Since seeing Springsteen in April, I have been completely under his spell… listening to every album in chronological order, including the box set Tracks and a handful of incredible bootlegs including Bruce and The E-Street Band Live at the Main Point in 1975 and at Winterland in 1979. Both contain there fair share of miracles… moments that make your skin tighten and your nervous system ignite. The version of E-Street Shuffle from 1975 is one of those moments; you can hear in every note that the band is playing for their lives and that Springsteen has everything to prove, everything to live and die for.
I have also been reading Clinton Heylin’s compelling, E-Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen and The E-Street Band. It is a superbly researched book that takes the reader deep into, the at times infuriatingly perfectionist world of Springsteen, from his early days with The Castilles up to the recording of Tunnel of Love and the end of the first E-Street era. And for the real buffs, it provides detailed notes on the 300 songs Springsteen penned during this time. It really is the work of a true aficionado.
One of the few issues I took with the book was Heylin’s final note; that the moments of miracle are fewer these days. Anyone who experienced the recent ‘Wrecking’ shows would attest to the fact that night after night, Springsteen continues to perform miracles. Maybe it is because audiences go expecting nothing less, and that these days Bruce and band are performing in much larger arenas that some of the subtle magic is lost. I can’t say for sure… but what I do know, is it wasn’t lost on me.
Here’s three moments of miracle from three different E-Street eras. Get your fill.
Now I am off to start reading Peter Ames Carlin’s ‘Bruce’.
Today is one of those joyous days, where there is a perfectly good excuse to go out and buy new music… it’s Record Store Day! Our record store of choice today was Rockaway Records. So here’s what came home and has since been spinning on our beloved turntable.
Two Record Store Day limited release “45s:
Five by Five – The Rolling Stones
Animal X – Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
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these four gems…
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Would love to hear what has been making your world spin…
Bruce has played his final show on Australian shores as part of the Wrecking Ball Tour, so now the anticipation begins… thankfully, there is 40 years of incredible music, and endless footage to make the wait bearable. C’mon back soon, Bruce…
It’s been almost three days since spending the night on E-Street and the high I left on is yet to lose any of its edge. Springsteen and the E-Street Band demonstrated to all that gathered why they remain a unique musical force on the world stage. Thursday night (March 14), was their first show for 2013, and the anticipation among the 17 musicians on stage (yep, you read that right) was tangible, their bond, magnetic; each of them played for their lives, wringing every last note from their respective instruments. Here’s a great example, with Nils tearing up his fretboard in Because The Night.
The set list was studded with masterpieces from their 40+ year career as well as six cuts from 2012′s Wrecking Ball. For anyone wondering whether the new material would stack up live; it more than did; set opener We Take Care Of Our Own laid the foundation for the rest of the show, Bruce and co. giving it some added grunt; and the audience reciprocated, singing it back as loud as the band pumped it out. And if that wasn’t enough to whip the crowd from their seats, the cover of Brisbane legends, The Saints 1986 classic, Just Like Fire Would, certainly did.
I have to admit, I was choking back tears for the first 5 songs… such is the emotion Springsteen creates. For me he is one of the few artists in this world that really matters; one of the few whose lyrics continue to shape lives; whose energy continues to inspire and amaze. Early classics like Spirit in the Night and E-Street Shuffle show no signs of their forty years; in fact the outro to E-Street Shuffle was one of the absolute highlights of the night; the horn section, including the late, great Clarence Clemons nephew, Jake on Saxophone, giving it some real swing.
But talk of highlights is foolish, as there was not a song in the 25 song setlist that didn’t deliver. Few artists are able to play songs spanning 40 years and have them all sit seamlessly side by side. This is yet another fact that makes this band so remarkable.
