Magic Tour (Bruce Springsteen): Difference between revisions
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In an interview at the time of the tour's announcement, Springsteen made clear that this outing would be a return to expectations after the substantial stylistic departures of the solo, multi-instrumental 2005 [[Devils & Dust Tour]] and the big folk 2006 [[Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour|Sessions Band Tour]]: "Yeah — I'll be playing the ''rock'' music this time."<ref name="back2">[http://www.backstreets.com/news.html "Dates are set; Bruce revs up E Street Machine for Fall"], Backstreets.com, August 28, 2007. Accessed August 30, 2007.</ref> ''Magic'' selections would be likely heavily featured, as they were written for playing in concert.<ref name="back2"/> And he shot down fan speculation that (with band members getting on in age and health and drummer [[Max Weinberg]] likely heading to [[Los Angeles]] when [[Conan O'Brien]] takes over ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' in 2009) this might be a farewell tour: "I envision the band carrying on for many, many, many more years. There ain't gonna be any farewell tour.... I'll never do that, man — you're only gonna know that when you don't see me no more."<ref name="back2"/> |
In an interview at the time of the tour's announcement, Springsteen made clear that this outing would be a return to expectations after the substantial stylistic departures of the solo, multi-instrumental 2005 [[Devils & Dust Tour]] and the big folk 2006 [[Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour|Sessions Band Tour]]: "Yeah — I'll be playing the ''rock'' music this time."<ref name="back2">[http://www.backstreets.com/news.html "Dates are set; Bruce revs up E Street Machine for Fall"], Backstreets.com, August 28, 2007. Accessed August 30, 2007.</ref> ''Magic'' selections would be likely heavily featured, as they were written for playing in concert.<ref name="back2"/> And he shot down fan speculation that (with band members getting on in age and health and drummer [[Max Weinberg]] likely heading to [[Los Angeles]] when [[Conan O'Brien]] takes over ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' in 2009) this might be a farewell tour: "I envision the band carrying on for many, many, many more years. There ain't gonna be any farewell tour.... I'll never do that, man — you're only gonna know that when you don't see me no more."<ref name="back2"/> |
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After the conclusion of the tour's first leg on [[November 19]], [[2007]], organist [[Danny Federici]] took a leave of absence from the tour, to pursue treatment for [[melanoma]].<ref name="backstreets-danny">[http://www.backstreets.com/news.html www.backstreets.com/news.html] accessed [[November 21]], [[2007]]</ref> He was replaced by [[Charles Giordano]], who had played with Springsteen on the 2006 [[Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour|Sessions Band Tour]].<ref name="backstreets-danny"/> |
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== Itinerary== |
== Itinerary== |
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Revision as of 16:47, 21 November 2007
| Concert by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band | |
 | |
| Start date | October 2, 2007 |
|---|---|
| End date | TBD |
| Legs | 3 |
| No. of shows | 32 |
| Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert chronology | |
On August 28, 2007, it was announced on Bruce Springsteen's website that there would be a tour with the E Street Band immediately concurrent with the release of his album Magic.[1] The tour will run from October 2, 2007 through December 19, 2007.[2] This is his first tour with the E Streeters since 2004's Vote for Change shows, and the first prolonged outing with them since the 2002-2003 Rising Tour.[3]
In an interview at the time of the tour's announcement, Springsteen made clear that this outing would be a return to expectations after the substantial stylistic departures of the solo, multi-instrumental 2005 Devils & Dust Tour and the big folk 2006 Sessions Band Tour: "Yeah — I'll be playing the rock music this time."[4] Magic selections would be likely heavily featured, as they were written for playing in concert.[4] And he shot down fan speculation that (with band members getting on in age and health and drummer Max Weinberg likely heading to Los Angeles when Conan O'Brien takes over The Tonight Show in 2009) this might be a farewell tour: "I envision the band carrying on for many, many, many more years. There ain't gonna be any farewell tour.... I'll never do that, man — you're only gonna know that when you don't see me no more."[4]
After the conclusion of the tour's first leg on November 19, 2007, organist Danny Federici took a leave of absence from the tour, to pursue treatment for melanoma.[5] He was replaced by Charles Giordano, who had played with Springsteen on the 2006 Sessions Band Tour.[5]
Itinerary
 | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. |
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The two first-announced legs followed the practice established during the 2002-2003 Rising Tour, of quickly visiting cities in North America , followed by the same in Western Europe. Possible lengthier engagements, or dates in areas outside the Northeastern United States, where Springsteen's commercial appeal had dimmed, were possible as additional legs in 2008.
