Detroit Heatwave (9/21/03)

I suppose I could try to figure out why Bruce Springsteen decided to play a baseball stadium in Detroit -- an area where he failed to sell out a basketball arena near here just a year ago. But, as I look out from my office on this dreary final day of summer to see the stadium lights on in the rain -- they're still cleaning up, I guess -- it doesn't much matter to me.

Last night the final swing of the Lucky Town tour -- cleverly disguised as a Rising Tour show -- made a stop here. And, for just under 3 hours, Bruce played as if he had a packed house of loud fans out in front of him.

The show didn't start until after 8:30, and it appears to open with at least some confusion. As we'd learn later, Bruce changed the opening song at the last minute. The ultimate selection was "Souls of the Departed," a song whose appearance on this tour was long overdue. Without the canned sound effects and light effects that marked the performances of this song a decade ago with the '92 touring band, the ESB put in a strong performance of it, including Soozie Tyrell on Violin and also Nils Lofgren playing harmonica as well as his guitar. Bruce reverted to the words from the album version of the song ("decent men's eyes" replacing "your and my eyes"), and, if there's a message to be sent, it appears to be this: silence no longer passes as honor.

Most of The Rising portion of the show was completed in the first 7 songs. During Waiting on a Sunny Day, we noticed that crowd sound just wasn't carrying at all. During the sing-along, we could hear no crowd noise from outside the pit, and it appeared they couldn't hear us either -- even though it sure seemed loud down there. It wasn't a great crowd by any means, but it wasn't *that* dead, either.

Local Hero was the 2nd selection from Lucky Town on the night. The band rehearsed this one several times during sound check, with Bruce finally opting to bring in Soozie and give it more of a country feel. The arrangement more or less mirrored the one that Bruce used in '92, and while it was still a little ragged, it was a welcome addition to the set.

Because the Night wasn't ragged in the least. It was tight, and included a massive guitar solo, finished off by an equally massive twin jet snot rocket. Yeah, yeah! Ewwwwww!!! Bruce would produce plenty of each as the night progressed.

Mary's Place works better now that it has been shortened to a nearly human length. Bruce sang a full verse of "Dancing in the Street" to open the song. And Jungleland has never sounded better (despite Clarence having a bit of reed trouble with the beginning of his solo).

But the highlight of the night came when the other song from soundcheck made its way into the set. As "Into the Fire" ended, the organ lingered, and lingered (think of the intro to "Blood Brothers" from the final show of the prior tour for a comparison point). And then Bruce stepped up to the mike -- "I sought gold and diamond rings To ease the pain that living birngs..." We were so high, we were the lucky ones, flying, soaring.

And still, we were unprepared for the encore. I had hoped that Bruce might sing "Dancing in the Street" in its entirety to open the show, and I was happy enough to hear a verse of it at the start of "Mary's Place." But I wasn't prepared to see Martha Reeves come on to the stage to show how it's done. And, unlike the last time I saw her on a stadium stage (the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show in '95), this time her microphone worked.

Meanwhile, the signs were plentiful in the pit. The couple two people in front of us were particularly resourceful with their yellow signs; their best one read, "You're Hot. I'm Going Down." Bruce acknowledged that one several times, and as "Glory Days" ended he pointed at them and asked, "is that a request"? Meaning the song, we think.

The pit sang Happy Birthday to Bruce after the first encore, prompting Bruce to respond from the piano that he tries not to notice birthdays anymore. The rest of the crowd, apparently not having heard the pit, apparently had no idea what he was saying. The show ended with Steve and Clarence leading the crowd in another rendition of "Happy Birthday."