Speaking of the setlist, here it is…
We Take Care Of Our Own (from Wrecking Ball, 2012)
Just Like Fire Would (The Saints cover)
Wrecking Ball (from Wrecking Ball, 2012)
Badlands (from Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Death To My Hometown (from Wrecking Ball, 2012)
Hungry Heart (from The River, 1980)
My City of Ruins (from The Rising, 2002)
Spirit In The Night (from Greetings From Asbury Park, 1973)
The E Street Shuffle (from The Wild The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, 1973)
Jack Of All Trades (from Wrecking Ball, 2012)
Murder Incorporated (from Greatest Hits, 1985)
Johnny 99 (from Nebraska, 1982)
Because The Night (from Live 1975/85, 1986)
She’s The One (from Born To Run, 1975)
Shackled and Drawn (from Wrecking Ball, 2012)
Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (from Working On A Dream, 2009)
Apollo Medley
The Rising (from The Rising, 2002)
The Ghost Of Tom Joad (from The Ghost of Tom Joad, 1995)
Thunder Road (from Born To Run, 1975)
Encore:
We Are Alive (from Wrecking Ball, 2012)
Born To Run (from Born To Run, 1975)
Glory Days (from Born In The USA, 1984)
Dancing In The Dark (from Born In The USA, 1984)
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (from Born To Run, 1975)
I went knowing that the ghosts of Clarence and Danny would be in the room; and there were two distinct moments when you could really feel their force. Bruce asked us all to remember the ghosts who walk beside us before delivering what was one of the most spiritually uplifting moments of the night, My City Of Ruins; and in set closer, Tenth Avenue Freeze Out, he stopped the band as he finished the line;
When the change was made uptown
And the big man joined the band
and on the big screens that flickered above the stage, we were given the opportunity to say our goodbyes to the Big Man and Danny; though, as Bruce said, they will forever remain in the band.
Like the showman he is, Springsteen worked the crowd. Throughout the night he lifted two women from the audience; one to sing Waitin’ On A Sunny Day; and one to be his dance partner at the end of Dancing in the Dark; he even crowd surfed his way from the middle of the Entertainment Centre during Hungry Heart.
There was no slowing down; no letting up; the band’s contagious energy surging throughout the 3 and a bit hour show. If it takes another 10 years for the E-Street Band to reach our shores, I will be waiting. Nights like this have the power to live inside of us forever.
Saturday is my day of musical adventure and today I feel like uncovered a rare gem in the form of Lau, who recently released their third long player, Race the Loser. Hailing from Scotland, Lau offer one of the most exciting takes on traditional music, I am yet to come across. Hypnotic & exquisite are two words that come to mind… here’s two clips to show what I mean.
There’s something about discovering new music that makes the blood quicken…
Another sleeping behemoth has awoken, to step out onto the ATP stage next weekend… Crime and the City Solution. After a hiatus of two decades, the band are back with a line up that boasts driving force and Crime mainstay Simon Bonney along with members of the legendary 1987 – 1991 line up, Bronwyn Adams and Alexander Hacke as well as newcomer… drummer extraordinaire, Jim White (Dirty Three).
Crime’s incendiary live performances are the stuff of legend; their music skirting the gothic edges of blues and gospel. At times dark, cacophonous and fuzzed out, Bonney’s theatrical voice always cut through to give the band a chilling, melodious sound. Like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, this is a band I never dreamed that I would see live, having been too young to catch the band in their prime.
Excited, doesn’t even begin to describe how I am feeling…
Here they are at their peak, performing The Dolphins and the Sharks (click the pic below).
Well, I am getting match fit for next weekend’s epic feast of music. I will be trekking off to Melbourne to have my ears gloriously melted at All Tomorrow’s Parties: I’ll Be Your Mirror festival, curated by The Drones. This is festival brings together bands that I never dreamed I would see live… bands that have had a profound influence on me as an artist and a human being.
First and foremost, there is Godspeed You! Black Emperor (who I will also get to see next Wednesday night in Brisbane before flying down). This band is a monster… and their latest album, Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! is up there with their finest releases. They make noise that is raw and graceful. Here’s the explosively beautiful, We Drift Like Worried Fire.
More than any other band, they have provided a soundscape to my writing for the past two decades; their sound is for me, like a wave… always building. With each listen, their albums reveal new layers, reach new heights. And the only real way to appreciate the music they make is to stop everything… I am looking forward to stopping the world alongside the thousands of other fans when they reach our shores next week.
