[Mousebounce]

It was in the paper this morning that Bruce told his fans to shut the f*** up last night at his show in Jersey at the Meadowlands. He told the audience at the start of the show to turn off cell phones and be quiet. As he was performing, fans were yelling and what not, so he threw a fit and told them that their money is at the door if they want to leave. Then when asked about his outburst said something like, "What do you expect, it is Jersey."

Personally, I think the dude needs to seriously get over himself. It is a concert at an arena for goodness sakes. If he wants quiet, play at a small club or bar.

Of course this is if this is even true.

[father_time]

doesnt sound very bruce-like to me...

[Kathleen]

It's true - but it's not the whole story. This was a very beautiful concert - you could have heard a pin drop. People were very quiet and appreciative. A few songs into the show a very few people - up in the top row - started screaming in unison. The rest of the crowd (being Jersey ) started shouting at them to shut the fcuk up. Bruce finally did what he could to shut everybody up and the original screamers either left or shutup after that.
I'll post a review here but I'll give my own impressions first. If you are going to see this show - prepare to sit back and be treated to a one man band. This is not just a guy and a guitar. Bruce has been blowing me away since the early seventies and last night was no exception. Some versions of his songs were superior to the versions with the E St Band. Further on up the Road from The Rising is one of them. What he did with "The Promised Land" gave me chills. Here is the Bergen Record review which is where he played last night. The New York Times has a similar review but neither of them mentioned the 1 or 2 minutes of rowdiness in the middle of a great concert.
Springsteen concert hits the Meadowlands

Friday, May 20, 2005
By Scott Fallon
STAFF WRITER

Gone were the theatrics- the stage slides, the piano jumps.

On Thursday night at Continental Arena it was just Bruce Springsteen and his music.

Armed with only an acoustic guitar, harmonica, piano and organ, Springsteen gave a performace as powerful a performance as any he has given with the vaunted E-Street Band. It was a night where Springsteen displayed a quiet fury that hit the audience in its guts, head and heart.

He began the 25-song set playing the under-appreciated "My Beautiful Reward" on a pump organ that sounded like the equivalent of a full band. He strummed furiously as he played his new album’s title track, “Devils & Dust” - a tale of lost trust - with the Iraq War and American foreign policy as a backdrop. Springsteen acted like a crazed Pentacostal minister stomping his foot and distorting his voice during a blusey rendition of "Reason To Believe." Three songs later he joked about the trials of parenthood before launching into the touching "Long Time Comin'."

SET LIST:

My Beautiful Reward
Reason to Believe
Devils and Dust
Lonesome Day
Long Time Comin'
Black Cowboys
The River
Real World
Part Man Part Monkey
All The Way Home
Nebraska
Reno
The Wish
Paradise
The Rising
Further On Up The Road
Jesus Was An Only Son
Leah
The Hitter
Matamoras Banks

ENCORE:
Ramrod
I'm On Fire
Land of Hope and Dreams
Promised Land
Dream Baby, Dream

The concert was a striking departure from The Rising tour of 2003 in which Springsteen he and the E-Street Band sold out football and baseball stadiums nationwide, including an unprecedented 10-night stand at Giants Stadium. It was reminiscent of 1996's The Ghost of Tom Joad tour, the first time Springsteen set out without a rock n' roll band behind him.

About 9,000 fans packed a cordoned section of an arena that normally holds upward of 20,000 for a concert. They were treated to a side of Springsteen that is rarely accessible in large venues.

He spoke to the crowd early and often, first reminding them to turn off their cellphones. "I'd rather not sweep the chainsaw out there while my relatives are here," he joked.

Between songs he talked about the trials of parenthood, joked about how every country singer has to have a song about his mother and detailed a meeting with one of his heroes, Roy Orbison, who at the time was working on a song about a windsurfer.

"I just thought, 'That's not going to fly,'" he said to laughs. "A song about surfing maybe, but windsurfing?"

The banter aside, the night was highlighted with Springsteen's kinetic energy. Songs that may have seemed flat on "Devils & Dust" were given new life on stage. "The Hitter," which plodded along under the weight of poor production, was given a sense of immediacy with Springsteen sitting on a stool, strumming his guitar and offering a haunting narrative to take shape and have meaning. "Matamoras Bank" -- about a Mexican border jumper who dies while crossing - was given political overtones when Springsteen called for a president "with a humane immigration policy" before playing the song.

At the same venue where only three days ago noted journalist Seymour Hersh was booed for criticizing President Bush at a college commencement, Springsteen was applauded before "Matamoras Banks" and after "Devils & Dust" - his most caustic songs of the night.

Equally as important Thursday was Springsteen's reworking of his staples. "Promised Land" turned from a fist-pumping anthem into a subdued dirge as he slowed the song's pace and used the body of his guitar for percussion. "Further On Up The Road" seemed to gain snarling power that its full-band version as Springsteen pounded his aguitar as if he was trying to break it.

"It is fun and exciting playing this way," he said near the end. "And it's fun doing it with you."

Kathleen - who is grateful for having been able to attend last night.

[Jim Bon Jovi]

Doesn't sound like a fit really.

well not a real one but who are we to stop the press spinning stuff?

when i went to see damien rice last year it sounds like a pretty similar set-up. at the parts where it was just rice and his acoustic you could hear cunts up at the bar (this is about 50 feet above the stage and 150 odd feet back at the balcony. you can imagine how much noise they're making if he can hear them over 3,000 other people, so far away and with stage and in ear monitors in his ear so he told them to shut the **** up or leave.

nothing wrong with that IMO.

[spunkywho]

Originally Posted by father_time

doesnt sound very bruce-like to me...

why not? The only time I've seen him he was an ass x 3!!!

[*ºÇåptäîn¤Çrä§hº*]

Originally Posted by spunkywho

why not? The only time I've seen him he was an ass x 3!!!

The one time you saw him doesn't make what is considered Bruce-like, sorry.

[Kathleen]

Here is a comment by someone from the "Greasy Lake" board on Bruce's comment and a subsequent Ryan Adams concert that he went to:
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Does the Artist have the right to tell the audience to shut the F*&k up?

Bruce "Shusshed" a big group of rowdy fans last Thursday in New Jersey.

Last night at the Electric Factory in Philly We saw Ryan Adams. He walked off stage after pleading (a couple times) with the audience to respect others right to hear the show. Just up and left the stage. (he was also quite drunk)

We left because we couldn't hear. It was that bad.

A guy next to me said "This is a concert, not a library"....I said "You go to a concert to LISTEN, not read"

People turning the lights off in a library would interfere with your reading, people "chatting" during a concert interferes with your ability to hear.

Am I just an old hippie, expecting everyone to "be cool"?
Are concerts the place to sit and yap?

It seems to me, back in "the old days" people just knew how to act, and were rowdy during the rowdy parts and quiet during the quiet parts, now it seems they do the opposite.
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Kathleen