Bruce Springsteen & the Seeger Sessions Band Live

There's a reason they call Bruce Springsteen "The Boss." It's mostly because he can kick more musical ass than you'll ever hope to, even when he's just playing an acoustic guitar and singing old folk and spiritual tunes.

The Springsteen show at the Nissan Pavilion on Sunday was one of those cliched once-in-a-lifetime experiences for me. There was a fire in that performance, an energy that seems impossible to sustain for two hours. But Springsteen managed. He's always so very earnest about whatever he's doing, putting his entire being into playing and singing or even just chatting with the audience. He connects: with people, with music, with the world. It's what makes his music so remarkable.

The setlist was unexpected and varied. A healthy portion of the tunes he played were from his new Seeger covers album. He kicked off with "O Mary Don't You Weep" and "John Henry" before rumbling through a set that included several Nebraska and The River-era tunes radically reimagined for the mostly-acoustic Seeger Sessions Band. These tunes were unexpected and very welcome: rather than running through the old warhorses, like "Born to Run," "Hungry Heart," "Thunder Road," or "Dancing in the Dark," he stuck to well-known-but-slightly-less-prominent cuts like "Open All Night" (reworked from a rough rockabilly track into a rousing swing tune), "Ramrod" (which was almost unrecognizable in its radical reinterpretation), "If I Should Fall Behind," and "Cadillac Ranch." The covers were equally varied and interesting: several cuts from We Shall Overcome, of course, stretched out to allow for solos and jamming; and a few tunes no one expected, such as a heartachingly beautiful rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In." The crowd was regularly on its feet, clapping and dancing and singing along.

One of the most interesting aspects of the show was part of the very nature of the performance. There were plenty of solos: by the horn section, the banjo player, the pianist, the accordian player, and the violinists. Springsteen never took a single guitar solo. Part of the explanation lies in the nature of the instruments: he played an acoustic all night long, and it's rather difficult to do a guitar solo on an acoustic when you're surrounded by more than a dozen other musicians. It's also based, in part, on the nature of the kind of music they were playing: in folk, the guitar is there as a base, a rhythmic foundation upon which the other instruments play. This can involve a riff or intricately-finger-picked guitar figure, but usually involves strumming and letting other instruments--such as violin, banjo, or mandolin--take the leads and do the fancy stuff. It points to a change in the nature of Springsteen as a musician: yes, he was the leader of the band, but it was as though he were the first among equals rather than the guy standing out front doing the guitar heroics. Springsteen the folkie is a team player, willing to share or even let someone else dominate the spotlight. He's part of the band, not backed by the band, and that has a drastic effect on his playing style. While you can wish that he'd get up there and tear into a thunderous guitar solo, I rather like the notion of him playing as an integrated part of a larger whole. His guitar work served each song rather than dominate it, and the same could even be said of most of the solos and lead work done by the other musicians. This is simply a group of people who love playing together and have found the joy in their interplay. That means better music for everyone.

Ultimately, the Springsteen show was very satisfying event. It easily ranks in my top ten--probably even top five--concerts of all time. Definitely the best $100 I've spent this year.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Bruce Springsteen & The Seeger Sessions Band, "If I Should Fall Behind (Live)"