It’s Australia Day… not a day I celebrate for too many reasons to go into (here’s three links 1, 2, 3 that explore some of the reasons). Something I am passionate about though is Australian Music, so today, I thought I would preview four albums that I am anticipating will be on high rotation at Lost Shark HQ in 2013. I hope they add some fire to your Saturday morning!
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – We No Who U R from the new album Push the Sky Away
Cave has been lapping up the literary stardom of late, so it’s great to see him return with the first Bad Seeds album since 2008. We Know Who U R is the first single from the album.
Steve Kilbey – African Jesus from the new album The Idyllist
While there has been much talk about Steve leaving The Church of late, news of a new album is always welcome. Here’s the first cut from his new long player, The Idyllist.
Night Terrors – Komarov from the new album Spiral Vortex
Night Terrors are a new discovery for me, but their twisted take on the post-rock genre has been rattling round my brain in the most joyous way! And this clip is bound to make you smile.
The Drones – How To See Through Fog from their new album I See Seaweed
It’s been a long time between drinks for The Drones (five years in fact), so roll out the red for one of Australia’s finest ever rock bands. I couldn’t find a clip for this, but the pic below will lead you to the preview of the song How To See Through Fog.
These are in no particular order, but each of these albums grabbed my attention in 2012 and I fear they may have slipped under the critical radar (maybe you have not even heard of these artists until now). So here’s five albums that spun endlessly at Lost Shark Headquarters in 2012.
Soaring in its beauty and cinematic in its scope, Charge Group’s eponymous second album has been a staple for me this past 12months. And what has made the album so dear to me is the fact that I got to experience it live, not once, not twice, but three times in 2012… the highlight of these shows being the intimate instore show at Jet Black Cat Records. Here’s the band playing Gold is Gone live at Brisbane Festival (complete with me hooting at the end). Seriously a contender for album of the year!
This is a posthumous release, but let me say from the outset, it is brimming with the life, love and energy that Rilen oozed. Rilen, for those who are not familiar with his work helped to define the shape and sound of Australian music, so it is fitting that his final recordings see the light of day. He was and will remain, our greatest ever, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Man’. The album is studded with gems. Here’s the opening track, the blues-fuelled, Wishing Well.
After being tested to her limits in her quest to ‘make it’ in the USA, Dyson has returned triumphant with an album that will reach deep inside you. The songs on The Moment have a timelessness about them; a raw, heartbroken honesty combined with some mighty fine rock hooks that make the album one that you want to sing along to (and I mean sing loud!). Here’s one of the quieter moments on the album, the bittersweet, Tell Me.
Australia’s [criminally underrated] masters of sardonic rock, The Fauves have had a creative flurry this past couple of years, releasing Japanese Engines in 2011 and following it up last year with the equally brilliant, German Engines. No-one does tongue-in-cheek like The Fauves… here’s a perfect example, the brilliantly dry, Six Minute Abs (played live here by Coxy and The Doctor).
Brisbane-ites, The Stress of Leisure released their fourth album, Cassowary; an album that brings together songs about fitness, sex, sharks, cocktails and of course, very large tropical birds. It’s indie-rock at its irreverent best; with hooks as sharp as a Cassowary’s talons, the album will work its way under your skin and have you stylishly nodding along to song after song. Here’s the epic, Sex Times.
Christmas is all about the gathering of loved ones in our home; about sharing and reveling in the joy we bring each other. One thing that has brought me great joy for much of my adult life is the music of Vic Chesnutt. Sadly, Vic took his life on Christmas day 2009, and since that time I have made it a tradition to share Vic’s music here on Christmas eve. This year, I have chosen the track Granny from his last studio album, At The Cut. This is a live version from his final Canadian tour, and it captures all the things I love about Vic… his openness, his wit and his ocean-sized heart.
Thank you Vic… and thank you to everyone who has been a part of this increasingly extended blog family. 2012 has been a year of wonder and growth and 2013 has already got excitement written all over it.