As per past Springsteen practice, the tour proper was preceded by a couple of weeks of the band holding closed rehearsals at Asbury Park Convention Hall — but now with loudspeakers playing local radio stations positioned outside the hall to foil the Springsteen faithful who gathered outside the building to hear a glimpse of the set lists and arrangements to come. This was followed by two rehearsal shows (which doubled as charity benefits) at Convention Hall on September 24 and 25, an early morning appearance on The Today Show's concert series on Rockefeller Plaza on September 28,[6] and another, small-audience rehearsal at Continental Airlines Arena that night.
Meanwhile, over in Europe, the London concert, which went on sale first on 30 August, sold out rapidly.[vague] The Belfast concert sold out in less than a minute. Thousands[citation needed] were left standing outside the Odyssey when only the first person got tickets.[citation needed] Most of the tickets were bought my major companies and sold on eBay or other websites for hundreds of pounds. The Belgian concert was sold out in a few minutes, the booking site having experienced constant lag. No more than 6 tickets per family could be bought. It's virtually impossible to sell the Belgian tickets on eBay, because an ID is needed to enter the concert.
North American ticket sales were generally strong. Prime markets in the Northeast sold out in less than ten minutes. The faithful knew, as usual, that this was only the beginning of the ticket acquisition process, as the later secondary market — online ticket outlet drops of heldback allotments, later drops due to stage setup revelations, day of show drop lines, online forum exchanges, and eBay — all offered opportunities for success.
The show
When the tour opened at the Hartford Civic Center, several things were immediately apparent. The show was clearly shorter than in years past, beginning at around 8:30 and ending at around 10:45. However more songs were played than could be extrapolated from this time, given past practice, due to the omission of elongated numbers with stage hijinks, and in particular no long monologues or band intros.
Soozie Tyrell, while now clearly not an official member of the E Street Band by analysis of publicity material, tour T-shirts and the like, was nonetheless a full member on-stage, appearing on every song with some combination of violin, acoustic guitar, and backing vocals. On the front line of the stage, age was taking its toll: on one side Clarence Clemons was once again sitting in a chair when not playing his saxophone parts, and needing a helping hand for getting on and off stage, while Danny Federici was also looking a little frail. On the other side, not only was Springsteen's teleprompter (a fixture since the early 1990s) still in view, but sidekick Steven Van Zandt had his own (for lyrics) as did wife and band member Patti Scialfa (for guitar chords). In the latter respect, however, the show featured a breakthrough: the first Scialfa song played in its entirety, the mid-set "A Town Called Heartbreak", which would continue to be played intermittently on the tour. Drummer Max Weinberg also had a small teleprompter within his drum kit, showing lyrics, unusual in that Weinberg does not sing onstage.
