Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Omaha, NE, November 15, 2012
"yes yes, yes yes"
Setlist: REASON TO BELIEVE / JOHNNY 99 / ATLANTIC CITY / HUNGRY HEART / WE TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN / WRECKING BALL / DEATH TO MY HOMETOWN / MY CITY OF RUINS / DOES THIS BUS STOP AT 82ND STREET? / SHERRY DARLING / LOST IN THE FLOOD / STATE TROOPER / TRAPPED / OPEN ALL NIGHT / SHACKLED AND DRAWN / WAITIN' ON A SUNNY DAY / RAISE YOUR HAND / HIGHWAY PATROLMAN / BACKSTREETS / BADLANDS / LAND OF HOPE AND DREAMS - PEOPLE GET READY / THUNDER ROAD / BORN TO RUN / DANCING IN THE DARK / SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN / TENTH AVENUE FREEZE-OUT
“Omahaaaaaaa, Nebraska!” Bruce declared, as he and the E Street Band made their entrance onstage in the Cornhusker state on a November evening 13 years ago. He put a harmonica to his mouth and blew a quasi-Bo Diddley riff sounding suspiciously – and auspiciously – like “Reason to Believe.” I knew this was a tour debut, and my eyebrows arched with just the slightest bit of curiosity.
The Imp of the Perverse woke up and peeked over my shoulder, whispering, “So what’s the next song going to be? Huh? Huh?” while we were barely into an excellent rendition of a full band version of “Reason to Believe,” similar to the modified version favored on the Magic tour, which borrowed liberally from its deconstructed form on Devils & Dust. It’s bullet mic and distortion (which wasn’t really working) along with Nils and Max on minimalist accompaniment, before Bruce yells again, Max Weinberg hits a drum roll, and the full court press of E Street slammed you in the face with an absolutely righteous riff and the whole place went nuts.
At the time, I swatted away the Imp, thinking, let us just enjoy the songs as they are presented to us!! And then the next song was the electrified, quasi-swing rendition of “Johnny 99” – with a particularly fine performance from Mr. Roy Bittan and some sharp solo and ensemble work from the horn section – and the Imp was trying to get me to do the Lindy Hop.
When an emphatic and particularly outstanding “Atlantic City” followed – Bruce’s voice is absolutely fantastic here, just a brilliant, inspired delivery – I stopped fighting the inevitable. The Imp and I were arm and arm, singing along together. Obviously this was not going to be a full album presentation – not when you open the show with the last song on the record – but all signs were pointing to YES on the E Street Ouija board.
This was a particularly inspired version of “Atlantic City.” Bruce has turned a melancholy murder ballad into a powerhouse of an anthem that engages every single person in that room with its fervent, rolling, roiling, building energy. (I also realized in this listen that “Atlantic City” is, in fact, a labor song.)
“Hungry Heart” up next broke the spell, and the Imp went to get a soft pretzel, leaving me to nurse my wounds while avoiding the inevitable pit crowd surge caused by Bruce’s crowd surfing, the polar opposite mood of anything Nebraska-esque. But that vivid fantasy on my part wasn’t entirely incorrect: by the time the night was over there would be no less than six songs from Nebraska presented in that album’s namesake, and it could have been seven as “My Father’s House” was on the written setlist (and had been soundchecked, as per Brucebase).
As I noted in my report for brucespringsteen.net, “By the time the night was over, there would be more songs played from Nebraska than Wrecking Ball!” I am not sure why that statement deserved an exclamation point; the Wrecking Ball songs were pretty great live and these are fantastic renditions of them, and I’m sorry that more of them haven’t survived. But all of Nebraska in Nebraska would have also been pretty fucking awesome.
