Better than Beating Your Own Drum in the Woods in Ann Arbor

On a dreary early fall day, Bruce played historic Hill Auditorium in Ann
Arbor this evening.  First things first...

The setlist (from memory, so possibly one or two are off):
----------------------
Tom Joad
Atlantic City
Straight Time
Highway 29
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Murder Inc.
Johnny 99
Nebraska
The Wish
Red Headed Woman
Shut Out the Light
Born in the U.S.A.
Dry Lightning
Reason to Believe
Point Blank
Sinaloa Cowboys
The Line
Deportee
Across The Border
----------------------
Does this Bus Stop at 82 St.?
This Hard Land
No Surrender
---------------------
Galveston Bay
The Promised Land
In Michigan

I knew this night had the potential for weirdness an hour before showtime
when, in the music biographies section of Border's Books, I had my earlobes
examined for intactness by three otherwise grown men.

Hill Auditorium was built in 1913, and if there is a finer facility in this
country for an acoustic show, I'd like to know what it is.  If you're going
to be looking for a tape of a show, this will make an excellent start.

Bruce started the show with Woody Guthrie's "Tom Joad," and this will
undoubtedly be a centerpiece of the Guthrie benefeit show this coming Sunday
night.  We had the misfortune of sitting in front of a couple of college
kids who thought it would be great fun to yell out "yee-ha!" between every
verse.  Bruce set them straight after the song.

The crowd was well-behaved, but many seemed unfamiliar with the material
on "The Ghost of Tom Joad."  During "Highway 29," the line "my hand went
up her skirt" drew loads of snickers from the college boys sitting near me,
and the reference to "the piss yellow sun" in "Dry Lightning" produced quite
a bit of laughter.  And, incredibly to me, the loudest requests for "Thunder
Road" came *during* "The Promised Land"!  "Red Headed Woman" produced a great
response from this college crowd (Bruce: "Are you a Red Head?  Prove It!").
Bruce must still be working on his "cunnilingus" rhyme, I'm pretty sure
he's working up to it.  Some kids were still *arriving* during "Deportee."
Still, it was a very well behaved crowd, and, as with Tuesday's show, Bruce
was able to command complete silence when he needed it.

We sat a few rows behind the soundboard, and early on I realized that the
setlist was plainly in my view.  It's kind of weird wishing "Dry Lightning"
would hurry up and end, knowing that "Reason to Believe" is next (not having
heard the latter yet on this tour).  Or, knowing in advance that "In Michigan"
will follow "The Promised Land".  But, somehow I wasn't able to read the
title of the night's big surprise.

After "The Line," Bruce began talking about the Guthrie concert on Sunday.
I looked at the list again.  *NOW* I can read it -- holy shit, he's going
to play "Deportee"!  And, he played it beautifully.  I hope he keeps it in
the set after the concert on Sunday.  There were many other highlights
during the show, even setlist fixtures such as "Galveston Bay" seemed
particularly strong this evening.

After the show... well, just how many people in that audience were LTD
readers???  There must have been 250 of us down there waiting for the meet
and greet.  It was very orderly (except for the student volunteers doing
their best imitations of fascists -- not very convincing), but Bruce took
one look at the Sharpie brigades and thought better of it.

Great show, and on to Cleveland...

--Matt