The set list heavily leaned on Magic material, as might be expected, with The Rising initially also well represented. The 1970s were also featured, with a number of songs off Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town. Thematically, the show was organized in recent Springsteen fashion, with certain fixed sequences that appeared every night, interspersed with "wild card" sequences in which a variety of recent or old songs might appear. Shows began, as might be expected, with Magic first single "Radio Nowhere" and its expression of social longing; this was followed by some older number such as "The Ties That Bind" or "No Surrender" that supplied that social connection, and then by The Rising's "Lonesome Day" to balance the equation. The next part of the show brought out ''Magic'''s political undercurrents, with an explicit public service announcement during "Livin' for the Future" and a spoken introduction to "Magic" that set up yet another at-first-puzzling rendition of the always challenging "Reason to Believe". Another fixed, socio-political sequence occurred at the end of the main set, "Devil's Arcade" into "The Rising" into "Last to Die" into "Long Walk Home" into "Badlands"; in an interview, Springsteen said of the transition out of "The Rising" and into "Last to Die", signalling the course of American society from the September 11 attacks to the Iraq War,[7] "The whole night is going to turn on that segue. That's what we're up there for right now, that thirty seconds."[7]
Critical and commercial reception
Reviews of the Magic Tour have generally been generally favorable. The New Haven Register found the band "ripping through a spirited set" on opening night and judged Weinberg, Van Zandt, and Clemons as the main stars of the performance besides Springsteen.[8] The paper also profiled fans who had come from nearby states to see the opener.[8] A Jon Pareles review in The New York Times of a Madison Square Garden show two weeks later framed the performance thusly:
The sheer vitality of Mr. Springsteen, 58, belting an entire set of showstoppers straight from the gut and working the stage with his longtime band, provides all the hope the lyrics struggle to find. He's as serious as any public figure alive, but he leaves audiences euphoric — a paradox that only grows more profound as he endures.[9]
Tour dates
North America 2007
Europe 2007
| Date | City | Country | Venue | Attendance | Ticket grossing | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tickets sold | Tickets on sale | Percentage sold | |||||
| Europe | |||||||
| November 25 | Madrid | Spain | Palacio de Deportes | ||||
| November 26 | Bilbao | Spain | Bizkaia Arena | 100 % | |||
| November 28 | Milan | Italy | Datchforum | ||||
| November 30 | Arnhem | Netherlands | Gelredome | 100 % | |||
| December 2 | Mannheim | Germany | SAP Arena | ||||
| December 4 | Oslo | Norway | Oslo Spektrum | ||||
| December 8 | Copenhagen | Denmark | Forum Copenhagen | ||||
| December 10 | Stockholm | Sweden | Globe Arena | 100 % | |||
| December 12 | Antwerp | Belgium | Sportpaleis Merksem | ||||
| December 13 | Cologne | Germany | Kölnarena | 100 % | |||
| December 15 | Belfast | Ireland | The Odyssey | 100 % | |||
| December 17 | Paris | France | Palais Omnisports de Bercy | 100 % | |||
| December 19 | London | United Kingdom | The O2 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 100 % | |
North America 2008
| Date | City | Country | Venue | Attendance | Ticket grossing | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tickets sold | Tickets on sale | Percentage sold | |||||
| North America | |||||||
| Feb 28 | Hartford, CT | United States | Hartford Civic Center | 38,229 | |||
| March 6 | Rochester, NY | United States | Blue Cross Arena | ||||
| March 7 | Buffalo, NY | United States | HSBC Arena | ||||
| March 16 | St. Paul, MN | United States | Xcel Energy Center | ||||
| March 17 | Milwaukee, WI | United States | Bradley Center | ||||
| April 7 | Anaheim, CA | United States | Honda Center | ||||
| April 8 | Anaheim, CA | United States | Honda Center | ||||
| April 25 | Atlanta, GA | United States | Philips Arena | ||||
References
- ^ "BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND ANNOUNCE FIRST FULL SCALE TOUR OF US & EUROPE SINCE 2003", Brucespringsteen.com, August 28, 2007. Accessed August 28, 2007.
- ^ "Tour/Ticket Info". Backstreets.com. Retrieved 2007-08-31.
- ^ "Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band Announce First Full Scale Tour Of US & Europe Since 2003", Shore Fire Media, August 28, 2007. Accessed August 28, 2007.
- ^ a b c "Dates are set; Bruce revs up E Street Machine for Fall", Backstreets.com, August 28, 2007. Accessed August 30, 2007.
- ^ a b www.backstreets.com/news.html accessed November 21, 2007
- ^ "ROCKING ROCKEFELLER PLAZA: Bruce & the E Street Band live on Today, Sept. 28", Backstreets.com, August 30, 2007. Accessed August 30, 2007.
- ^ a b A. O. Scott (2007-09-30). "In Love With Pop, Uneasy With the World". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b Patrick Ferrucci (2007-10-03). "'Boss' is Back: Springsteen opens tour in Hartford". New Haven Register.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Jon Pareles (2007-10-19). "Songs of Anguish With a Hopeful Beat". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-10-27.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i "Billboard Boxcore". Billboard magazine. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
