Bruce seemed to be particularly thoughtful during the interlude in My City of Ruins, which seemed longer, but more engaging, than in Manchester. Spirit in the Night, which followed, was fun, with a great extended section with Bruce mucking around with Jake, and recalling Clarence.
John Fogerty, who Bruce had joined earlier for Rockin All Over the World, returned the favour, joining Bruce for The Promised Land. John's microphone could have done with being turned up, as we was significantly quieter than Bruce, which was a slight disappointment as otherwise it was a great performance, and the duet vocals were a nice take on the song.
There was then a lovely moment when Bruce called out for a sign to be brought forward, then went down to the front of the audience to collect it. The guy with the sign – for Take 'Em As They Come – had been at shows in Barcelona, Seville, Prague and Paris before the London show and had requested the song at all the shows, which were all listed at the sign. Bruce had great fun, and had a great reaction from the crowd, explaining how the guy had come to Barcelona 'didn't get it there', Seville, 'no song', Prague 'wasn't played then...', Paris 'Still no song... that's a shitload of Euros...'.Bruce said the song was a real obscurity and that hardly anyone would know it (which was a bit odd, given that it's on Tracks), but the band did a really great performance of it, which they'd obviously worked up or been preparing, whether for the sign or not.
Jack of All Trades went down with the crowd, and is clearly a favourite among the new material that many people will be hoping remains a staple in later tours. Bruce then played a great, near-solo Empty Sky. Together with the particularly touching interlude in My City of Ruins, it may have seemed as if Bruce was in quite a sombre mood, but that impression was shattered by a rocking run through Because of the Night (with Nils really shining in his one starring role of the evening, and being rewarded with loud applause at the end of his solo for his efforts), Johnny 99 (given a Seager-Sessions-esque treatment), Darlington County, Working on the Highway, Shackled and Drawn (which remains really great in its live arrangement), Waitin' on a Sunny Day and a crowd-pleasing call-and-response run-through of Raise Your Hand, though few in the audience seemed to know the song, though they were in great voice to accompany Bruce through The River.
Before The Ghost of Tom Joad, Bruce pointed out it would have been Woody Guthrie's 100th birthday, had he lived. Tom Morello again joined Bruce and played a fiery solo, though it didn't quite reach the heights of Nils's Because the Night solo, or Tom's efforts on the Magic tour our in Austin earlier on the Wrecking Ball tour. Tom stayed on stage for both The Rising and Land of Hope and Dreams (the horns on which were really great).
The audience was near-silent during Bruce's long introduction to We Are Alive and his description of messing around in the graveyard with his sister as his mother placed flowers on her mother's graves sent a shiver down the spine. The version of We Are Alive that followed really shone.
Born in the USA, which Bruce has not played for some time in its electric arrangement in London was well received. Bruce left some of the choruses to be boomed heartily by the audience. Alongside his altered vocal lines cutting across the audience's singing in the choruses, it was an effective way of breathing new life into the song. Despite the warm reception given to Born in the USA, the audience went even more wild for Born to Run, and Bruce and the band kept to tempo and energy high through Glory Days and Dancing in the Dark.
Bruce then pulled out his trump card: Paul McCartney, leaving audience members staring with open mouths and the beaming huge smiles before they launched into a great I saw Her Standing There and a blast through Twist and Shout, including great horn breakdowns and a little detour into La Bamba. The organisers' decision to pull the plug then was very strange: disappointing and completely unnecessary as telling Bruce and Paul what was happening and allowing them to say goodnight would have been an infinitely better way to end the show.
The organisers' short-sightedness and complete failure of imagination or basic common sense certainly did not overshadow a really stunning show and we can hardly complain about being short-changed. The show did, after all include Paul McCartney, Take 'Em As They Come, John Fogerty joining Bruce for The Promised Land and, of course, that great solo piano take on Thunder Road to open, taking us right back to 1975...
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