Coming to you live via Memorex due to rain delay and sickness, the last installment in Andrew's Odyssey. The concert in Portland was a great wrapup for the Oddysey, with fabulous company, personal significance, a monumental drive and the best concert of the trip.
In Eugene I stayed with my great buddy Sam. In high school Sam and I were best friends along with two others - the group called ourselves the Fab Four. Sam and I always have a great time hanging out together; we have a joking chemistry which is wonderful. He and I can walk along and carry along a normal conversation about life, the universe and everything... except for the fact that we're constantly bending over in laughter at the subtle jokes and references we slide into the conversation. Much fun, although I really wonder how any one else is able to follow a conversation when the two of us get together, as much of the humor draws on the history of our long friendship. For years I've been trying to lure Sam into listening to Bruce Springsteen, and he's been resisting admirably. I'm sure all LTDers have similar situation. I've long felt that Sam would appreciate Bruce's storytelling, the themes of hope and restoration, and the implicit themes of social awareness. When this tour was announced, I called Sam and told him "Save the date. I'm coming to Oregon and taking you to a concert. You have no choice in the matter." Bruce came through in spades.
Eugene to Portland:
Sam and I met his friend Jason just outside the campus of the University
of Oregon, and Jason's friend Jordana joined us shortly. With our travelling
troupe assembled, we piled into the veritable Protege and headed north,
straight into the rainstorm which had been threatening Eugene all afternoon.
Jason and Jordana are both Bruce fans, and it was to be the first Bruce
concert for both of them. We dropped J&J off outside the theater, as
they still needed to buy tickets. Apparently the ticket situation was similar
to Fresno and Santa Barbara, as they had orchestra tickets at face value
within 2 minutes of leaving the car.
We made a quick walk to the Market Street Pub, and barely caught the LTD crowd leaving. It was a great pleasure to meet the famous Monty; I only wish we'd gotten there earlier and could have kibbitzed a bit more. Apparently we'd just missed Steve Svoboda, whom I'd chatted with outside the stage door at Fresno.
The concert:
Many have used the words "trubadour" and "folk singer"
to describe Bruce on this tour. Well, tonight Bruce was simply The Boss.
Bruce was ON in Portland. He was in a great mood, told almost every joke
and story I'd heard thus far, and went to town on every single song. It
was exihlirating to see the man in such form, for tonight the glimmer of
stadium-filling power was oozing from every Jersey pore.
Except for a couple of numbers, I let Sam use the binoculars during the
concert.
Ghost of Tom Joad
Dazzling harmonica work. Unfortunately, we were sitting on the side of the
auditorium, just under the balcony. The sound was very edgy and distorted
for the first few numbers - not that that diminished the performance any.
Sam turned to me and said, "wow, he's big!" He was a bit amazed
when I replied, "actually, he's a little shorter than me." (I'm
5'11".)
Bruce made a couple of humorous references to his first marriage tonight.
"It's great to be in Oregon! (applause) I got married here once, you
know. (applause) But I still like it here. (cheers)" (paraphrase from
memory).
Atlantic City
AC was a little more up tempo than previously, and far more energetic. Other
performances I'd seen were a bit lackluster, whereas he'd really gotten
into "Adam Raised A Cain" on the other nights. Tonight, however,
I understood about the need to go down to Atlantic City.
Straight Time
Very smooth and confident, the dichotomy of details between the characters
happiness and yearning to backslide struck me yet again. Up to this point,
after every song a woman a couple rows back yelled out "JERSEY GIRL!!!"
I finally got fed up and yelled back, "He's not going to play it!"
I also heard a few "shut up"s. Later Sam remarked that sitting
next to me was like sitting next to the guy who's already seen the movie.
Highway 29
Bruce sounded a bit hoarse again tonight, particularly on this song. I also
noticed that his dark plaid shirt played hell with the lighting, and it
was more difficult to see his facial expressions.
Darkness On The Edge of Town
Thunderous. Just amazing. Unfortunately, the edgy sound took a lot from
the music, and Sam wasn't able to hear much of what was going on.
Johnny 99
Remarkably better sound on this sond, it seemed that the sound guys got
things tuned to the venue. The staccato guitar/harmonica intro gets better
and better.
Mansion on the Hill
Sell It (And They Will Come)
Hysterical laughter from the audience after every verse. Bruce himself was
giggling so much he could barely sing the song.
Red Headed Woman
As usual, Bruce's treatise on cunnilingus had the women howling with laughter.
Bruce really went to town on this song, pounding the guitar and wailing
into the microphone. He broke a guitar string on the last section, and the
high-pitched wail in the song's middle sounded suspiciously like... well...
you've seen "When Harry Met Sally"? The deli scene. That's what
it sounded like, prompting giggles throughout the theater. Also, some guys
in the middle sang along, and loudly, to "got down on your knees and
tasted." I'd played this song for Sam when he was dating a red headed
woman, and he asked "what happened to the line about getting your tires
rotated?"
Brothers Under The Bridges
Very smooth and beautiful.
Born In The USA
The guitar intro was very slow tonight, very soulful. The solo toward the
end was breathtaking, a lot of improvisation and dazzling slide work.
Dry Lightning
Long Time Coming
Very sweet, Bruce was obviously singing from the heart.
Point Blank
Yowza, this song came alive tonight. Before I'd never really
understood why so many LTDers go for it so much. Tonight I heard the
story, felt the character's desire to help the girl, but knowing that
she's forever doomed in relationships.
Border suite: Simply sublime.
Sinaloa Cowboys
The Line
Balboa Park (What's "toncho"? Anybody out there know?)
Across the Border
Bobby Jean
This Hard Land
Now that the song isn't the dedication for the anti-209 speech, Bruce sings
it once again about "brotherhood, sisterhood...." and very fast,
hard, and alive. Lots of shouts tonight for STAY ALIVE!!
There Will Never Be Any One For Me (But You)
Sam really got into this song. I could see him bopping his knee and smiling
at the song's sweetness. Yet again, Bruce really came alive and seemed to
rejoice in simply performing. This song got another Julianne joke:
"Well I said those words... Right here in Oregon!
..yeah, I meant 'em too..."
Galveston Bay
Promised Land
The perfect closer, summing up the evening, the body of work and the themes
of Search and Hope.
Sam was sufficently impressed with the concert, and Jason and Jordana were blown away. Later on and late at night/morning, Sam remarked that he'd been really, really impressed. He'd only restrained from yelling and clapping like he usually does at concerts because of the victory that would have given me. It's all right, I understood what he really meant. On my way out of Eugene the next day I bought CDs of "Tom Joad", "Tunnel of Love" and "Darkness" and left them, along with a note, in Sam's mailbox. Welcome to the fold, my friend.
Still to come: closing thoughts on the tour, reflections on the adventures of Andrew, and the drive home.
Tramps like us,
Andrew
Andrew Laurence atlauren@uci.edu Office of Academic Computing http://www.oac.uci.edu/~atlauren/ UC Irvine