did mention during the show that Danny would be back at some point this year, which is perhaps the best news to come out of last night.

Thoughts on the Rochester show next Thursday. Or Friday, or Saturday... whenever... :)

-HJF

[Fong]

So yeah... last month's Rochester show was dynamite, possibly one of the three best of the Magic Tour. Loose Ends, Because The Night, Racing In The Street, a completely audibled Rosie. Buffalo was solid - Be True and Detroit Medley sounded fine, but I never need to hear Working On The Highway again. There ya go.

Anyway... this is pretty frickin' cool:

Ghost Of Tom Joad with Tom Morello, Anaheim

And just for the hell of it...

Same night - Rosalita comes out

-HJF

[Fong]

Never in a thousand years did I expect to walk into the house, log on to Backstreets, and see this:

"Danny and I worked together for 40 years - he was the most wonderfully fluid keyboard player and a pure natural musician. I loved him very much...we grew up together."
—Bruce Springsteen

Danny Federici, for 40 years the E Street Band's organist and keyboard player, died this afternoon, April 17, 2008 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City after a three year battle with melanoma.

The Federici family and the E Street family request that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund. A web site for the Fund is being established and we'll post its link when it is on line.

The E Street Band was such an anomaly. 35 years in, and every member who had ever picked up an instrument was still alive and well. Not only alive and well, but most (all? Not sure about brief drummer Boom Carter) are still making music that is well received in whatever circles they exist. It's inevitable that time catches up to everyone. Nevertheless, it's heartbreaking.

We'll miss you Phantom. Life on E Street will never be the same.

-HJF

"Big wheels roll through fields where sunlight streams,
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams..."

[Fong]

A brief clip of Dan playing the organ solo on Nov. 19 of last year in Boston, his last night playing an entire show with the band:

Kitty's Back solo

-HJF

[jdw]

Blood Brothers (1999 Reunion Tour closer)

On through the houses of the dead past those fallen in their tracks
Always movin' ahead and never lookin' back
Now I'm out here on this road
Alone on this road tonight
Close my eyes and feel so many
friends around me
In the early evening light
And the miles we have come
And the battles won and lost
Are just so many roads traveled
So many rivers crossed
And I ask God for the strength
And faith in one another
'Cause it's a good night for a ride
'Cross this river to the other side
My blood brothers

[Fong]

Opening night of the summertime US shows was last night in Giants. Mercifully, Bruce isn't trying to cram 10 GS shows down our throats this time. (Not to mention the 2 Hartford stadium shows and the 3 Shea shows within a month after on The Rising tour)

Just 3 Giants shows, 1 in Foxboro, 1 at the Harley Festival in Milwaukee, and some arena shows in the middle. I'm with John on this one - after seeing some really amazing arena shows, and some dead-ass crowds and bad audio at Giants in 2003, I have almost zero desire to go to another stadium show.

Anyway, the opening song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcjKvazjbjQ

And a pretty mixed up setlist to boot; all the Magic staples are pretty much gone, and he's openly looking for requests from the front-row fans:

Tenth Avenue Freeeze-out
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
No Surrender
Adam Raised a Cain
Spirit in the Night
Summertime Blues
Brilliant Disguise
Atlantic City
Growin' Up
Janey, Don't You Lose Heart
I'll Work for Your Love
Youngstown
Murder Incorporated
The Promised Land
Livin' in the Future
Mary's Place
Working on the Highway
Tunnel of Love
The Rising
Last to Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands
* * *
Girls in Their Summer Clothes
Jungleland
Born to Run
Bobby Jean
Dancing in the Dark
American Land
Rosalita

-HJF
(now hurry up with the shows and get on the Darkness 30th anniv. project!)

[jdw]

[Fong]

So much for Darkness 30, or Tracks 2.

My Lucky Day

Working On A Dream

He needs something to plug when he plays the Super Bowl, I guess. And another excuse to tour. So we get product. But man... does *this* have to be the product? I'm OK with Lucky Day, but Working On A Dream, uhhmmm... wow. Really, Bruce, we know you loved Roy Orbison, but this feels like a bit much.

-HJF

[jdw]

Yeah... I was not liking these. :(

They do appear to be pricing DotEoT to move over at Amazon - just $5.99 on sale. That smacks of "let's clear out our inventory because a new version is coming".

As far as having product to sell, that's full of great songs to build a set around for the Super Bowl. This is a strong trio building towards a uplifting finish:

Badlands
Prove It All Night
The Promised Land

You get roughly 3-4 songs. You need to bring some crowd pleasers. Macca did "Drive My Car," "Get Back," "Live And Let Die," and "Hey Jude"... with a #3 hit leading off being the *least* famous of his songs. :)

Of course he could ditch Prove It All Night and slip in something like Thunder Road.

My guess is that he'll slip in The Rising (given how much he played it around the Election), Thunder Road... and something else. One would think he'll feel the need to play Born To Run at this biggest of clusterfucks of his career (more people watch the Super Bowl than anything in the US). But he has been playing Thunder Road more lately, and you get the feeling that *that* song has more meaning to him at the moment that BTR.


John

[Fong]

I don't know if this clip is an official video or what - but it's the last track from the new album, a eulogy for Danny Federici.

The Last Carnival

-HJF
(betting on Born In The USA, Working On A Dream, Born To Run for the Super Bowl halftime. I hope I'm wrong, though)

[jdw]

Inaugural Concert: The Rising

[Fong]

The performance with the choir was great. I understand he thought about including a backing band but jettisoned it. Smart move.

You spin the new album yet? Prepare to be sorely disappointed by a handful. Title track is banal, Queen of the Supermarket is lyrically absurd, and Surprise Surprise belongs on the scrap heap with most of the Human Touch album. Lyrically, in fact, this may be his worst effort. But his vocals are quite nice - big and romantic, a la Born To Run. That spoken drawl that began in earnest on Tom Joad is almost entirely gone.

Some good moments - This Life, Life Itself, What Love Can Do. Outlaw Pete is an 8-minute song that would work so much better in about 5. But a nice homage to Morricione.

Far better production than Magic, when it seemed Bruce and Brendan were stuck between raw and polished. They fully polished this badboy, but it works. The only problem is that E Street sounds like a bunch of session musicians. And almost no Clarence on this one, which may be a blessing in disguise.

-HJF
(heard the Conan horn section is on its way to Tampa, which I guess means 10th Avenue is working its way into there somewhere...)

[corrado]

What the hell was that?

From what I saw of the halftime show, that was something that I wouldnt expect from the Boss:

Him changing lyrics to songs (Glory days) for the cheap heat.

Lots of people I didnt recongize from the band. I think I saw Clarence with the cowbell.

But what really stood out for me, was Boss trying for some comedy with silvio. Its bad enough there was a ref there. But "Its Boss time" was horrendous. Not to mention "Im going to Disney World."